Wellington Water chief executive Tonia Haskell abruptly quits

Wellington Water’s board has announced the organisation’s chief executive Tonia Haskell is stepping down, effective tomorrow.

Chairman Nick Leggett issued a statement about Haskell’s abrupt exit this morning.

It comes after Wellington Water admitted overlooking a budget error that has resulted in an extra last-minute bill for councils of $51 million over three years.

In March, a damning performance report suggested the cost to fix the city’s leaks has dramatically increased, and Wellington Water was lagging behind performance targets set by the Department of Internal Affairs.

This summer, the region faced running out of water as 44% of drinking water was lost through leaks.

The announcement also comes on the same day that Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has unveiled changes to allow new council-owned water companies to be able to access more cheap borrowing from the Local Government Funding Agency.

Wellington Water looks after Three Waters assets on behalf of Wellington City Council, Hutt City Council, Porirua City Council, Upper Hutt City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and South Wairarapa District Council.

Haskell joined Wellington Water as its network development and delivery group manager in 2019. She has been in the chief executive role since early 2023.

Leggett said she had a track record of delivery in her various leadership roles at Wellington Water.

”In her time at Wellington Water, the capital programme delivering water assets for the region had grown from $60m to $330m in the last financial year.”

Many Wellingtonians admired Haskell’s willingness to front up to difficult issues in the media and “be upfront” in discussing both challenges and solutions, Leggett said.

Haskell said in the same statement that working for Wellington Water had been a privilege.

”During my time as chief executive, we have delivered major projects such as the Omāroro Reservoir and the Kaitoke Flume bridge and delivered a record level of pipe renewals,” she said.

“We have also lifted the operating performance of the organisation and navigated a long dry summer, reduced the backlog of leaks and are finally seeing a reduction in water usage and loss for the first time in five years.

”With our operational performance now in good shape, now is a good time for me to move on, with the entity facing a different strategic future.”

Leggett and Haskell declined to be interviewed.

Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy has long been a vocal critic of Wellington Water and told the Herald it has been under-performing for some time.

A recent report into Wellington Water highlighted a suite of structural, management, and cultural issues which made it clear the organisation couldn’t carry on as it was, Guppy said.

”There were issues and it was very clear that there had to be changes, this will be the start of a number of changes,” he said.

”It needs to go through a real change process and that’s not just from the top but it works its way down.”

Guppy wouldn’t comment on whether Haskell would be missed but said: “She will move on in her career no question about that, there will be opportunities for her.”

Wellington Water’s board will begin a process over the coming weeks to appoint a new chief executive.

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.