Confirmation sidelined plumbers overqualified to help Wellington water crisis

Monday, 17 June 2024

More than four months on from Wellington Water claiming plumbers lacked the qualifications to help solve the city’s water crisis, new information suggests the exact opposite.

The revelation has sparked Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau to pledge to again ask Wellington Water to look into using plumbers: “If plumbers are able to work on water networks in other cities I don't see why we can't do the same in Wellington.”

Construction and infrastructure workforce development council Waihanga Ara Rau, which sets plumbing industry standards and qualifications, has confirmed, “the reality being, [registered plumbers] would have a higher level of skills and knowledge” than most of those working on the public network for Wellington Water or its alliance partner Fulton Hogan.

“Note that we are aware of registered plumbers and drain layers [outside of Wellington] working on drinking water networks without the need to gain the equivalent sector qualifications,” workforce council assurance general manager Mike Grumball wrote to Master Plumbers chief executive Greg Wallace.

It was after Wallace in early February, as the city was entering a water crisis created by a dry summer and excessive leaks, suggested that plumbers could help by fixing leaks.

It was an offer swiftly shot down by Wellington Water chief executive Tonia Haskell, who said: “The public water network is complex and drinking water legislation requires specialist knowledge, training, and qualifications for those who work on it.”

Wellington Water later said it was open to working with plumbers but in April Haskell wrote to bosses at Wellington and Hutt city councils saying, “unless the plumbers are able to meet our pre-qualification requirements, we are unlikely to agree to them working on the region’s drinking water network”.

This included holding $10 million in public liability insurance and having the relevant qualifications, citing the NZ Certificate in Infrastructure Works (Pipeline Construction and Maintenance) level 3 qualification or higher.

This is the qualification that Waihanga Ara Rau confirmed was trumped by the level 4 certificate in plumbing, a requirement for registered plumbers.

Despite claims on Wellington Water’s website that the “majority” of its staff have the lower, level 3 qualification, information supplied to Master Plumbers under the Official Information Act shows just 41% of staff fixing the network had that qualification.

Wallace over the weekend confirmed Wellington plumbers were yet to be allowed to work on the public network.

“They say they have put the requirements in place to protect public health as work not done correctly has the potential to contaminate drinking water and make people sick,” Wallace said.

“It may be news to Wellington Water, but most people know that plumbers manage the three water systems and make sure they are safe for people every day.”

Waihanga Ara Rau information shows the level 3 qualification takes 12 months and earns 77 NZQA credits, while the plumbers’ level 4 qualification takes 40 months and earns 250 credits.

A statement from Wellington Water on Sunday said it had not changed its stance and all contractors had to go through a pre-qualification process.

“Master Plumbers members have extensive skills and experience as well as their own qualifications overseen by the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board, but they need to be able to demonstrate that they have the relevant qualifications before working on the public network,” the statement said.

Wellington Water was not qualified to make that call so referred the question to the water industry body, Water NZ, and the plumbers’ board.

Workers without the level 3 qualification were supervised by those with one when working on drinking water, the statement said.

Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board chief executive Aleyna Hall said plumbers could work on the water network “as long as they have the skills”. However, the board only covered from the toby and into the house.