Water_March-April_2025 single hi res

Capturing the essence of a river

Lessons from successful municipal wastewater consenting Managing stormwater overland flow paths

Infrastructure: Make do and mend

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Parker

Membership Administrator/Office Manager: Pip Donnelly

Technical Lead – Regulatory and Catchments: Nicci Wood

Technical Lead – Projects and Sustainability: Lesley Smith

Technical lead – Drinking Water Quality and Education: Belinda Cridge

Communications Manager: Debra Harrington

Marketing Lead: Frances Sheriff

Association Secretary and Executive Administrator:

INSIDE

4 President’s comment

7 Water superstars

8 Connecting water science and industry

8 Understanding embodied carbon

12 Submission on water services bill

14 Shaping the future

16 Training: Emerging contaminants

FEATURES

20 Profile: Emma Brand

22 Profile: Jason Ross

24 Infrastructure: Make do and mend

Action Network (WeCan)

Wastewater

Young Water Professionals: Chapters in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

For information contact: Katrina Guy 04 495 0891, email: Katrina.guy@waternz.org.nz

WATER JOURNAL

Editorial: Mary Searle Bell, Contrafed Publishing

M: +64 21 676 034

Advertising Sales: Debbie Laing

M: +64 27 455 0223

Design: Jonathan Whittaker

M: +64 21 147 5591

Publishing: Contrafed Publishing, General Manager: David Penny, 1 Grange Road, Mount Eden, Auckland 1024 PO Box 67131, Mt Eden, Auckland, 1349

P: +64 21 190 4078

www.contrafed.co.nz

Distribution: Pip Donnelly, enquiries@waternz.org.nz

P: +64 4 472 8925

DISCLAIMER: Water New Zealand reserves the right to accept or reject any editorial or advertising material submitted for publication. The opinions expressed in contributions to Water are not necessarily those of Water New Zealand. The information contained in this publication is given in good faith and has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, neither Water New Zealand, nor any person(s) involved in the preparation of this publication accept any form of liability whatsoever for its content including advertisements, editorials, opinions, advice or information. This extends to any consequences from its use. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or ink–jet printing without prior written permission of the publishers.

ISSN 1179-2949 (Print)

ISSN 2382-1906 (Online)

www.waternz.org.nz

30 Judges Bay wastewater upgrade

32 Wastewater consenting lessons

38 Understanding antimicrobial resistance

40 Operationalising water safety planning

42 Merging indigenous knowledge with science

48 Wildfires and drinking water

52 Rapid and reliable E.coli and total coliform testing

66 Transforming data into art

‘Ka

Help shape the future of wastewater

Strengthening governance for sustainable water services

approaches to tackling water scarcity

metering – it makes good sense

Introducing the Pressure Pipe Inspection Manual

Managing stormwater overland flow paths

Let’s not leave our IP behind in the face of new reforms

Shining a light on the water sector

A fast-track pivot

Tim Gibson President, Water New Zealand

By now most of you will be aware that we managed a very nimble reset to take the 10th IWA-ASPIRE Conference and Water New Zealand Conference & Expo 2025 to Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre and the Christchurch Town Hall in September. Of course we need to acknowledge the skills and expertise of our event organisers, Avenues Event Management, for ensuring such a seamless transition.

Naturally we’re delighted and, to be honest, a bit relieved, that the ongoing delays plaguing the New Zealand International Convention Centre did not have the impact on us that it might have had – particularly this year when we’re hosting such a large international and national event.

And as they say, challenges are opportunities in disguise, and this pivot to the garden city is a great opportunity to showcase the beautiful Te Waipounamu South Island to our international visitors. I’m sure they’ll get a very warm southern welcome.

In the meantime, our other key events continue to get bigger and better. For those of you lucky enough to get to the Modelling Symposium this week (March 18-19), it’s certainly set to surpass expectations. A record number of abstracts submitted for review has helped lead to a very interesting, relevant, and high-calibre programme.

Coming up in May, I’m particularly looking forward to the Stormwater Conference in Rotorua. Planning is well underway and the draft programme is now out. I urge you to take a look –again, this is an opportunity to learn about this ever-changing, innovative and challenging area of water infrastructure.

We’re pleased that the new Local Government Minister, Simon Watts, has agreed to be a keynote speaker at the conference, and we look forward to welcoming him. Along with our CEO,

Gillian Blythe, I met with Simon Watts in 2023 and we have a further meeting with him scheduled in April. Just before the end of the year, Gillian and I also met with the now-former Local Government minister, Simeon Brown.

While our events continue to be an important drawcard for many of our members, a key role of Water New Zealand is ensuring that we represent you, our members, and the wider water sector in our advocacy work with Government and key stakeholders. This year we will continue to build on those important relationships.

As such, we’ve been very focused on ensuring that our members’ expertise is recognised and that we get the best possible legislative outcomes for the future of the water sector. We all want to ensure a healthy, sustainable future for water in Aotearoa New Zealand.

With the help and expertise of our members, we scrutinised all 300 pages of the Local Government (Water Services) Bill, aka Bill 3, and produced one of the biggest and most comprehensive submissions we’ve ever done. You can see our full submission on our website and our summary on page 12.

Also with members in mind, congratulations to the successful applicants for our first round of travel and leadership scholarships. This is a fantastic opportunity for members to travel to an international or national conference to learn more and help strengthen your expertise and leadership skills – so take a look at our website for more information. Our next round of applications close soon.

Ngā mihi nui

Tim Gibson President

10th IWA-ASPIRE CONFERENCE AND WATER NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE & EXPO

Christchurch Ōtautahi

29 September – 3 October 2025

Empowering Tomorrow — Smart Water Solutions for Resilient Communities

Imagine a gathering like no other—a global event that brings together individuals to share, innovate, and inspire.

In an exciting new partnership, the International Water Association (IWA) and Water New Zealand are combining their bi-annual IWA-ASPIRE Conference and annual Water New Zealand Conference & Expo into a single, landmark event: The 10th IWA-ASPIRE Conference and Water New Zealand Conference & Expo 2025. This joint conference will provide a platform for international and Aotearoa New Zealand-based water professionals, practitioners, scientists and experts to meet around common themes.

10th IWA-ASPIRE

The programme will highlight areas where Aotearoa New Zealand has special expertise and knowledge to share – indigenous knowledge and approaches, and environmental sustainability.

WATER NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE & EXPO

One Ticket Gets You Access to All Sessions

Christchurch Ōtautahi

There are separate key dates for IWA-ASPIRE and Water New Zealand Conference & Expo registrations, so please review them carefully.

29 September – 3 October 2025

Water New Zealand Conference & Expo 2025 – calls for abstracts and posters close on 28 March – see the website – www.waternzconference.org.nz

IWA-ASPIRE – see the draft programme on the website www.iwaaspire2025.org

Survey shows business confidence subdued

Water New Zealand’s latest pulse survey of business conditions shows that business outlook remained very subdued. Some 75 percent of respondents said they feel neutral, fairly pessimistic, or pessimistic, despite a slight shift towards optimism, compared to our survey in March 2024.

The survey was undertaken in November last year and follows an earlier survey conducted with ACE New Zealand eight months prior.

Overall, there was an approximate 20 percent response rate from targeted companies representing a range of organisations – from 1-10 employees to over 500. The survey aimed to gather insights on business confidence, workforce capacity, project status, future contracts as well as possible action to support the sector.

It found that overall, uncertainty continued to dominate the sector. There was a call for more certainty, especially around funding, pipeline of work, as well as long-term political and regulatory certainty.

Slight shift towards more positive conditions but remaining negative.

Eighty-five percent of respondents reported either no change or a deterioration in business conditions with a small number (15 percent) reporting some improvement in business conditions.

In March 2024, 10 percent had reported some improvement while the rest reported no change or deteriorating conditions in the six months prior.

Twenty percent of respondents reported that they were ‘fairly optimistic’

though no one reported being optimistic about the future business environment. Overall, general confidence remained neutral and pessimistic – with around 75 percent either neutral, fairly pessimistic or pessimistic. There was, however, a slight improvement in outlook compared to the six months prior when only 12 percent reported feeling fairly optimistic and 75 percent reported being pessimistic.

Other key findings include:

• Nearly 40 percent of contracts were paused, deferred, or cancelled, an improvement from over two-thirds in March. While concerning, this is an improvement on March 2024 when more than two thirds of respondents reported existing contracts were paused, deferred or cancelled.

• There was a decline in active vacancies from just under 60 percent of organisations reporting vacancies in March, to below half in November, indicating sector retrenchment and subdued business confidence.

• There were fewer opportunities for new entrants in the sector, with most sector vacancies in the mid-career range (more than three years but less than 10), while one third were at senior level (more than 10 years).

The survey also highlighted a need for enhanced training, development opportunities, and improved international recruitment to build workforce capability.

Water New Zealand is conducting another survey in March. We appreciate our respondents taking time to complete the survey. It helps us provide up to date information to decision-makers.

Supporting innovative water projects

Are you working on a project that could improve the way we manage drinking water, wastewater, or stormwater services? The Water Services Managers’ Group Levy might be the perfect opportunity to bring your ideas to life.

The levy, established in 2015 by the Water Services Managers’ Group (WSMG), provides funding to support projects that benefit water networks across the country. With an annual funding pool of approximately $100,000, it aims to encourage consistent practices and promote excellence in water service delivery.

What is the Water Services Managers Group?

As one of Water New Zealand’s longeststanding forums, the WSMG comprises members responsible for managing water, wastewater, and stormwater services. The group collaborates to address common challenges, foster innovation, and create valuable resources for the sector.

How does the levy work?

