Getting ahead of the District’s water woes

In the wake of ex-cyclone Gita and as part of the draft 10-Year Plan, NPDC has come up with five options for residents to consider to beef up the District’s water networks.

These range from the cheapest – doing nothing – to the most expensive – spending more than $140 million over the next decade.

“We think it’s important to invest in water resilience now and make sure our water system is less vulnerable to damage from storms. No one wants to turn on a tap and have no water come out, as happened for some people after ex-cyclone Gita came through in February. Our preferred option is somewhere in the middle and we believe it strikes the right balance between risk, cost and affordability as we continue to Build a Lifestyle Capital,” says Mayor Neil Holdom.

Improving resilience means upgrading our critical pipe bridges, our 30 wastewater pump stations, designing back-up options for parts of our network that have only one pipe, having more back-up spare parts for critical equipment, and ensuring better planning and mitigation for weather events.

NPDC is expecting the district’s population to grow to 92,400 in the next 10 years. Along with the effects of climate change, an ageing pipe network and a likely increase in drinking water standards, the district faces future supply challenges that NPDC is working on solving now.

For more information on the draft 10-Year Plan visit: newplymouthnz.com/10Year or visit one of our public Roadshows. Fill in the three minute survey and go into the draw for NPDC to pay your rates for a year, up to the value of $3k. (Terms and conditions apply).

Water facts
• The New Plymouth Water Treatment Plant provides water for 26,000 homes and business from Urenui to Omata – that’s about 90 per cent of the water for the whole district.
• There are 155km of trunk pipes, 650km of distribution and rider mains (service mains) and six pump stations in the district.
• The district’s main water storage – Lake Mangamahoe – holds about 10 days’ worth of water.
• On average we use 337 litres per person every day – that’s the same as five bath tubs full of water!

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