Hamilton City Council has draft plans for two new 25 million litre (ML) reservoirs to continue high-quality drinking water supply and capacity for firefighting to a growing central city and surrounds.

Following extensive technical, environmental and cultural investigations, the Ruakiwi site (next to the existing Ruakiwi Reservoir) has been identified as the reservoirs’ best location.

It’s now the community’s turn to have their say on early-stage draft concepts being developed as part of the project.

Council wants to understand how people use the park space where the reservoirs will be located and is seeking innovative ideas on how to make the space attractive such as the use of art or landscaping.

The first reservoir is set to be completed by 2028, with the second following from 2040.

Council has been allocated $150.6 million in Crown funding from the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF) for a range of infrastructure projects to enable more homes. The first reservoir is funded through the IAF programme which also includes a booster pumping station and planning improvements to water supply, wastewater, and stormwater networks.

Funding for the second proposed reservoir will be considered in future longer-term planning.

The Ruakiwi site, located next to the existing Ruakiwi Reservoir, has a rich history of water supply to Hamilton. As the best location for hydraulic advantages, it’s supplied water to the central city for nearly 100 years with many important customers including Waikato Hospital.

The new reservoirs will not only continue to provide resilient and high-quality water to current central city residents and businesses but provide the capacity for a projected 10,800 more people to call it home by 2035 said Councillor and Chair of the Strategic Growth Committee, Sarah Thomson.

“Part of our urban growth strategy is to grow and up and out from the central city and these reservoirs are critical for enabling the development of more homes. More people living centrally is key to building a vibrant and successful heart of the city.

“It’s exciting to share the plans for this significant infrastructure project and I look forward to the community feeding into the design process.”

The community can have their say until 5pm 18 March 2025 on the draft concept and how people currently use the space to help:

• Shape the final design and layout of the reservoirs site, including access and landscaping considerations.
• Prepare applications to designate and reclassify some of the current park land needed to build the reservoirs under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and Reserves Act 1977 (Reserves Act) processes.

Mid-year there’ll be another chance for the community to have their say on the designation application and Reserves Act Process.

If you’ve got questions and want to chat with the project team for a first-hand look at reservoir concept plans and find out about future developments for the central city there’ll be drop-in sessions at:

Hamilton Lake at The Veranda Café

• Saturday 1 March 2025, 10am – midday, or
• Thursday 6 March 2025, 5pm – 7pm

For more information on the project, visit hamilton.govt.nz/centralcityreservoir

Further information

Benefits of the project

• Reliable and resilient water supply: Ensures high-quality water for residents and businesses.
• Supports growth: Attracts new businesses and supports more homes.
• Firefighting capacity: Provides essential water supply for firefighting purposes.
• Sustainable infrastructure: Gravity-fed systems ensure continuous water supply without relying on power.

Central city:

• Around 15,000 people currently live in the central city and surrounds.
• This includes 3,200 people that live in the inner central city area.
• The central city contributed an estimated $4 billion (about 25%) to Hamilton's GDP for the year to March 2024.
• Currently around 7000 homes in the central city and surrounds (which includes around 1200 home in the inner central city area.
  • Currently around 2,600 businesses
  • 44,000 daily visitors to the central city each day
  • 32,500 in cars (73%)
  • 6,400 pedestrians (14%)
  • 3,800 in busses (9%)
  • 1,600 cyclists (4%)
• We’re expecting around another 10,800 people to call central city and surrounds home by 2035.
• Around 4000 more homes in the central city and surrounds by 2035.

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