The fund primarily supports the development of guidance materials, but it can also be used for research, training, or public awareness campaigns—any project that provides collective benefits to water networks.

There’s no minimum funding limit, and projects of up to $100,000 will be considered.

Proposals offering matched funding or probono contributions are especially encouraged. Who can apply?

Project ideas are developed in two ways: Either to meet identified industry needs (determined at WSMG bi-annual meetings) or submitted by external parties.

If you are a Water New Zealand member and have an idea that might qualify, complete a Business Case Proposal (Template available from waternz.org.nz/projects) or reach out to techncial@waternz.org.nz. Applications are accepted year-round, with funding decisions made at WSMG’s biannual meetings.

Water superstars

We need more people to join the water sector.

The Waihanaga Ara Rau Workforce Development Council workforce activation strategy identified videos as one of six key steps needed to showcase our industry. Under this framework Water New Zealand gained financial support from the Infrastructure Education & Training Charitable Trust. The funding allowed us to create a series of 15 videos that highlight a range of water sector career opportunities.

The key element of the project was to film a range of role models from a variety of different backgrounds, skills, experiences, ages and ethnicities with a view to having these videos available to support water occupations on the new national careers planning website Tahatū.

Tahatū is the primary resource used by career professionals in schools. The website, which replaces the outdated careers.govt.nz, is being launched in 2025 and is the ideal opportunity to showcase our industry to learners of all ages.

As well as being featured in a resource that is used in every school, we have been able to work alongside employers to help promote roles through their own talent acquisition, marketing strategies and training initiatives.

We wrapped up filming with our 15 inspiring role models at the end of November and we are excited to now have the videos available to be used through a range of different forums, social media platforms and our Water New Zealand website.

Our public resources page on our website is undergoing a revamp and will become an information hub to help members connect with schools and community groups. As well as the videos, which members will be able to use and share, school resources, posters and career brochures will be available.

We will also be featuring our key partnerships with Inspiring the Future, House of Science and the Engineering New Zealand Wonder Project, as well as member activities.

We thank everyone involved for their time, energy, and commitment to this initiative.

Mason Wilkie foreman for Silverlining, a family-owned drainage business.

Tama Te Wata, a water treatment specialist with Kapiti Coast District Council.

Connecting water science and industry

Suppliers and network operators joined drinking water scientists at a forum in Te Whanganuia-Tara Wellington in February to discuss the emerging risks around drinking water.

The first ever Drinking Water Science Forum, designed to bridge the gap between researchers and supplier, was co-ordinated by the Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai and supported by Water New Zealand, Stantec, and Watercare.

Topics under discussion included emerging issues such as viruses, PFAS, antimicrobial resistance, nitrates, arsenic, and public health.

The day allowed suppliers and network operators to join the science conversation and to highlight the need for science and research to link to operational activity and improved water quality and health outcomes.

The day started with a focus on virus research and the potential impact on drinking water quality assurance rules.

Researchers involved in a current study across

Canterbury shared their findings and outlined the potential risks. That was put into the context of regulation by Taumata Arowai water science chief advisor Jim Graham.

Attendees also discussed the latest data on PFAS contamination from both the national survey of groundwater and drinking water sources. Of particular interest was, ‘We don’t know where the gaps are and what the future research might need to cover’.

Antimicrobial resistance is being talked about more and more in terms of a potential impact on water management and wastewater contamination.

Dr Naresh Singhal from the University of Auckland talked about the latest research, the international risks and how Aotearoa New Zealand is responding. This was backed up by the team from ESR discussing their work in this key area of emerging concern. You can read more about Naresh Singhal’s findings on page 38.

On the chemical contamination front, both

arsenic and nitrate in drinking water have hit headlines in the last year. There is an obvious need for more information on the management of these contaminants so it was useful to hear where we are at and have the group discuss where to next.

A highlight of the day was the short presentations from the future of water research by PhD students from both Auckland and Canterbury universities. The forum provided an opportunity for the students to discuss industry implications of their work.

At the end of the day, the forum demonstrated the value of science discussion and how this can lead to better research outcomes. We expect that the Water New Zealand research roadmap will help to underpin future directions of water science discussions and outcomes. See more on page 14.

By Belinda Cridge, Water New Zealand technical lead – drinking water quality and education.

Understanding embodied carbon in the water sector

As the discussion around driving carbon reduction continues, a new guidance booklet focused on embodied carbon reduction has been recently released.

Designed to accompany Navigating to Net Zero, the guide has been produced by the Climate Change Special Interest Group. It looks to provide practitioners with the fundamentals of embodied carbon, and guidance on how to approach reductions and decision-making at each stage of a project’s development.

Embodied carbon represents the emissions from the products, transport operations and construction of infrastructure. This can be significant, and the guide explains how maximising reductions requires attention right from the earliest projects' phases.

Climate Change Group workstream on embodied carbon lead, Matt Findlay from Brian Perry Civil, says the guide was the product of a wide range of contributions from across industry.

“The Embodied Carbon Group has a wide participation of industry representatives, and this experience and expertise from practitioners is a great feature of the guide. Our intent was to promote developing knowledge of the basics of embodied carbon, both in explaining international best practice and telling local stories of application and success.

“The most impactful solutions often result from choices made very early in the strategy or project scoping. This can require collaborative assessment of options and can result in new approaches that challenge the norms. Equally these early stages can create an opportunity for a synergy of carbon and cost reduction – the most desirable outcome for any project.”

The understanding of a product’s carbon footprint and good decision-making is also a feature the guide looks to advance.

“One of the features is the infographic (shown on facing page) explaining the carbon embedded into

various common materials in water infrastructure projects. This can help inform decision-making, as a lead-in to more specific production information included in Environmental Product Declarations.”

The publication hopes to encourage further collaboration around carbon reduction and is aimed at practitioners involved across all stages of water infrastructure development. It includes recent case studies from across the project life cycle with a view to encourage action and celebrate successes.

“Ultimately, success in reducing carbon emissions can only be achieved through collaboration and aligned effort.

“Understanding the collaborative role each organisation has to play at each stage in the journey is critical. A platform of common understanding is key and we hope this guide helps provide a foundation for this, for our local practitioner community.” See the infographic and further information on page 9.

Tawara o te Wai podcasts update

Cybersecurity: How to protect your organisation from growing threats

Don’t be your organisation’s weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity, says audit manager, lawyer, director and cybersecurity enthusiast, Jennie Vickers.

In our latest Water New Zealand Tawara o te Wai podcast, Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond were joined by Jennie Vickers and the director of mission enablement at the National Cybersecurity Centre, Mike Jagusch, to discuss IT security.

As the pressure grows on organisations to become efficient and more automated, so too does the risk of IT security breaches and even the

possibility of ransom attacks on water services. Both experts agree that despite the rapidly changing risks, most cases of cyber-attack can be thwarted. But it relies on staff at all levels of an organisation understanding their role and how to play their part in staying cybersafe.

Go to waternz.org.nz to find links to resources to help you plan for IT and operational security and incident preparedness.

Integrating mātauranga Māori and indigenous knowledge to shape a sustainable water future

Understanding the common ground between Mātauranga Māori and western engineering science is key to unlocking great partnerships between mana whenua and councils.

Hastings District Council has developed a successful co-design approach enabling mana whenua partnership around water projects. This approach has led to the award-winning Waiaroha Discovery Centre combining hi-tech water treatment and community education.

In this podcast, Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond spoke to the council’s principal advisor - relationships, responsiveness and culture, Charlie Ropitini, about how this model successfully integrates mātauranga Māori and water engineering at a project level.

The Water Directory: the go-to resource for solutions and expertise

The Water Directory is an easily accessible resource for anyone seeking suppliers of products and services in the water sector. As a trusted ‘who supplies what’ source, it offers targeted searching, allowing users to quickly identify companies that provide the help they need.

The Water Directory contains:

• Comprehensive business listings: Browse the profiles of businesses offering a wide variety of products and services.

• Search by category: Drill down to quickly find the product or service required.

• Case studies and articles: Businesses share real-world projects, information, and articles.

• Brand stockists and product descriptions: Quickly find out which companies stock which brands and explore products on offer.

• Event listings: Most plans allow businesses to promote relevant events to the sector.

• Get quotes or information from multiple suppliers with one email: Complete one inquiry email form and get matched with any supplier in the relevant category for either a quote or for specific information.

You can find these discussions and many more episodes on waternz.org.nz, or listen on Spotify. Any business can be included in the Water Directory, with a range of pricing options. Corporate members of Water New Zealand receive a 10 percent discount on all plans.

The two premium packages, Gold and Platinum, let businesses share case studies, blog articles, and feature key products. Platinum provides premium visibility with top search placement and multimedia options, such as videos and product brochures.

The companies from these top-tier plans are listed in the back of this edition. You can find all listed companies at www.waterdirectory.org.nz

Modelling Symposium

Drawing on the past to create a better future

Thank you to everyone who has helped us plan for what’s set to be another outstanding event. We received a record number of abstracts, a reflection of this dynamic area of the water sector. We will bring you coverage of highlights in the next edition of Water . 18 - 19 March 2025 | The Atrium - Wintec, Hamilton

Why our Water Journal should be in your marketing budget for 2025

· When it comes to recall, print reigns supreme: RAMetrics data covering 20222023 shows print ads deliver a recall of 78%, a whopping 48% higher than digital.

· Print advertising elicits a stronger emotional response and better memory retention compared to digital content (Study by Temple University and USPS)

· Each issue is read by our members and is shared throughout their organisations – getting directly to the people you want to reach.

· Each edition has a long shelf life, meaning your advertisement is seen for many months - and it’s available online too!

