Fewer leaks, more capacity, but Wellington residents asked to hold off hosing
Friday, 3 October 2025
Despite big money being thrown at fixing Wellington’s leaking pipes and ageing infrastructure, the capital’s supply remains one of the least stable in the country.
Level 1 water restrictions, limiting outdoor use, kicked in last weekend, making Wellington an outlier among other major cities that have to deal with longer, drier and hotter summers, but moving it into line with Upper Hutt which has restrictions year round.
On Wednesday Wellington mayor Tory Whanau was celebrating “massive wins“ for the city's water and pipes, including 11 million litres of water saved every day.
It follows a record $1.8 billion investment in water in Wellington City Council’s 2024-34 long-term plan, including an extra $5.5 million for fixing urgent leaks. At the same time, RNZ has reported, an urgent tech overhaul is set to gobble up another $37.5m as the region moves to replace Wellington Water with a new stand-alone entity by July next year.
Figures from Wellington Water show that about 4 billion litres of drinking water was saved in the year to July, due to a reduction in leaks across the public water network, while a regional dashboard shows that between January and September this year 4498 public leaks were fixed.
However, total daily water loss in Wellington, Porirua, Upper Hutt and Hutt City is still between 65m to 70m litres.
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Wellington Water chairperson Nick Leggett said the organisation had been able to reduce its water loss from 41% across the region to about 37%. However, by 2054, 46% of the water supply network and 60% of the wastewater network will require renewal, driven by ageing materials such as asbestos cement, cast iron, concrete and earthenware.
The storm water network is in comparatively better shape, though still facing renewal needs.
Meanwhile a fast-tracked upgrade to a treatment plant in Te Mārua last year saw the facility able to process an extra 20 million litres of water a day, leading to “a dramatic downgrade in water risk” and the likelihood of Level 4 water restrictions (a significant water shortage) dropping from 33% two summers ago to less than 1% this year.
Despite that Wellington residents ‒ in a city not renowned for its tropical summers ‒ are once again being asked to hold off on their hosing, largely due to limited daily supply, and limited treatment and storage options, making it vulnerable to sudden spikes in demand.
“It’s a default shift that we go into each summer, it’s the responsible thing for the region to do,” said Leggett.
But, like diverting money away from “proper renewal to fixing reactive leaks” it was just a band aid, he said.
Meters a saving grace?
Meanwhile, residents in Auckland ‒ average daily maximum summer temperature 22C-26C, average rainfall October to January 60mm-90mm ‒ are being reassured they can use their hoses for as long as they like.
Said Watercare’s Sharon Danks: “Our dams are currently sitting around 99% full, which means Auckland’s water supply situation is stable and we’re not planning to implement water restrictions this year.
“To provide some context, for this time of year, our total dam storage levels would need to drop to around 50% before we would consider imposing water restrictions on Aucklanders.”
It’s a similar story in Christchurch ‒ average daily max summer temperature 18C-26C, average summer rainfall between 40mm and 60mm ‒ where its council also has no plans to introduce restrictions.
Both cities, notes Leggett, have water meters, something Wellingtonians can expect to see being rolled out over the next few years.
“Water meters are the first significant cab off the rank in terms of de-risking of the summer water supply. They tell us where the leaks are and drive a revenue source to directly fix leaks.The focus on how much we’re using, like your power bill, drives conservation.”
For now, just remember to hold that hose, and only between certain hours and on certain days.