Wellington city open to working with plumbers to fix leaks

Thursday, 15 February 2024

The Wellington City Council has approached Master Plumbers to see if its members are prepared to fix leaks.

Mayor Tory Whanau says she is willing to look at any initiatives that result in more leaks being fixed.

“I am open to supporting initiatives that will help us fix leaks faster. We must work together collaboratively to get on top of this.”

Master Plumbers chief executive Greg Wallace said plumbers remained committed to helping Wellington Water reduce the number of leaks across the region and did not care who paid them.

Such a move would be unusual as Wellington Water is funded by the four metropolitan councils, including Wellington City, to fix leaks.

Wallace said that as a Wellington resident he was frustrated by the number of leaks he encountered on his daily drive from Karori to Te Aro. He has been observing a leak on the road near the Kelburn Viaduct for about three weeks and said it has reached a point where it was dangerous.

Wellingtonians were fed up with such leaks and he said they would not take the save water message seriously while the city leaked like a sieve.

He had been outspoken in his criticism of both Wellington Water and the Wellington City Council and recently met with Wellington Water to discuss how plumbers could do more to help.

While he was pleased to get the opportunity to talk with Wellington Water, it did not produce any concrete results.

Another meeting was planned and he said the Wellington City Council staff member, who approached him subsequently said she would wait and see if the meeting resulted in more leaks being fixed before progressing the city council approach.

City council spokesman Richard MacLean confirmed a staff member had spoken to Wallace about the use of plumbers.

“We are willing to look at what could be done to give effect to that with a view to fixing more leaks.”

The city council would be attending a meeting next week with Wellington Water and Wallace, and some of his member plumbers.

Any discussions about potential city council funding of work by private plumbers would depend on any arrangements made with plumbers.

He noted that Wellington City councillors had agreed last year to provide Wellington Water with extra funding to fix leaks.

Wellington Water provided a statement saying it had had a positive meeting with plumbers and was open to all ideas to reduce leaks more effectively.

“We are keen to work with the council and Master Plumbers to see if there are any opportunities to improve the way we work together.”

Meanwhile, the leak near the Kelburn Viaduct has also caught the attention of Ian Stockwell, who contacted The Post saying it was coming from a manhole in the street and could cause an accident.

“There is a dip in the road near the manhole where water ponds. This is highly dangerous as when two cars from opposing directions coincide at the leak, the water is splashed onto the windshield of the car driving towards Kelburn …I nearly lost control of the car as it was so unexpected. The leak needs attention urgently.”

He had reported it to Wellington Water saying it was getting worse and could undermine the road.