Lower Hutt mayor apologises after council, Wellington Water failed to prioritise leak which lead to massive Point Howard slip

The slip on Howard Road. Photo / Supplied

A review into a large slip which left 165 properties without power or running water found the council Hutt City Council (HCC) and Wellington Water (WW) failed to escalate or communicate the scale of the issue before it was too late.

The slip near Point Howard in March brought down a large chunk of the hillside, taking out powerlines, and water and gas as it went.

Neighbouring properties were without water for 48 hours and had a boil water notice for a further 72, as the road was cut down to one lane and access became difficult. Power was out for several days, and Portaloos had to be brought in.

The leaking pipe was repeatedly reported by residents in the months before the slip and the council repeatedly mishandled it.

Emergency services on site at the slip on Howard Road. Photo / Nick James

Residents told the Herald they had been aware of a pipe leaking for several months – and had first informed the Hutt City Council (HCC) about it on January 9, 2023 however the council incorrectly classed it as a duplicate of another nearby leak and did nothing

On January 12, a resident called again but the council failed to make a record of the contact from the resident, and again on January 16 another report was classed as a duplicate.

By January 26, residents were concerned – the water was now flowing fast and extensively – but the complaint was not escalated.

The following day, Wellington Water (WW) came out and saw the leak but made no record of prioritisation, nor did they have any contact with the residents.

By February 24, several more reports had been made by separate residents telling the council the flow rate had increased significantly and was now running down the bank at considerable speed.

Between January 27 and February 24, WW carried out four site inspections, none of which had any contact with a customer and three of which had no record of prioritisation. The inspection on March 6, a week before the slip, found a leak which required a two-man crew, and traffic management in place to patch it.

On the 13th, the pipe burst causing massive damage and taking several days to fix.

Mayor Campbell Barry told NZME the report has shown failures in the processes of both HCC and WW.

“It’s really clear that the residents did everything they should have by providing us with good and timely information – but there were process failures from HCC and WW which resulted in the pipe not being prioritised to the level it should have been.”

Barry said he had met with the residents of Point Howard last night and apologised to them for the oversight.

“We need to do better in future and improve these processes.”

He said one example from the report that needed to change was that WW did not include an analysis of topography into its prioritisation.

“Obviously a leak on a hill offers more risk than a leak on the flat so that’s already in process,” he said.

He thanked the residents for doing “absolutely everything right”.

“Now it’s about moving forward and ensuring this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.”