Talk to us about your advertising needs –we’d love to help.

Call our advertising manager on 0274 550 223, or email debbie.laing@waternz.org.nz

Water New Zealand submission on bill

Nicci Wood, technical lead regulatory and catchments at Water New Zealand, says the Local Government (Water Services) Bill must focus on delivering safe, reliable, and financially sustainable water services.

In its submission to the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee, Water New Zealand says the bill is extremely detailed and overly complex. In its current form it imposes too many unnecessary constraints on water organisations and places duplicated layers of planning, performance and reporting obligations on councils and staffing requirements.

Over the past several decades territorial authority ownership of water services infrastructure has generally resulted in an under-investment in water services, leading to myriad problems ranging from failure to provide safe drinking water, to recurring network failures and shutdowns, to planned urban development being stymied though lack of infrastructure.

While Local Water Done Well relies, in part, on regulation through the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai and the Commerce Commission to address these issues, removing from the bill unnecessary or excessive prescription and control and duplication of tasks of water organisations by their shareholder councils is necessary.

The overriding purpose of the bill is to establish a framework for local government to provide water services in a flexible, cost-effective, financially sustainable, and accountable manner. However, in several important respects the bill is inconsistent with, and potentially undermines, the Government’s own policy objectives for Local Water Does Well, and to some extent undoes what has already been legislated for in the Preliminary Arrangements Act.

These inconsistencies will have a significant negative impact on the delivery of water services and impair the ability of water service providers to operate successfully and achieve their statutory objectives as stated in the bill.

It could also deter both investors and the ability of organisations to attract competent

and experienced professional directors.

Overall, Water New Zealand supports the bill but considers significant amendments to key aspects are required to provide an appropriate framework for the delivery of water services across the country.

The bill should be rebalanced to ensure a focus on delivering safe, reliable and financially sustainable water services.

Some of our recommended amendments are as follows.

Insufficient emphasis on financial sustainability

One of the objectives of the Local Government (Water Services) Bill is “to ensure that it provides water services in a cost-effective and financially sustainable manner”. However, unlike the Preliminary Arrangements Act, the bill does not define the expression ‘financially sustainable’.

Under that Act a territorial authority must demonstrate how they will deliver water services and ensure all relevant regulatory standards are met in a way which is financially sustainable for the territorial authority. These requirements aim to ensure that there is sufficient revenue invested in water services, which is particularly important given the historic under-investment in water services infrastructure.

We believe the bill must require water service providers to ensure their provision of water services is funded appropriately to be regulatory compliant, and financially sustainable.

Excessive oversight and blurring the distinction between service delivery options

Under the bill, a water organisation will be unduly constrained by the level of control given

to its territorial authority shareholders as well as the sheer extent of legislative compliance which will be necessary.

Alongside this there is considerable duplication of planning, delivery and reporting between the water organisation and council. This will compromise the water organisation’s ability to act successfully, and on a sound commercial basis.

The Preliminary Arrangements Act provides for communities to choose their preferred water services delivery option. The process is well in train.

Communities are being presented with (broadly speaking) three options, with distinct and fundamental differences between them: Continuing territorial authority provision; a CCO; or a community trust.

The concept of a CCO is well understood: a stand-alone company separate to the territorial authority, subject to limited shareholder oversight through high-level strategy documents but otherwise free to get on with its business in a commercial way, guided by commercial directors.

The bill changes this model. The CCO option put forward as one of the service delivery options available under the Preliminary Arrangements Act is significantly different to a water organisation subject to the bill.

Water New Zealand is concerned that the distinction between in-house and via a water organisation delivery is now blurred.

Unnecessary complexity and duplication

The Government says that one of the objectives of the Local Water Done Well policy is to ensure that it provides water services in a costeffective and financially sustainable manner. However, the complexity and duplication in the bill risks undermining flexibility and cost effectiveness of water service delivery.

There is no evidence that current provisions governing CCOs has prevented water service organisations from successfully carrying out their functions.

For example, at present only 22 sections in the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009, as well as the general CCO provisions in the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA) are applicable to Watercare.

There is no evidence that Watercare has been unable to carry out its water services functions properly and successfully under its statutory regime.

It should be possible for water organisations to be governed by existing provisions in the LGA without duplicating layers of planning, performance and reporting obligations.

Te ao Māori, te tiriti, and the role of and relationships with iwi

The bill is notable in its silence on te ao Māori (the Māori world view), te reo (the Māori language), Te Tiriti o Waitangi, treaty settlements, respect and acknowledgement of Māori participation, customs and protocols. Similarly, any reference to the recognition and provision for iwi/Māori rights and interests in water are not provided for.

The bill needs much greater clarity on the role of, and relationship water services providers must have with iwi/Māori when providing water services.

Further, provision must be included in the bill for water service providers to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and current and future treaty settlements and how this bill will comply with obligations to provide for iwi/Māori contributions to decision-making under S 81 of Local Government Act 2002.

An enabling regulatory regime combined with experienced professional governance is key

The regulatory regime through the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai and the Commerce Commission will ensure focus on many of the issues of non-compliance and under-investment.

Alongside regulatory intervention, experienced professional governance is necessary.

A recent Institute of Directors (IoD) article (see page 44) states, “effective governance structures will ensure that new CCOs and water entities can operate sustainably, transparently and in the public interest, reducing risk and adding resilience”.

Depending on the number of water

organisations created, the number of directors required to be appointed could be in the order of 200-300 or more. Water New Zealand is partnering with the IoD to help raise awareness of the need for good governance for water.

The need to lift workforce capacity and capability

A key recommendation of the Havelock North Drinking Water Inquiry was the need to lift capacity and capability of the workforce. Its recommendations sought high standards:

• “Commensurate with the risks attending the supply of drinking water to all of New Zealand’s population and all visitors to our country”, and

• Across “organisational capability (such as governance, finance, backup, management, insurance and the like) as well as the competence and qualifications of key staff members”.

It is notable that the bill does not include any requirement for staff competencies and qualifications.

Water New Zealand has recommended consideration must be given to the need for increasing the capacity and capability of the workforce to deliver water services.

Additional tasks for the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai

In their recent levy discussion document, the proposal for the authority’s funding, whether from the Crown or regulated water suppliers, will not increase over the three years.

Under the bill, the set of activities the authority is to undertake over these three years will increase dramatically. This includes to develop and maintain the National Engineering Design Standards, education, and training for self and small drinking water suppliers, develop Infrastructure design solutions and receive/ provide comment various plans and bylaws.

Water New Zealand questions whether the authority will be adequately funded. We acknowledge that a balance must be achieved between funding the regulator and imposing additional costs on consumers.

The need for broader and stronger objectives for water service providers

The objectives as set out in the bill are much too narrow, and they omit important, basic considerations for a water service provider.

Objectives of water service providers are fundamentally important, setting boundaries

around the scope of the provider’s operations and actions which they take when providing water services.

The statutory nature of the objectives is important because they ensure that all water service providers, regardless of location, achieve matters that are important in all communities. In short, all three water services (drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater) need to be provided for in the objectives for all water service providers.

Our submission recommends amending or adding new objectives that:

• Provide safe and reliable supply of drinking water.

• Treat and dispose of wastewater to protect public health, safeguard the environment, and recognise cultural values.

• Operate stormwater networks for quantity and quality – for flooding and support of aquatic and environmental health.

• Perform its functions in a way that partners and engages meaningfully with tangata whenua.

• Encompass climate impacts, mitigation, transition and adaptation and natural hazards.

• Support planning processes, housing and industrial growth, and urban development.

• Engage directly with consumers.

• Build, maintain, and support the capability of the water services sector.

• Exhibit a sense of social and environmental responsibility.

You can read our submission in the submissions section of our website: waternz.org.nz.

RMA Amendment Bill submission

Thank you to all our members who provided us with input into our submission on the Resource Management Act (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill. Water New Zealand’s submission generally supports the bill’s intention of making consenting of infrastructure easier and improving process and outcome certainty for system users.

The key points include:

• Water services infrastructure should be longlived infrastructure – picking out some and not others in this definition is misleading.

• Water services capacity is a key matter that needs to be part of urban planning decisions. Cohesion and integration with other legislation is key.

You can read more about this on our submissions page on our website and find out more in the legal comment on page 64.

Shaping the Future: A strategic research roadmap to drive innovation

Without transformation, the status quo will worsen as assets age, the population increases, public expectations rise, and climate change places increasing pressure on assets and systems. However, the case for transformative change is based not only on issues to be overcome, but also opportunities to be seized.

Towards 2050: Transformation vision for the water sector

It is undeniable that the water sector is currently undergoing significant transformational change and reform. Within the business of making this happen we need to keep an eye on the horizon, a matariki star cluster that keeps us on course and heading in the right direction. This was the intention of the Towards 2050: Transformation vision for the water sector project.

One of the key stars identified as critical to our future success is research and innovation. The final document, formed from consultation with members across the country, includes the vision that in 2050 there will be collaboration between the sector and research organisations; encouraging innovation within the sector; and investing in research delivers innovative approaches to issues.

This vision is not just going to happen. The water sector must plan to position itself at the forefront of innovation. Without a clear strategy,

research efforts risk being fragmented and under-resourced.

The Water Services Delivery Research Roadmap is a new Water New Zealand project designed to provide a strategic direction for research and funding agencies to prioritise water infrastructure as a key area of investment.

Our science and innovation framework is also undergoing transformation, aiming to maximise investment efficiency and align research with high-impact national priorities. By integrating water infrastructure into this framework, there is an opportunity to attract much-needed funding and research focus to issues that are critical to the sector.

