Two multi-million dollar drinking water infrastructure projects are coming on-line, giving a major boost to our district’s water resilience.

After two years of construction, the connection of NPDC’s two new reservoirs to the water network has just been completed and is supplying water to residents. These $18 million reservoirs on Henwood and Mountain roads add the equivalent of 36,000 full bathtubs to the supply for Bell Block, Waitara, Lepperton and further north. They were officially opened by New Plymouth District Mayor, Iwi, contractors and neighbours on Thursday (28 October).

“These new 4.5-million litre reservoirs will provide precious drinking water to residents north of New Plymouth and it’s great they have been commissioned into our water network. As we continue work to Fix our Plumbing with a $248 million investment in drinking water, storm water and sewage networks, these reservoirs remind us of the scale of the job that’s needed above and below the ground,” says New Plymouth District Mayor Neil Holdom. “As we saw yesterday, there’s a lot going on around the central government mandated Three Water reforms and Council recently wrote to Government expressing significant concerns about the proposed model, outlining alternative options and improvements but, no matter what the outcome of the Government’s reform agenda, we need to continue to invest in our community’s water infrastructure because it’s the right thing to do for our children and future generations.”

Another major water improvement project nearing completion is a new $3.3 million water treatment plant for Ōākura.

UV treatment – the same system used at the Okato plant – and filtration have been installed so that the bore meets new standards brought in after the Havelock North water contamination scare in 2016. The new plant is due to be finished by the end of the year.

As part of the 10-Year Plan 2021-2031, NPDC recently approved a $248m investment to upgrade our three waters network over the next 10 years, including replacing some of the 800km of pipes in our district.

Drinking water: fast facts

• New Plymouth District has four separate water supplies: New Plymouth, Inglewood, Ōākura and Okato.
• The New Plymouth Water Treatment Plant provides water for 26,000 homes and business from Urenui to Ōmata – that’s about 90 per cent of the water for the whole district.
• The district’s main water storage – Lake Māngamāhoe – holds about 10 days’ worth of water.
• On average we use 292 litres per person every day and we’re urging everyone to save water, as per our Wai Warrior education campaign: https://www.npdc.govt.nz/home-and-property/water-wastewater-and-stormwater/water/water-conservation/

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