How much water has Wellington Water saved?

Friday, 9 August 2024

Wellington Water has significantly reduced the number of leaks across the region but it is unclear how much water has been saved.

Is Wellington still losing 44% of its water? The leaks may be fewer but just how much water Wellington Water has saved is still unclear

Wellington Water recently announced that it had cut the backlog of leaks in half but it cannot yet say whether if that long used percentage is still accurate.

“Updated figures for the annual water loss estimates are going through our internal QA process right now,” a spokesperson Wellington Water said.

An increased investment by councils has enabled Wellington Water to make significant progress reducing leaks.

“They will be publicly released once we have communicated these to our council owners.”

In July, Wellington Water said that for the first time since October 2020, the 12-month rolling average for water demand in the Wellington metropolitan region had fallen.

That was largely due to an increased investment in leak repairs by councils, which had enabled the backlog to decrease from 3369 leaks in January 2024, to 1601 at the beginning of July.

The Post has been reporting for at least 18 months that the region is losing 44% of its drinking water to leaky and decrepit pipes.

On Tuesday we asked Wellington Water for an update as well as asking for an estimate of how much water could be saved by further reducing the backlog.

Charles Barker, incoming interim head of Wellington Water, after Tonia Haskell abruptly quit, says Wellington Water was working towards saving an estimated 7.4 million litres per day, by February 2025, by reducing leaks and pipe renewals.

Whilst reducing leaks was positive news, he said it was just one piece of a complex puzzle.

“Ongoing investment by councils in leak detection and repairs together with increased investment in pipe renewals will help us to bring down and then maintain water loss to sustainable levels.”

Reducing water usage by 7.4m litres per day had been identified by water regulator Taumata Arowai as a key measure in reducing the risk of the region running out of water over summer.

Barker said other activities to reduce water loss includes improving pressure management of pipes.

“This helps to reduce demand, water lost through existing leaks, the number of new leaks occurring, and extends the expected service life of the pipes in the network.”

Wellington Water reported that it had fixed 225 leaks last week.