More water could be drawn from Hutt River to avoid Wellington’s shortage crisis

The Hutt River. Photo/ Greater Wellington Regional Council

Emergency powers could be used to draw more water from the Hutt River and other sources to avoid a water shortage crisis in Wellington.

But an ecologist has warned this would come at the expense of freshwater species and the regional council says permission to draw more water would not be a fait accompli.

Wellington, Porirua, Hutt and Upper Hutt cities moved to Level 2 water restrictions yesterday which means residential sprinklers and irrigation are banned.

The restrictions come as 44 per cent of treated drinking water in the region is being lost through leaks due to ageing infrastructure, historical underinvestment, and an increasing backlog of desperately needed pipe replacements.

There is a 33 per cent chance the region could reach Level 4 restrictions this summer, most likely in early February.

Under this scenario, Wellington Water documents show the plan is to take additional water from sources like the Hutt River or Waiwhetu Aquifer as authorised by regulators.

Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) is the regulator that issues consents allowing Wellington Water to take water for town supply.

The council is focused on the sustainable management of natural resources. It has to consider things like protecting the ecology, flora and fauna of rivers and preventing the intrusion of seawater into the aquifer.

However, the Resource Management Act also recognises there could be emergencies when more water needs to be taken than what a consent provides for.

GWRC chairman Daran Ponter said the council would need to be persuaded that it was a true emergency to allow more water to be drawn.

Wellington Water, along with its shareholder councils, would need to prove they had done everything in their power to reasonably contain water demand, Ponter said.

“The difficulty they are likely to face is the big question around water leaks. Have they done enough to contain the water leaks to such an extent that even despite having done that, we now need to take more water than the resource consent provides?”

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Daran Ponter says the council would need to be persuaded that it was a true emergency to allow more water to be drawn. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The other regulator involved is Taumata Arowai.

The new national water services regulator was established after the Havelock North gastro outbreak in which four people died and 5000 fell ill after the town’s water supply was contaminated with campylobacter in 2016.

Taumata Arowai is focused on drinking water quality.

Under Wellington Water’s Level 4 restrictions plan, it would ask Taumata Arowai to declare a drinking water emergency.

Taumata Arowai head of regulatory Steven Taylor said there would have to be a significant risk to public health to declare such an emergency.

The declaration would make a range of powers available to the regulator to ensure the risk to public health is avoided, Taylor said.

“We could require Wellington Water or owner councils to bring in alternate supplies of water, for example, potable water trucks. We could require adjacent councils to make water available to direct water from their networks and make it available to Wellington.”

Taylor confirmed Wellington Water has approached Taumata Arowai about whether the regulator would be prepared to declare the emergency and enable more water to be drawn.

Wellington Water suggested this could last for a period of about eight days, Taylor said.

Victoria University freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy said wrecking the environment should not be the backup plan for what he described as “incompetence”.

Joy said river flows were naturally low at this time of year meaning eels, fish and invertebrates were already under considerable stress.

He said minimum flows agreed on for resource consents were usually lower than what independent ecologists would recommend and are a compromise following negotiations between parties.

Joy said taking more water from rivers killed the species that live in them.

“Their world just becomes smaller and smaller and the concentration of toxins in the water becomes more concentrated because there’s less water to dilute it. You get worse conditions and lower oxygen.”

Wellington Water chief executive Tonia Haskell said they were working hard to make sure the region did not get to the point of needing to draw more water.

She said it was a last resort and a question of whether Wellington Water could even legally do it.

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.