Funded by the Water Services Managers’ Group, the research roadmap is being developed over the next eight months. The approach is designed to be highly collaborative, seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders.

The project will involve:

1. Evaluation of the current landscape:

Analysing existing research, key stakeholders, and ongoing projects.

2. Stakeholder engagement and consultation: Gathering insights from industry leaders, government bodies, and researchers.

3. Analysis and refinement: Synthesising data to identify research gaps and opportunities.

4. First report to stakeholders: Initial findings

reviewed and refined based on expert feedback.

5. Final report and public release: The roadmap will be officially launched in October 2025.

The water sector must actively advocate for research funding and highlight potential areas of collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and industry experts. The roadmap serves as a tool for guiding strategic investments and ensuring that water remains a central focus in national research discussions.

The government and industry both recognise that NZ Inc. cannot fund and develop all the solutions locally, but the roadmap provides a process to critically evaluate what the sector needs and where we can access key knowledge. In some cases this will be through bespoke research, in other instances it will be through importing and adapting overseas innovations. The point is to have a plan, otherwise the vision will be lost. How to get involved:

• Provide feedback on draft reports.

• Get in touch with your thoughts to belinda.cridge@waternz.org.nz.

• Look out for the information in Pipeline about consultation opportunities.

• Promote the report once it’s released.

For more information, contact belinda.cridge@waternz.org.nz

CDS HDD DESIGN LTD

Introducing CDS HDD Design Ltd, o our new design company that brings together our years of practical Horizontal Directional Drilling experience to help design better HDD projects.

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Following client demand, CDS HDD DESIGN LTD was formed by HDD specialists and engineers from one of New Zealand leading trenchless construction companies, CDS New Zealand Ltd. As a result the we have a wealth of local practial experience and market leading technical knowledge to back it up.

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New training opportunity: Emerging contaminants

Emerging contaminants, or more precisely, contaminants of emerging concern, are chemicals that often go unnoticed yet have the potential to infiltrate our environment, impacting both human health and ecosystems.

While industry professionals may be familiar with high-profile contaminants like PFAS and nitrates, detailed insights into the risks specific to Aotearoa New Zealand are often hard to find.

To bridge this knowledge gap, Water New Zealand has launched a new online training package dedicated to emerging contaminants. This self-paced course provides essential insights into key contaminants and their impacts, equipping you with the knowledge to tackle this growing challenge.

Designed to be completed in just two to six hours, the Contaminants of Emerging Concern digital pin delivers focused, up-to-date content on:

• Key emerging contaminants and their sources;

• Health and environmental risks posed by these contaminants;

• Effective management strategies to mitigate their impact; and

• Regulatory measures and compliance requirements.

The course explores contaminants including PFAS, personal care products, microplastics, haloacetic acids, and nitrate, providing a breakdown of their human and environmental risks, implications for the water sector, regulatory standards (where applicable), and treatment/ mitigation measures.

We’re proud to have collaborated with leading experts from Tonkin + Taylor and Stantec, who have generously contributed their time to ensure the course reflects international best practices and the latest research.

The Contaminants of Emerging Concern digital pin is available now on the Water New Zealand website. Like our popular digital badges (Wastewater 101, Stormwater 101, and Drinking Water 101/201), this course is fully online and selfpaced – learn anytime, anywhere.

Think all your staff should complete this course? Talk to us about subscription options. It’s cheaper to buy in bulk. Find out more and check out our other digital badges on the career development section of our website, waternz.org.nz.

New blue-green infrastructure course

Water New Zealand will soon introduce a new course on blue-green infrastructure, to be launched in mid-2025.

This new learning opportunity is designed for stormwater and water management professionals, blending theory with real-world application, covering key topics like water-sensitive design, biofiltration, wetlands, and sustainable water practices.

The new hybrid course will be led

Firefighting Water Supplies Code of Practice under review

Delivery of water for firefighting supplies plays a fundamental roll in dictating how our water networks are sized and managed. Requirements for firefighting water within municipal areas are outlined in the Firefighting Water Supplies Code of Practice. The code provides practices for planning and approving a subdivision, sizing a water storage facility, and when replacing or renewing a water main along with guidance on water storage facilities in rural areas and alternative firefighting water sources.

Standards New Zealand has been commissioned by Fire and Emergency New Zealand to provide an update of this important resource, last updated in 2008. Prior to public consultation, a water sector working group will be reviewing contents of the code.

Brendon Harkness, manager - asset lifecycle at Watercare, will be providing water sector representation on the committee. Your comments or reflections on important features of a new code update for the water sector are welcomed. Contact: technical@waternz.org.nz.

by industry experts Sue Ira and Andrés Roa, and will delve into practical case studies, design challenges, and interactive discussions. It will be delivered through our e-learning platform with live Zoom sessions, offering a flexible and engaging learning experience.

Don’t miss this chance to advance your expertise in resilient water management. Keep an eye on Pipeline for updates and registration details.

Water New Zealand scholarship applications due now

Time is running out for the first round of 2025 Leadership and Travel Scholarships, so those interested in applying need to do so now. Applications close on Friday, March 21.

Water New Zealand is committed to supporting learners, strengthening expertise and developing the next generation of leaders in the water sector. These scholarships offer members a chance to unlock new opportunities, connect with industry experts or gain international exposure.

Applicants must be a current voting (financial) member of Water New Zealand and have been for at least 12 months prior to the application. Student and recent graduate members do not qualify as voting (financial) members of Water New Zealand and therefore are not eligible to apply. Find out more on our website waternz.org.nz/scholarships and email your application to caroline.lewin@waternz.org.nz.

Opportunity for young professionals

Members under the age of 25 years of age are able to apply for the 5S (Gold Shovelers) Emerging Water Professional Conference Attendance Prize. Applications are sought once a year, usually in May, and offers the successful applicant the opportunity to attend the Water New Zealand Conference & Expo or the Water New Zealand Stormwater Conference & Expo.

Be quick – final days for Earlybird deals

Don’t miss these great offers – Earlybird registration closes on Friday 21 March. Be part of the conversation that’s building the future for stormwater resilience in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Join us and be inspired through presentations, workshops and cutting edge technology on display at over 50 expo stands.

Stormwater Excellence Awards – nominations close 24 March

Help us recognise excellence across the stormwater industry by nominating stormwater practitioners and projects that have demonstrated outstanding achievement, innovation and excellence.

For more information visit stormwaterconference.org.nz

Innovation Forum – submissions close 24 March

Do you have an innovative idea, product or solution that you’d like to share? If so, don’t delay.

Find out more at stormwaterconference.org.nz

Ka ora te wai, ka ora te whenua, ka ora ngā tāngata – If the water is healthy, the land is healthy, the people are healthy.

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Building on a legacy

Emma Brand inherited a drive and passion for bettering the world from an intrepid ancestor. This ambition makes her the ideal fit at Veolia, where she is country director for Aotearoa New Zealand, a company on a mission to improve water technologies. By Mary Searle Bell.

The daughter of a GP, Emma grew up exposed to science. Surrounded by copies of the National Geographic, atlases, and encyclopedias, she sated her natural curiosity by learning about the world.

“As a kid I was transported by those sorts of reference books. I used to tell people I wanted to be a haematologist – perhaps, as a precocious kid, that was more for shock value. But I did seriously consider medicine for a while.”

In the end, she enrolled to do chemical engineering straight out of school.

“I lasted two years before I dropped out. It didn’t connect with me.”

So, instead she took a gap year and travelled to Italy.

“I climbed Mt Vesuvius, and at the top I had an epiphany: Why can’t I study volcanoes? And so I did. I went home to Australia and started studying exploration geophysics at the University of Queensland.”

Graduating in 2003, Emma started working with a start-up called G-Tek in Brisbane. She describes it as a bunch of really smart guys that built some tech in their garage and turned it into some clever devices for finding things like unexploded ordnance, archaeological artefacts, and other buried items.

She then moved on to work as a geophysicist at Origin Energy for a number of years before upping sticks and moving to Newfoundland to complete her Master’s degree with Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Her connection with the Canadian island is an interesting one.

“My great-great-grandfather, David Jollie Brand, in 1868 at the age of 16, was one of a number of young stowaways on a ship heading to Quebec from Greenock, Scotland. The ship’s captain discovered them after they were too far away to turn around.

“He was a mean guy. He treated them very badly and ended up leaving them on ice floes off the coast of Newfoundland, poorly dressed and some without shoes. Fortunately, the boys were spotted walking towards shore across the ice and a boat was launched to rescue them, but not before a couple of the youngest children perished.”

Emma’s great-great-grandfather was taken back to Scotland and later became a marine engineer, emigrating to Australia in 1883, where he worked for the firm that was constructing the breakwater of Townsville Harbour.

His 1899 obituary says, “his combination of business shrewdness, intellectual ability, physical energy, and power to influence his fellow men, marked him out as one destined to do good work for many years.”

Something about her ancestor resonated with Emma – they are clearly cut from the same cloth – and she was always very curious to visit Newfoundland.

“It’s a very exposed place. Desolate, but it has amazing people with amazing stories.

“Moving there was my first real culture shock – I somehow thought Canada would be a cold Australia, swapping out moose for kangaroos.”

After two years at university, Emma moved to Alaska when she got a job with BP. She describes the state as somewhere she’d return “at the drop of a hat”.

“It has the best of American can-do, the best of American hospitality, and a love of the outdoors – the people balance the harsh environment.”

She joined BP just three months after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, and says it was interesting to watch the company’s response, especially relating to health and safety.

“I loved how they listened to the quietest voice in the room, it was a real lesson in diversity and inclusion. And poignant, given the disaster occurred due to individuals refusing to listen to dissenting voices and data.”

