Construction is now complete, and water will soon start flowing from the newest piece of water infrastructure for Kāpiti, reports Kāpiti Coast District Council.

Acting Chief Executive Sean Mallon said the new 5.5million litre Ōtaki Reservoir, co-funded by the Crown’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, will improve resilience and fire-fighting capability, and increase the amount of stored drinking water for emergencies.

“The new reservoir is a key part of our plan to improve the Ōtaki water network and service households from storage rather than directly from the reticulation network,” said Mr Mallon.

“This is important because the reservoir will provide the town with 24 hours of water supply if, for example, a pump fails, or a pipe breaks.”

Reservoir construction details:

• approximately 700 cubic metres of concrete used in the floor slab, pre-cast walls and roof
• 35 metres wide and six metres deep
• 4 km of new pipes laid to deliver water from the treatment plant to the reservoir and back to the pump station
• 44 steel columns and 600 six-to-eight-metre-deep stone columns installed for ground strengthening
• 2500 native plants planted to improve the biodiversity of the area and screen the reservoir from neighbours
• designed to last 100-years with regular maintenance
• built to withstand a one-in-500-year earthquake.

“Congratulations and thank you to the suppliers who helped build the reservoir. We were fortunate to have several very highly skilled locals on the job, and they’ve left a legacy they can be proud of.

“We also appreciate the patience and cooperation of close neighbours and those along Te Manuao Road who experienced 21 months of construction in their neighbourhood.”

The next improvement of the Ōtaki water network is another, smaller reservoir which will supply the Waitohu Plateau. Planning for this reservoir is underway with pipe laying due to take place in 2026/27.

Kapiticoast.govt.nz/Otaki-reservoir

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