Pauatahanui Village Now on Reticulation

Work to reticulate Pauatahanui Village is now fully operational with benefits to residents and the natural environment.

Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett opened the new scheme today where 21 properties now have water and wastewater connections including the Pauatahanui School and preschool.

A key driver for the scheme was to protect the Pauatahanui Inlet arm of Porirua Harbour as a number of properties in the village had been developed with basic on-site disposal systems that were never designed to cope with the demands of today's lifestyles.

Many of the small properties are on low-lying land, susceptible to a high water table especially in winter and not large enough to accommodate adequate on-site disposal systems.

Cr Anita Baker who has liaised with those working on the scheme says with Pauatahanui Inlet a nationally significant estuary and wildlife habitat and the Porirua Harbour the largest estuary in the lower North Island, it was important to the village join the city’s reticulation scheme.

The original project budget was $1.6m with the final cost coming in at $1.1m.

“It’s very pleasing to see that cost savings were made due to competitive tendering and the use of modern practices such as drilling the reticulation rather than open trenching. This approach mean that reinstatement costs were reduced, work was carried out more tidily with less disruption to residents.”

Half the capital cost of the project was paid for by the Pauatahanui property owners who will now pay the same water and sewer rates as the rest of Porirua.

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