What’s 70 years old, built by the New Zealand Rowing Team as a fundraising exercise and is one of the most recognised landmarks in Mangere?

The water tank on Mangere Mountain was built in 1932 and supplied water to the then Mangere Borough. Manukau Water no longer need the reservoir and the Mangere Community Board wants residents to have a say on whether the tank should stay or be removed.

Mangere Mountain is one of the most well known and intact volcanic cones in Manukau City. Manukau Water are prepared to reinstate the site to achieve its natural, geological, archaeological and cultural integrity if residents decide they want it removed.

Mangere Mountain is part of the development of a heritage trail that extends from the mountain across Ambury Regional Park to the proposed rehabilitation of the foreshore at the Mangere Waste Treatment Plant on to the Otuataua Stonefields.

In its day the reservoir pumped out water at a rate of 108 000 litres per hour. The water was obtained from two sources – a well at the base of the mountain and an auxiliary supply drawn by airlifts from two bores. The water was then lifted from the well by two electrically driven bore-hole pumps housed in the brick pump house still situated at the bottom of Mangere mountain. Up to 2.25 million litres of water could be stored in the circular double-chambered tank. The total cost for building the reservoir was £65 000.

$250 000 dollars has been allocated in the Draft Annual Plan to turn the old works storage facility at the base of the mountain into an education centre for school kids. The original brick pump house has been eyed for restoration.

Ideas for the water tank can be sent to Digby Whyte, Manager Manukau Parks, Private Bag 76917, Manukau.

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Media Contact
Gabrielle Hinton
Media Liaison
Corporate Communications
Manukau City Council
Phone: (09) 2628900 x 8650
Fax: (09) 2625759
Email: ghinton@manukau.govt.nz

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