After nearly four years at BP, Emma was beginning to feel that Alaska was “a bit too far away” and decided to return to Australia.

She rejoined Origin, as she had loved working for the company previously. This time, however, she moved away from being a technical expert and instead took a role as a project manager for marine seismic surveys.

“I loved project management as it involved people problems –things like, how do you bring people together and mesh everything to achieve outcomes. I enjoyed working with stakeholders; to have to think deeply about their needs and then show up for them.

“Tech is so insular, you don’t really think about the community, but project management is all about telling the story – how to communicate in an impactful and meaningful way.”

Over the eight years from 2014, Emma worked her way up through the ranks at Origin, managing bigger and more complex projects along the way.

“I learnt a lot of cool lessons on how to influence people – how to wrangle all these different people from different departments and get them to prioritise my project. The key is to inspire – to get them to connect to the ‘why’. ”

During Covid, Emma started thinking more about what she would like to contribute to the world. Then she saw an opportunity come up at Veolia as country director for Aotearoa New Zealand.

“New Zealand is an amazing country and Veolia is an amazing organisation. It shares the same values as me: it’s purpose and value driven. We both have a purpose of ecological transformation – a future where we bring together councils, communities, and iwi to deliver better water solutions.

“I’m an explorer. Whatever it was that got my great-greatgrandfather on that boat, I have that. I want to test myself, to see if I sink or swim.

“He had an amazing journey across the world, via Newfoundland, to create a better world for his family, and I am doing the same.

“I also feel there is a connection between him and Veolia. It was founded in 1853 as Compagnie Générale des Eaux with a contract for public service water distribution in Lyon, just a year after my ancestor was born.

“These days, Veolia is the world’s largest water company, which exists to serve human progress. Our goal is to create a system that enables us to bring our global knowledge to bear – using the best of both worlds, both public and private, to deliver real-world solutions for people in our changing environment.

“New Zealand needs a new system for delivering water services – we can’t paper over our current system. Veolia, as the biggest and oldest water company in the world, has an important leadership role in helping implement change.

“There are a lot of weary people in the industry – it has been such a long journey to drive this reform. It’s pretty exciting to be able to see light at the end of the tunnel.”

As head of Veolia here, Emma says she has been fortunate to be able to build an amazing team around her, “full of people who bring great depth and passion to the industry”.

“I never profess to be an expert in water, but my team absolutely are.”

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Determined success

While an accident took Jason Ross from athlete to quadriplegic in an instant, it didn’t dull his drive to achieve. In the face of extreme adversity, he forged a career and is now a senior water engineer and GHD associate. By Mary Searle Bell.

As a teenager, Jason Ross’s plan was to join the RNZAF as a pilot and fly Skyhawks – he even went so far as to do testing with the air force in his 6th form year. While he passed the aptitude test, the air force was concerned he could be too tall for the Skyhawks and ejecting from the plane could result in broken femurs. In the end, he was told to complete his final year at school first.

A natural athlete, Jason had represented St Kentigern College in six senior teams in one year, receiving colours in all of them; the most ever awarded by the school.

“I considered becoming a physio, and to travel the world working with elite athletes.”

In the end, he went with his third choice – civil engineering –and in 1988, aged 18, Jason started his degree, doing well on his assignments and tests in his first semester. However, on the first day of the August holidays, his world irrevocably changed.

He was headed to Mt Ruapehu for a weekend’s skiing when the driver of the car fell asleep. The car accelerated into a ditch, up through a fence and flew through the air before coming crashing down on Jason’s side of the car, pressing the roof right down onto the top of his headrest. The force of the accident compressed Jason’s neck, sending his C6 vertebrae shooting outwards and completely severing his spinal cord.

Lucky to even survive, his neck injury meant his life was now to be lived in a wheelchair, paralysed from the chest down and with limited arm strength.

Jason spent seven months in the Auckland Spinal Unit trying to build up some strength.

“I remember they had me try and bench press a broomstick –just the stick, no brush attached – and I couldn’t do it. It felt like lifting 100kg.”

While there, the university thought he may be able to sit exams, but when they saw him, lying there with weights hanging off his head to keep his neck and spine straight while it healed, they immediately concluded there was no way he could sit exams or even study.

“I have no finger movement and very limited movement of my hands. Luckily, my grades were good so the university decided to aggregate that first year and pass me.

While Jason was in the spinal unit, he visited the university and met with the dean of engineering. At that time the dean believed it would be too difficult to continue the degree with such a serious injury. Jason being determined, was discharged from the Auckland Spinal Unit on a Friday at the end of February, and started back at university on the following Monday.

“At the beginning, mum would drive me to uni, and over time, when I got stronger and more confident, I started carpooling with friends. Fortunately, all my classes were in the engineering school and I only had to cross the road for a few labs. Also, my best friend was doing the same degree as me along with a couple of guys from school, and they’d help me out.

“The uni also gave me a car park right behind the school and right next to the maintenance lift, which helped a lot.

“Initially, I thought I could do the required nine papers plus labs that first year back, but I was too weak. I could only manage five papers plus labs. This meant that by the end of my fourth year I was trailing slightly and had to go back for a fifth year to finish off four papers.”

Jason completed his degree in 1992 and in doing so became the first quadriplegic to complete a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Hons) at the University of Auckland. He received a standing ovation at his graduation ceremony, which was a very proud moment for his family, friends, and himself.

Then he began to start looking for a job.

“The big companies would advertise job opportunities at uni for graduates to send in their applications for interviews. As soon as they saw me in a wheelchair, I could tell by the look on their faces that it was going to be a waste of time.

“Other companies tried really hard to accommodate my disability, but simple things like having no mobility toilet access meant they couldn’t hire me.”

It went on like this for months and months, and as September of the following year approached and Jason still was without a job, he knew something had to change.

“I knew I’d soon be competing with a fresh bunch of graduates, so I did a bit of research and found an organisation called Workbridge, which specialises in finding jobs for people with disabilities and other challenges.

“I said I’d do three months’ work for free to give me some job experience, which would put me ahead of the other grads. They rang around for me and got me a position with Manukau Consultants, the engineering branch of Manukau City Council.

“I worked alongside the engineers from 10am to 3pm. However, after a month, I got pneumonia and had to leave. I thought, that’s a great advertisement for someone in a wheelchair.”

But then, Jason got a call from the acting CEO of Manukau Consultants, asking if he’d like to interview for a position they had going in their structural engineering team.

“If it wasn’t for that gentleman, I wouldn’t have my career. He was

willing to give me a go and judged me as a normal person.

“It turned out there was no interview. He took me to meet the team and said, this is your boss, this is your desk, if you want the job you can start on Monday. He then showed me my carpark and said my co-workers would help me out of my car until I was strong enough to do it myself.”

After seven years in the structures team, Jason decided it was time for a change.

“I moved across to the water team and started out doing local watermains for Manukau Council – things like site measure ups with the help of an assistant, watermains alignments, connection details, CAD drawings, and tender documents.

“Around the same time GHD came across from Australia and acquired us. We started doing work for Australia, and their specialists assisted us with larger project wins. We learnt a lot and could see the benefits of being part of an international company.”

Jason says, over the years he’s become a specialist in steel and polyethylene pipe design for large watermains, working on numerous projects for Watercare, including Hunua No.4, Huia No.1, Orewa No.1, and many other watermains throughout the country.

And while he has risen to the level of a GHD associate and senior water engineer, he has been limited in his career: “I’ve never done construction management as I can’t go to site readily.”

Technology advances have made things easier – he uses design tools such as CAD and Civil3D, and also views and checks designs in BIM by utilising a special mouse adapted for his disability.

“I wear a special band around my hand which allows me to hold a pencil with a rubber tip. I use this to type with and operate the

computer. With the advancements in AI, life with a disability will only get easier, especially in assisting people like myself.”

But perhaps the biggest limiter to his work is simply how much energy he uses doing the basics.

“I wake at 5am to start getting ready for the day and I’m in bed by 8pm most nights. I have no abdominal muscles due to the paralysis, so I use so much energy balancing in my chair to stay upright.

“Over the last couple of years, things have become a lot tougher, and I struggle with tiredness. My job too, now I’m an experienced senior, has a lot more pressure and stress. In the last six months of 2024 I had a few serious health issues.”

Jason is quick to credit the support he gets, particularly from his co-workers and GHD as a company.

“The team at GHD have been amazing to me. I have come to realise I have people watching my back – they help me out of my car by getting my chair out of the boot; they don’t leave me alone in the building if I’m working late; get me hot drinks, stay with me during fire drills, and there’s no pressure to come back to work when I’m unwell.”

Now aged 55, Jason has started looking to the future. His goal is to continue working as long as he can, as he enjoys the people he works with and mentoring all the young graduates within the water team. He says he would also like to travel more while he is mobile and get back into sport, perhaps table tennis.

Jason’s career success is spectacular, particularly in light of the fact not many quadriplegics work at all.

“I studied hard for it, and I enjoy it. I love engineering, and GHD is a great company to work for.”

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Make do and mend

The top two papers from the Water New Zealand Conference and Expo 2024 provided case studies on the theme of ‘make do and mend’ rather than ‘throw out and replace’; investing up-front time to understand issues and optimise existing facilities, to reduce, defer, or even avoid significant capital expenditure. One of the authors, Ian Macbeth, states the case for ‘make do and mend’.

Having a mother who grew up in London during the Second World War, one of the values instilled into me has been ‘make do and mend’. I’ve carried it into my working life.

