Drinking water standards upgrade

  • Project typeInfrastructure

Latest Update: Wednesday 31 August

Construction started on the Onemana Water Treatment Plant which is estimated to be completed by December. Following this, the construction of the facility at Moana Point will recommence after a land property issue halted works.

Background and plan

A Government inquiry was sparked by the 2016 Havelock North gastro outbreak, which was linked to four deaths, and called for a major overhaul of water supplies, including mandatory treatment.

Photo above: Our Mayor Sandra Goudie (pictured above, left) with Tairua-Pauanui Community Board Chair Warwick Brooks officially opened the new plant on Tairua’s Hinemoa Tce in August 2020.

We're upgrading almost all our water treatment plants, essentially building new ones with state of the art filtration and treatment systems, in our drinking water standards project - Tautiaki Wai Māori. 

The Tairua, Pauanui, Whitianga, Coromandel Town and Whangamatā (Beverley Hills and Wentworth Valley) plants have been completed.

The programme for the remaining seven water treatment plant upgrades will be completed by 2023/24 and has been included in the 2021 – 2031 Long Term Plan. An additional water treatment plant will be built in the Puriri area and is expected to be completed in 2024/25. 

The plants are fitted with the latest technology and methodologies for treating our water including Evoca-supplied membrane units, new filtration, dosing and monitoring equipment.

All of these upgrades will ensure our drinking water quality complies with the current NZ Drinking Water standards.

The drinking water treatment plant at Thames was upgraded more recently than the other plants, and is not due for an upgrade as part of this project.