Investing in the future

From City Scene, published on 10 May, 2009.

The cleanliness and safety of Auckland city beaches will be improved, and reliability of the water supply service increased, thanks to investment under way or planned for the future.

Over the next year and beyond, Auckland City Council, together with its subsidiary Metrowater and the region's water and wastewater treatment company Watercare, will be funding projects across the city, from the large to the small.

These include vital network maintenance; infrastructure improvements to ensure the network meets our needs now and in the future; and work to reduce leakage.

However, the flow on from this significant capital expenditure programme is an impact on water prices in the coming year.

"Water price rises have been comparatively low over the last 10 years," says Councillor Douglas Armstrong, chairperson of the Finance and Strategy Committee.

"Sooner rather than later we need to pay for vital improvement work to ensure our water supply is secure and our beaches and waterways are clean."

Mr Armstrong adds: "We are making every effort to keep the rises as low as possible. We have reviewed Metrowater and Watercare's planned expenditure and are satisfied that this is only for essential work such as reducing the volume of sewage overflows and reducing leakage, for example, the Hobson pipeline.

"Auckland City Council have also ended the annual charitable payments made by Metrowater to the council, three years earlier than planned. Therefore charitable payments will not be a factor in Metrowater's pricing after 1 July 2009."

Major projects include:

Reducing the volume of "lost water" by more than 1.4 million cubic metres over the past two years.
By 2010, the Waitemata Harbour and Eastern Bays will benefit from a major reduction in wastewater overflows as the new $120 million Hobson pipeline comes into operation.
The Central Interceptor project will increase the security of supply and reduce the number of wet-weather overflows. This is currently in the planning stages.
The Mt Wellington water supply upgrade will improve the security and future growth of water supply through the suburbs of Mt Wellington, Ellerslie, Glen Innes, St Heliers, Mission Bay and Orakei.
Clear Harbour Alliance - a joint partnership with Metrowater and others to separate properties in Kingsland and Mt Eden from the combined network and substantially reduce the annual volume of sewage pollution entering the Waitemata Harbour around Westmere and St Mary's Bay.