With a background in water and wastewater treatment operations management, I’m a slightly unusual fit in a consultancy stuffed with design engineers. It’s recently struck me that my design colleagues tend to be focused on either end of a treatment plant’s lifecycle – the front end when designing and installing shiny new things and then the back end when determining what upgrades or replacements are required. Yet these two stages are just bookends to the much longer operating period of a treatment plant’s life.

For me, this middle period is the far more interesting and challenging. It’s about getting the most out of existing assets, dealing with what we’ve got and maximising their efficiency in producing compliant outputs and reducing stress and hassle for plant operators – before resorting to calling in the design engineers.

And for much of that operational period, it’s essentially about ‘make do and mend’; working within available operating budgets and other resource constraints. It’s not glamorous work, but it is mission critical.

This dichotomy between designers and operators has led me to postulate a thesis about how we in the water industry deal with treatment plant troubleshooting. There’s a typical sequence that unfolds when significant operational problems arise (usually signaled by chronic or acute compliance failures).

Due to internal resource constraints, it’s often more expedient for asset owners to call in consultants to provide troubleshooting advice – to analyse issues and propose solutions – in a short timeframe, rather than divert operational personnel from their time-pressured day-to-day tasks to work through issues inhouse.

Consultants typically work on the basis of ‘time = money’ so, out of necessity, propose as little time as feasible to offer costeffectiveness in their troubleshooting work.

Consequently, consultants’ time on site ‘kicking the tyres’ is often limited to a day or two which, by definition, provides only a superficial snapshot of how the treatment facility performs and how the asset owners operate it.

Equally, time on site is usually ‘plant focused’, rather than ‘operator focused’. The investigation is directed at the physical assets rather than interrogating the operators, who are the ones holding the institutional knowledge of the plant, how it is run,

Ian Macbeth at Stirling BioFiltro Wastewater Treatment Plant, Clutha District.

why certain tasks are (or aren’t) undertaken and can demonstrate how well (or not) they understand the requirements of operating the plant to meet the required outputs. Our attention is directed in the wrong places and at the wrong things.

Related to Point 2, it’s often juniors who are delegated to do much of the consultancy work, under oversight of seniors. By definition, these juniors have limited experience and understanding of the actuality of treatment plant operations; relying on the theory found in standard textbooks and reference guides.

Following the site visit, consultants will then review clientsupplied operating data. Yet this data is frequently limited in both scope and veracity. While plant flows are normally recorded, often as not, it’s only the plant’s output quality – whether water or especially wastewater – that is analysed routinely. This means the treatment plant is treated like a ‘black box’ – raw material comes in, processes take place within and an output of semiknown quality comes out.

Moreover, the accuracy and representative nature of the recorded data may be questionable – when was that meter last calibrated? Where exactly was that sample taken? How do we know that a bypass event wasn’t occurring when a sample was

taken? Was the dosing system working then? Why was there a gap in the data record?

In these circumstances, consultants must work with what’s available and, as far as reasonable, take data at face value.

Underlying this, with limited time on site and referencing limited and potentially unreliable plant operating data, the focus is on how the plant has performed against design parameters and regulatory requirements, rather than how the plant is operated by the asset owners.

Inadvertently, this perspective implies that operational activities are assumed to be optimal.

There’s also an unspoken truth: there’s almost a conflict of interest in design engineers being commissioned to provide troubleshooting advice – their training and experience is in designing facilities and that’s their happy place. They want to be able to provide the client a solution that enables them to design and oversee the installation of those shiny new things.

Almost inevitably then, unless providing interim advice that more plant data are required to enable recommendations, the consultant’s report will recommend capital upgrades of some form – replacement of some or all of the existing equipment or installation of additional equipment.

If I was to paraphrase all the above, it would be: Ask a design engineer to provide troubleshooting advice and they’ll give you a design-based recommendation.

Fundamentally, in providing troubleshooting advice, there’s an argument for a necessarily robust understanding of how treatment facilities are being operated, rather than simply focusing on textbook design parameters and plant outputs. In gaining this operational insight and incorporating it into troubleshooting advice, less costly and less disruptive improvements may be possible, without recourse to significant capital investment.

This has multiple and long-lasting benefits, beyond simply achieving plant output improvements – deferring capital outlay, sweating assets more effectively (at times, allowing them to be pushed beyond design limits), and minimising or avoiding waste produced from demolition and construction of new physical assets.

And that operational insight while troubleshooting will often identify issues around on-going maintenance.

In this modern world of ours, we have such a focus on shiny new things, with equipment being treated as consumables having a nominal lifespan, we’ve engendered a culture of

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Author Ian Macbeth at Kaitangata Wastewater Treatment Plant, Clutha District.

‘throw out and replace’: the antithesis of ‘make do and mend’. Certainly, my experience both in the UK and in Aotearoa New Zealand has been that, besides observing sub-optimal operational activities at treatment facilities, routine maintenance of plant and equipment is often lacking.

While we inherently know that, for example, regular cleaning, calibration, lubrication and replacement of wearing parts will increase reliability, longevity and effectiveness of equipment, front-line staff often don’t have the prescribed work task schedule, the equipment manuals, the tools, or even the training and skills to undertake this work. Consequently, equipment gets neglected, fails prematurely and then gets replaced because it’s more cost-effective than undertaking an off-site overhaul by a contractor.

All of the above is exacerbated by the context of local authority funding. Once any such capital recommendation comes back to the client, it’s a simple task to add it as a line item, complete with ‘$[x],000k’ budget, to an annual plan or a long-term plan for medium-term implementation.

Because capital expenditure can be funded by loans and depreciated over a period of years, it’s often more palatable to the community because the costs can be spread (even if it can still have a significant long-term impact on council finances through servicing of loans).

Conversely, any increase in operational costs must be borne immediately and normally translates into higher council rates for its ratepayers.

A recent example of this ‘make do and mend’ approach was the subject of a paper I presented at the 2024 Water New Zealand Conference and Expo called “It’s Not (Just) About The Book” [waternz.org.nz/Article?Action=View&Article_ id=2907]. There, five chronically under- performing and non-compliant wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) had previously been investigated by multiple consultants, all of whom had recommended permutations of capital upgrades, up to complete replacement. None had been implemented, so I had the opportunity to look under the hood and give the tyres a good kicking.

Spending time with the operators and drilling into how the WWTPs operated (rather than just examining what they produced) identified multiple previously unrecognised issues. Working through the issues in a structured manner included making minor changes to the wastewater irrigation system, establishing standardised daily plant data recording sheets with accompanying notes on ‘expected figures’, developing a comprehensive site task listing with required frequencies, implementing an inter-stage sampling and analysis regime, providing a ‘Wastewater 101’ training session for the operators, revising O&M manuals written with operators in mind, and reprogramming of the automated controls to better achieve intended outcomes.

The work has delivered positive improvement in outputs, some to full compliance and all without resorting to capital outlay.

Another paper presented at the same conference by my Australian colleague, Craig White, took a slightly different angle on the ‘make do and mend’ mantra: re-use of existing equipment

when upgrading a WWTP [“ Improving Treatment Plant Upgrade Planning by Understanding the Capabilities of Existing Assets”, waternz.org.nz/Article?Action=View&Article_id=2894].

Previous optioneering to provide additional treatment capacity had been predicated on replacing the treatment process. Yet careful consideration of the existing process identified that a reconfigured re-use of the existing technology would deliver the capacity increase in three stages, with reduced disruption while also reducing both capital and operating costs by around a third.

Notably, the first upgrade stage was simply to optimise the existing process to increase capacity. The final paragraph of Craig’s abstract sums it up well: “The key message from this work is it is often possible to make existing treatment assets perform with improved capacity and quality if there is an investment in detailed monitoring and assessment.

“With this information we were able to relax in-built design contingencies, unlock capacity and reduce capital and operating costs. The extra capacity enabled [the client] to defer a major upgrade and progressively upgrade the plant resulting in lower overall costs. This alternative upgrade approach would not have been possible if the ‘nameplate’ capacity of the plant was taken as fact.”

The two case studies highlight the long-term benefit of investing time into treatment plant troubleshooting, to understand how the facility is being run, how all the process stages are performing and how individual components can be enhanced.

This contrasts to the normal scenario of incurring less upfront effort and cost only to engender greater capital investment and cost to the community later. Partly, it’s about investigating and understanding causes, rather than just drawing conclusions from observed symptoms.

Of course, much can be achieved through investing in the front-line staff who operate and maintain facilities. Giving them the training and the tools, providing structure to their work, providing feedback and backing them up with technical support and development opportunities can go a long way in enabling optimisation of the facilities under their control.

I’ve come to realise that key attributes for operators (and, indeed, other staff) are being passionate, taking ownership and remaining curious – they go a long way to creating a culture of ‘can do’ proactivity and problem solving.

Ultimately, it’s about culture vs capex, where operations and maintenance are valued, rather than being the poor cousins of capital delivery – investing in development of operational staff, processes and procedures. In doing so, longer-term, insidious cost increases to our communities can be deferred and/or minimised.

I’d like to see more focus on the burnished and well-loved, rather than the shiny and new. ‘Make do and mend’ makes sound financial, social, and environmental sense.

Ian is a principal at Beca, where he has worked for 17 years, for much of that time as the manager of the Southern Water team. He’s accumulated more than 35 years’ experience in the water industry, spanning regulation, operations and consultancy. On a personal level, he still owns one car which was bought second-hand in 2008 and was new in 1998.

Judges Bay wastewater upgrade milestone

With the new underground wastewater pump station now in place, Watercare is making significant progress towards lifting the long-term Safeswim black pin status at Judges Bay in Auckland.

