“After a briefing from Wellington Water where they indicated that they have additional capacity to fix leaky pipes in Wellington, I have asked officers to bring a paper about possible options”, says Mayor Tory Whanau.

This will likely occur in December, either as part of the Long-term Plan, Finance and Performance Committee on December 7 or the Council meeting on 14 December.

“This follows on from a significant increase in investment in water over recent years with a total of $110 million in funding to Wellington Water in this year’s budget.

“Warnings of possible water shortages over summer are the result of decades of underinvestment in our pipes. There is no easy fix, but we will continue to investigate options to provide resilient water infrastructure for Wellingtonians.

“I am working with other Councillors and officers to ensure that we investigate additional options that have appropriate checks and balance – where we can be sure any additional funding would go towards fixing our pipes and that there is appropriate reporting to that effect from Wellington Water.”

A recent presentation from Wellington Water indicated capacity to fix up to 1000 additional leaks if $2 to $2.5 million was provided by Wellington City Council this financial year.

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