Wellington Water Confirmed as Three Waters’ Company

Wellington Water Confirmed as New Council-Owned Three Waters’ Company

Representatives of the Greater Wellington Regional Council and Hutt, Porirua, Upper Hutt and Wellington city councils yesterday agreed that Wellington Water would be the name of the newly created company to manage water services for the four cities.

Wellington Water is being formed by the merger of Capacity Infrastructure Services, which is owned by the four city councils, and Greater Wellington Regional Council’s water supply group.

The five local authorities will be joint and equal owners of the new company. A representative from each authority sits on the specially created regional Water Committee that will provide shareholder governance and regional oversight for the new company.

Committee members are Fran Wilde (chair of the regional council), David Bassett (deputy mayor of Hutt City Council), Nick Leggett (mayor of Porirua), Wayne Guppy (mayor of Upper Hutt) and Iona Pannett (councillor, Wellington City Council).

David Bassett was elected chair at the inaugural meeting.

“This is a major milestone in bringing the benefits of regional end-to-end management of the three waters to residents of the four cities,” Mr Bassett said.

“It makes good sense to put all of our water management under the one umbrella for the whole region. Wellington Water will be responsible for managing water, stormwater, wastewater as well as bulk water for the Wellington region.”

The company will be governed by a board of independent directors. John Strahl, the chairman of Capacity’s board, will remain as chair of Wellington Water, and the company will be led by Colin Crampton, Capacity’s current chief executive.

Mr Strahl said staff of both organisations were looking forward to operating under the new model.

“Wellington Water brings together the best knowledge, passion and experience of water services management in the region. Coordinating these resources and aligning service delivery expectations will ensure the best decisions and value are achieved for our client councils.”

ENDS

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