The installation of the pump station is a key achievement in Watercare’s $13.2 million Judges Bay wastewater upgrade, which also includes the installation of two wastewater pipelines: a rising main on Judges Bay Road and a gravity main on Cleveland Road.

Together, these infrastructure upgrades will increase the capacity in the local wastewater network and reduce the frequency of wet weather overflows at Judges Bay.

The upgrade is Watercare’s permanent solution to a broken wastewater pipeline underneath the Parnell Rose Gardens –believed to have been caused by extreme flooding during the 2023 summer storms.

Watercare project manager Frank Lin says the submersible pump station, which weighs 8.5 tonnes and is 8.4 metres tall and 3.5 metres wide, was delivered and installed on the same day.

“The submersible pump station was delivered to the site on a flatbed truck at 6:30am and was installed by around 1pm.

“It was lifted off the truck by crane and suspended in mid-air. The crew then manoeuvred the pump station by 90 degrees so it could be lowered into the 8.5 metre deep shaft.

“The crew did an excellent job of following the lifting plan and installing the pump station in a narrow and challenging site.

“Once the pump station had been lowered, secured in the shaft, and the support suspensions removed, the crew began backfilling the shaft and connecting the pipework and services, including power and water.

“The crew filled the pump station with water to prevent stress and compaction while the shaft was infilled with concrete to keep the pump station in place.”

Lin says the Judges Bay wastewater upgrades are on track to be completed by July this year.

“Our crews and contractors are making great progress with the upgrades, with stage

two of the upgrade – the installation of the new rising main on Judges Bay Road – now complete.

“Work is progressing well on stage three of the project with the installation of the gravity main now underway on Cleveland Road, which will connect with the rising main at the corner of Judges Bay Road.

“To install the gravity main, we’ll be using horizontal directional drilling, which will allow us to install the pipeline at

a shallow depth underneath the road with minimal surface excavation. This keeps costs down, minimises disruption and gets the job done faster.”

Ōrākei Ward councillor and deputy mayor of Auckland Desley Simpson says the community is eagerly anticipating the lifting of the Safeswim black pin status, allowing current and future generations to take a dip at Judges Bay.

Article provided by Watercare

The wastewater pump station will play a crucial role in reducing the frequency of overflows at Judges Bay.

The beauty of Brandenburger’s UV liners

Recently named by National Geographic magazine as one of the top 25 places in the world to visit in 2025, Northland has a lot to offer. Among its attractions; abundant wildlife, a marine playground and spectacular views.

On the secluded stunning Parekura Bay, a luxury residence building site had the unwanted potential threat of an ageing concrete stormwater pipe.

TDG Environmental, Australasian environmental experts, were contracted by the high-end builder, Mather Builders, to provide the best solution.

TDG Environmental Senior Project Manager, Andrew Twentyman, says as part of the scope of work, the pipe had been inspected by camera, and was found to be leaking. “It needed to be sealed and futureproofed.”

A trenchless (also known as keyhole), solution saw two UV-cured 750mm Brandenburger liners from BurrowTech installed, back to back.

Andrew says the main concern during the project, as always, was making sure nothing entered the waterways through delivery of the project.

As planned, everything went without a hitch.

“The whole project was completed within three days. It saved a lot of time

compared to conventional open cut methods (otherwise it could be up to two weeks). And it all went according to plan.”

Andrew says the liners will extend the pipe’s design life by 50 years and expected service life by 100 years.

Hayden Powell from BurrowTech says Brandenburger’s UV Liner offer a unique manufacturing process that allows the liner to expand effectively preventing creases or wrinkling. “Using the UV-cured, resin-impregnated glass-fibre, they create a fully structural pipe within the existing pipe, without reducing pipe flow capacity due to the improved smoothness. They avoid disruption, and you’ve got immediate commissioning after completion. That speeds things up a heap and saves money.”

Hayden says Brandenburger’s patented winding technology has produced more than 7,000,000 m of liners worldwide over the past 20 years. “It’s setting the standard and changing our whole industry.”

Ideal for condensed cities or remote sites, such as Parekura Bay, trenchless systems reduce emissions by approximately 80 to 85% compared with a trenched approach and excavated materials, additional equipment use, and transport needs, are cut to almost zero.

Lessons from successful municipal wastewater consenting

By Sarah Sunich, senior environmental scientist, and Shaun Hamilton, regional leader – Waikato, GHD.

The process of consenting municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges is becoming increasingly complex. This is due to national legislation and regional plans that are part of freshwater policy reviews, as well as potential changes or simplifications in government policy regarding wastewater discharges that could upend progress.

When you factor in local strategies, stakeholder and community engagement, environmental aspirations, and prohibitive costs of necessary upgrades, navigating this landscape can be daunting.

Drawing on our experience with two successful WWTP consenting projects in the Waikato region, we’ll be exploring 10 key aspects and lessons learned. These projects include the Cambridge WWTP discharge consents (granted in 2023) and the district-wide WWTP consents for Matamata-Piako District Council (MPDC) (currently being processed).

Early and ongoing engagement with partners and stakeholders

We divided our approach into two streams. The first focused on working closely with mana whenua partners and key stakeholders – such as advocacy groups and government bodies – right from the outset. The second stream involved informing the community during the later, more evolved phases of the project.

Each project has a unique mix of partners and stakeholders, with different preferences for engagement. However, a commonality is that early, ongoing engagement is crucial for building support. This often leads to greater buy-in, which can result in savings on both timelines and costs as the project progresses.

For mana whenua partners, it’s essential to establish a clear and shared understanding of what partnership really means. Does it involve sharing information at defined intervals, or is it about collaborative decision-making on key aspects of the project? If it’s the latter, it’s important to define what those key aspects are, so everyone is aligned about roles and expectations.

For both projects, we collaborated with mana whenua, defined Terms of Reference (ToR)/Ngā Tikanga a te Rōpū Mahi defining core values, roles, and protocols. Alongside the ToR, a kaitiaki group was established – providing a forum for discussion allowing us to workshop, co-design, and make decisions.

This process takes time, so starting early is fundamental. The ToR should also acknowledge the level of commitment required

from mana whenua partners and the time demands placed on their representatives.

It’s important that the ToR clearly outlines fair remuneration for their participation, recognising the value they bring to the table.

Developing a cultural values assessment early on will help to identify cultural concerns and desires from the outset, to align project goals.

For key stakeholders and the public, an engagement plan should be developed detailing engagement timing and the level of information shared at each stage.

For Cambridge WWTP, this involved six-monthly update meetings with a community liaison group, which increased in frequency closer to lodgement. For the consenting of MPDC WWTPs, key stakeholders contributed through a wastewater working group, which also included representatives from the kaitiaki group.

Broader community engagement efforts focused primarily on providing information through drop-in sessions, web page updates and letter drops.

Effective recording and minuting of hui and meetings is essential. For example, in the Cambridge WWTP project, a potentially significant change to consent conditions was processed quickly, due to the detailed minutes and the clear record of agreements that were provided to the regulator.

Collaborative and comprehensive optioneering

A robust consideration of alternatives is crucial for any discharge application. Our experience shows that this should involve input from mana whenua partners and key stakeholders, starting with clear, agreed project principles (kawa) and objectives. This sets a foundation for developing key performance indicators to evaluate options.

Treatment and disposal methods must be considered together to allow fair comparison. For example, understanding the treatment requirements for land application versus water discharge is critical for an accurate assessment.

Affordability is another key metric that should be considered throughout. There’s little value in agreeing on a non-financially viable option. Early discussions allow partners and stakeholders to understand the implications and potential trade-offs. Using Treasury’s best business case processes means that options are considered transparently and collaboratively.

For MPDC, a narrative of the options evaluation was created as part of developing a single-stage business case to inform Council’s LTP process.

In both case studies, the collaborative optioneering process led to mana whenua partners submitting in support of the consent applications.

Allowing sufficient timeframes for environmental investigations

WWTP discharges are complex and have potential for substantive environmental impacts. This is important not only for new discharges, but also for the significant number of WWTPs throughout the country, many of which will see their consents expire in the next 10 years.

Baseline environmental investigations are necessary to adequately assess the current and potential effects of existing and future discharges. These investigations can take time, and a ‘complete’ analysis typically requires a full annual monitoring regime. This will enable the evaluation of different conditions, from summer/ low-flow, to the winter/high-flow scenarios. In some cases, several seasons of data are needed.

The takeaway is that these investigations need to begin years

before lodgement, not months. A smoother consent process can be achieved when information is gathered up-front, enabling quantitative assessments and modelling to be undertaken, rather than leaving this as a ‘condition of consent’, as was often the case historically.

For Cambridge WWTP, an initial ‘short-term consent’ was required to allow investigations time to inform the long-term solution. This should be avoided where possible.

Invested client-side representative

An invested client-side representative with a clear role and availability to respond to a council’s position adds value to the consenting process. This representative is pivotal in liaising between project teams, stakeholders, communities, management, politicians and when necessary, regulators.

Involving the regulator

Involving the regulator for WWTP discharge consenting projects provides value by obtaining their perspective on requirements and necessary information, while ensuring transparency in the project’s development.

Discharge structure from river in early 2024.

For both cases, Waikato Regional Council attended numerous hui, offering insights and direction. As a result, timeframes for processing have been reduced, with proposed conditions for the MPDC WWTPs project largely agreed upon prior to application notification.

Using effective document sharing and stakeholder engagement platforms

Technology is changing how consenting projects can be delivered. Cloud-based platforms like SharePoint are crucial for collaboration, client reviews and document control. They streamline reviews, eliminate document control issues, and improve collaboration within teams and stakeholders.

