Water. Photo: 123RF
Wellington is lifting its water restrictions a month earlier than last year, a move which Wellington Water credits to extra funding from councils to fix water leaks.
Water Restrictions will be lifted across Wellington, Porirua, and Lower Hutt on Monday 14 April. Upper Hutt will remain at Level 1 Water Restrictions where it stays year-round.
"Thanks to the additional funding from councils as well as the public's continued efforts to conserve water, the metropolitan region saw a reduction of 14.4 million litres per day in water demand compared to March last year," said Wellington Water's chief operating officer Charles Barker.
The region had faced significant risk of tighter water restrictions and water shortages the previous summer, and in May 2024 water services regulator Taumata Arowai set councils and Wellington Water a water demand reduction target of 7.4 million litres a day by the end of February, in an aim to reduce the risk of an acute water shortage and severe water restrictions for the Wellington metropolitan region.
"By January it was clear that we were going to well exceed the 7.4 million litres per day target, and this has been backed by these latest water reduction figures," Barker said.
He said getting through summer without the need to move to tighter water restrictions was been a significant achievement for Wellington Water and the councils.
"During the period of Jan -Dec 2024, Wellington Water fixed nearly 9,000 leaks on the public network in the metropolitan region, achieved faster response and repair times, and delivered improvements to the Te Mārua Water Treatment Plant ahead of schedule, which resulted in us bringing online an extra 20 million litres of water per day before the dryer summer months.
"We have also had a great response from the public who have kept 'an eye on their Wai', by being aware of their current water restriction level, and taking small, simple steps towards better water habits."
They now had to keep up the momentum, he said.
"We've significantly reduced the backlog of leaks but ongoing investment into leak fixing and renewing and replacing old pipes is crucial to ensuring we can continue to keep the risk of future water shortages and severe restrictions low."
