Wellington to remain on Level 2 water restrictions for another week

Thursday, 7 March 2024

The Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River is one of the major sources for the regions drinking water. Wellington has been on a warning since before Christmas that we must preserve water, or face the risk of running dry.

Wellingtonians have again done enough to avoid tougher water restrictions.

On Thursday, Wellington Water said the region would remain on Level 2 water restrictions for another week.

The water company said that the buffer for drinking water supplies has risen over the last week, but it was predicted to fall again quickly.

“After the recent rain, the river levels are quickly dropping back, and we’re relying on stored water to supplement the supply,” it said in its latest update. .

“It remains important to conserve water and keep demand low as the end of March is a high-risk period, otherwise we could still trigger level 3.”

Wellington will remain on Level 2 water restrictions for at least another week.

For the last two weeks, it had estimated the chance of moving to Level 3 as 43% and to Level 4 at 17% and this week the risk level remains unchanged. Level 3 restrictions include a total ban on residential outdoor use, and residents being encouraged to take shorter showers.

The region is losing about 45 per cent of its drinking water to leaks. Level 2 means a ban on irrigation and sprinklers, and gardens only being hand-watered.

Earlier this week Wellington Water reported that it had fixed 222 leaks the previous week, across the region. In the week before that, it had fixed 194.

On Wednesday, Hutt City councillors voted unanimously to join forces with other councils in Wellington on a plan to reform the region’s broken water services.

This month, councils across the Wellington region are considering a proposal to work together to develop a new affordable and sustainable water delivery model.

Hutt City was the first council to sign-up. Mayor Campbell Barry says councils in the region are facing challenges to meet the significant level of investment needed to fix our broken infrastructure.

'The level of investment needed is simply not possible under the current model which limits council’s borrowing power, leaving today’s ratepayers with big rate hikes if we don’t introduce a new model.“

Barry said it was time for urgent action. “Any delay simply makes the problem and cost get bigger.'

The Government’s new Local Water Done Well policy is still under development, but indicates that by mid-2025 councils must have a water service delivery plan that meets regulatory and investment requirements.

Councils across the Wellington region will consider signing a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at meetings over the coming weeks. The MoU will create a non-binding partnership between councils to work together on a suitable plan.

Under the MoU, one elected member from each council will sit on an advisory group overseeing the joint water service delivery plan process.

The group would be chaired by an independent expert, with support from chief executives and a joint project team. The group will not have any decision-making rights.