Drought-busting Waikato water plan to flow on despite amalgamation jitters

Tuesday, 23 June 2026

With a ‘super El Niño’ set to take place this summer, the risks for droughts across the Waikato is raised.

A new plan for dealing with Waikato’s increasingly frequent droughts will be set up to go ahead regardless of what entities are left standing after local government reform.

Rather than imposing water restrictions on residents, the Waikato Regional Council plan identifies investment options such as on-farm storage ponds, new or expanded reservoirs and managed aquifer recharges that can pro-actively mitigate future droughts.

High-risk, priority catchments such as the Waikato and Piako rivers which attract low rainfall but high demand were targeted, as they have already reached triggers for action.

The Waikato River catchment spanning from Tongariro to Port Waikato is specfically noted in the action plan.

The importance of future-proofing Waikato’s water supply cannot be understated according to regional council’s hydrology and groundwater team leader Thomas Wilding.

Droughts that were once in a generation are now nearly “every other year”, he says, creating less water and/or more frequent restrictions.

“Rather than wait for each person to try and fix the problem on their own, the plan gives us a co-ordinated response across all the different communities and agendas,” Wilding added.

It will be up to private and public stakeholders to decide how much investment will be put into local communites, not regional council.

The upcoming ‘super El Niño’ forecast for this summer only emphasises the need for future direction, Wilding says, as it raises the concern of drought risk significantly.

Investment lies at the heart of the solution however, as a council agenda read public and private stakeholders alike “will need to make investments of their own to improve water security”.

Combined with the specifically tailored price tag to differing needs and locations, Wilding said it will be up to communities as to how much they’re willing to spend to ensure water security.

“It’s not just if you have a need but can you afford it? Will you be able to afford it next year, what is the risk going forward for a given town [or] farming community… how much can they buffer themselves from that risk?”

“The plan is pretty much completed now. In terms of when will people have a more secure water supply, that’ll be a journey.”

The rollout of the plan is set to be bulletproof to amalgamation as well as water takeover, Wilding says, referencing how the contracted outfit Beca has “done a really good job”.

“Another reason for going with that adaptive planning pathway is so we’ve got a plan that can be implemented regardless of who’s calling the shots on what decision.”

“A lot of these shots will lie with other agencies that aren’t regional council… [it’s] giving ourselves the best shot of getting something worthwhile for the Waikato region regardless.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.