Wellington City Council has today agreed to provide up to $2 million in extra funding to deal with up to 880 water leaks around the city this coming summer and autumn.

Mayor Tory Whanau tabled an amendment to supply an additional $1m in funding if Wellington Water (WWL) is able to provide assurances that ratepayer money is being used wisely. The amendment requires WWL to provide reporting data on the work, including details like address of leak, date reported and the date it was fixed.

“We know that many Wellingtonians will be concerned about the potential water shortages heading into summer. This extra funding will help deal with that problem. With 45% of the water in the region - 41% in Wellington City - being lost to leaks we need to fix as many leaks as possible,” says Mayor Tory Whanau

“But, as a council we must make sure we deliver value for money for ratepayers. This is why the amendment seeks to ensure that WWL can provide us with details as to how and where the extra funding is spent.”

Council officers would be authorised to release a further $1 million in operational funding for leak repair to WWL if, by 15 March, the initial $1 million has been fully utilised and WWL has provided the reports as signalled in today’s decision.

The extra funding will be sourced from borrowings.

Mayor Whanau previously amended the Annual Plan and approved an additional $2.3 million in operational funding for leak repair in the 2023/24 financial year and WWL estimates this will result in an additional 880 leak repairs.

Since 2021, the Council has provided almost $25.5 million in additional operational funding over and above the approved 2021-31 LTP budget. The 2023/24 Annual Plan operational budget for WWL is more than $50.6 million - 27% higher than the approved LTP budget for the 2023/24 financial year.

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