Technology has changed the way we engage on large, complex, or controversial projects. Digital platforms, like engagement rooms, allow broader participation, especially for those unable to attend in-person events. This became important during Covid for the MPDC WWTPs consenting project, where online platforms enabled 24/7 access to information for stakeholders.

The more effective and informative the tools can be, the fewer questions and objections arise.

Early drafting of consent conditions

Proposed resource consent conditions should be considered a fundamental part of the project. These conditions should be developed early, with input from partners and stakeholders, and where possible, include clear reasoning for future reference.

For Cambridge WWTP, Waipā DC and mana whenua codesigned the consent conditions to ensure all issues were mitigated and compliance with iwi management plans and Te Ture Whaimana (the Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River) was achieved.

For both case studies, proposed consent conditions, along with draft applications, were shared with stakeholders prior to lodgement for feedback. While drafting conditions can be an iterative process, our experience shows that this collaborative approach leads to a smoother process for finalising conditions after lodgement.

Management and monitoring plans

WWTP discharge consents generally require management and monitoring plans, including cultural monitoring frameworks. Developing these plans early, as part of technical assessments and consent documentation, provides transparency and builds confidence with regulators, partners and stakeholders.

While this approach involves additional up-front costs, it can reduce post-lodgement work and the likelihood of hearings.

By having these plans in place, we were able to confidently assess the potential effects and management approaches, assuring the regulator and stakeholders that robust monitoring and management techniques would be implemented, resulting in consents being granted without a formal council hearing.

Early contractor involvement

Early contractor involvement (ECI) provides insights into how upgrades would be implemented, especially when works are needed within waterbodies.

For Cambridge WWTP, a significant discharge structure was

required on the banks of the Waikato River (see Figure 1). ECI helped define the construction methodology, so that it was captured in the consents. This reduced the need for changes to consent conditions post-granting and streamlined implementation.

Management and political buy-in

Implementing the lessons outlined above leads to better outcomes, smoother consenting processes and enhanced relationships with mana whenua and stakeholders. In our experience, it results in substantive time and cost savings post-lodgement, though it requires a greater upfront investment.

To be successful, buy-in from client management and politicians is important, and effective communication about the benefits of this approach is essential.

Incorporating these principles not only facilitates a smoother consenting process but also helps to foster lasting relationships with mana whenua, stakeholders, and the broader public, significantly enhancing the success of future water projects.

Figure 1.

The Matamata-Piako District Council wastewater consent hui at Tui Pa, Te Aroha.

Help shape the future of wastewater

Consultation on the future of wastewater is open, providing an opportunity to get involved in a once in a generation opportunity to lift the performance of wastewater networks.

The Water Services Authority, Taumata Arowai, has been working alongside a wide range of experts to develop the country’s first set of national wastewater environmental performance standards, with input from representatives of local and regional councils, iwi and hapū, as well as industry experts.

Now it wants feedback on proposals for the national standards to help ensure wastewater consenting becomes more cost-effective while protecting public health and the environment.

Wastewater consenting today

Just over four million people are served by public wastewater networks, which are primarily owned and operated by territorial authorities. All are regulated by regional councils.

With most of our wastewater infrastructure built 30 to 40 years ago, much of it will need to be upgraded or replaced in coming years. This challenge is amplified by population growth intensifying demand on wastewater networks across the country.

Upgrading wastewater treatment plants is one of the most significant infrastructure challenges facing the country.

Approximately 60 percent of public wastewater treatment plants will need a renewed wastewater consent over the next 10 years to enable essential wastewater upgrades, with approximately 20 percent of plants currently operating on an expired resource consent.

At present, the process to obtain a wastewater consent for public networks is expensive and time consuming for everyone involved: the territorial authorities that apply for consents, the regional councils that issue them, and the communities that fund this essential infrastructure.

Wastewater standards that set clear expectations about treatment quality are a key way to help address this challenge.

A 2021 New Zealand Infrastructure Commission – Te Waihanga report confirmed that the cost of consenting in the waste and water sectors is considerably higher than it is in other infrastructure sectors.

The opportunity

The proposed national standards would establish requirements for future wastewater consent applications and streamline the consenting process, making it more efficient and cost-effective.

It’s estimated that national standards could save territorial authorities, and the communities they serve, up to 40 percent of consenting costs – potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. They would also serve to reduce the time required to process consents, while upholding public health and environmental protections.

There is also the potential for significant cost savings over time from standardising this infrastructure.

At present, there are varied approaches to managing, monitoring, and reporting on wastewater network performance. The proposed standards would require nationally-consistent wastewater monitoring and reporting.

This would help make the performance of public wastewater networks clear and transparent for everyone, and enable performance benchmarking, which is a common feature of many similar

infrastructure sectors. This is an essential first step toward enabling sector improvements.

Proposed standards would also provide invaluable information about costs and treatment expectations to support territorial authorities and their communities’ decision-making on the options for managing wastewater. This includes helping to set expectations about what ‘good’ treatment quality is, and what treatment plants should be expected to consistently achieve.

What proposed standards cover

The proposed standards cover the most common wastewater consenting areas. This aims to maximise the benefits of a nationally consistent approach. They include the discharge of treated wastewater to waterbodies and land, beneficial biosolid reuse, and managing treatment plant bypasses and overflows from wastewater networks.

Any areas not covered by this suite of standards would continue to be considered through existing Resource Management Act consenting processes.

The proposed standards aren’t one-size-fits-all. Treatment approaches are tailored to fit the level of risk to public health or the environment. This means that where there is very low environmental or public health risk, the requirements would be lower, reducing the cost of wastewater treatment. In turn, environments that are more sensitive would have greater treatment requirements.

The proposed standards would be implemented as consents are renewed or new consents are sought, and would only apply to public wastewater networks. They won’t apply to privately owned wastewater treatment networks or septic tanks.

Looking to the future

The standards are a key part of Local Water Done Well, the Government’s approach to addressing long-standing water infrastructure challenges across the country. They are supported by proposed changes to the Water Services Act 2021 and the Resource Management Act 1991 that are proposed in the Local Government (Water Services) Bill that is being considered by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee.

The benefits of the national consistency gained through wastewater standards are significant and will help align Aotearoa New Zealand’s infrastructure approaches with global leaders like the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

Have your say

Visit the authority’s consultation hub at korero.taumataarowai.govt.nz to find out more and have your say. Your feedback today will inform future standards and how they are implemented.

Following consultation, a final proposal will be developed and final decisions made by Government.

This article was supplied by the Water Services Authority –Taumata Arowai

The hidden threat in our water:

Understanding antimicrobial resistance

Imagine a world where common infections become untreatable. This isn’t science fiction –it’s a growing reality as bacteria develop resistance to our antibiotics. While most people associate this problem with hospitals and medical settings, there’s a less visible but equally concerning development in our water systems. By Professor Naresh Singhal, director, Water Research Centre, University of Auckland

At last year’s Water New Zealand Conference and Expo, local experts sounded the alarm about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in our environment. What we’re discovering is fascinating and concerning: bacteria can develop antibiotic resistance even in places without antibiotics.

The complex web of resistance

The traditional story of antibiotic resistance focuses on overuse in medical settings. But nature tells a different tale.

Just as the movie Jurassic Park famously noted, “life finds a way”, bacteria are masters of adaptation. While they’ve always developed resistance naturally, climate change and human activities are accelerating this process in our waterways.

Environmental AMR is particularly challenging because it plays by different rules than what we see in medical settings. When doctors prescribe antibiotics, they understand how these drugs work to kill bacteria. But in our rivers, lakes, and wastewater systems, bacteria develop resistance through various means we’re still trying to understand.

Changes in temperature from global warming and discharges from our wastewater treatment processes might contribute to this phenomenon.

Our unique challenge

By 2050, AMR could cause 10 million

deaths globally each year. While Aotearoa New Zealand’s projected numbers are relatively small, our geographical isolation won’t protect us. International travel and trade mean resistant bacteria can reach our shores quickly. What’s more concerning is that our water systems could amplify the problem.

Aotearoa New Zealand already deals with waterborne diseases like campylobacteriosis, giardiasis, and cryptosporidiosis. When these infections require antibiotic treatment, resistant bacteria make them harder to cure.

Our wastewater treatment plants, especially in rural areas with less sophisticated systems, could inadvertently create perfect conditions for resistance to develop and spread.

Why should we care?

Our water bodies serve as both collectors and distributors of resistant bacteria. When we discharge treated wastewater into rivers and lakes – waters we use for recreation and food – we might create a cycle that spreads resistance through our communities. This risk is particularly high in rural areas where wastewater treatment might be less advanced. Our relatively high antibiotic use compared to other OECD countries adds another layer to this challenge. Many of these antibiotics eventually end up in our wastewater systems, potentially contributing to resistance development.

What’s the way forward?

Understanding and addressing this challenge requires a coordinated effort. Local councils and water utilities need to expand their monitoring programmes to track AMR in our water systems. This data is crucial for developing effective strategies to control resistance development.

To tackle this emerging threat, we’ve established a discussion group at the University of Auckland focused specifically on waterborne AMR. We welcome collaboration from interested parties who want to contribute to this important work.

For those interested in contributing to the discussions, please contact Naresh at n.singhal@auckland.ac.nz

Overcoming the challenges with operationalising water safety planning

Drinking water legislation requires suppliers to have a water safety plan (WSP) to manage drinking water risks. Despite appropriate legislation, regulations, drinking-water standards and global and local guidance, many suppliers still struggle to adequately operationalise their WSP. This article presents lessons learned from global WSP experience.

By Philip de Souza and Annalisa Contos, Atom Consulting.

To ensure your WSP remains relevant and up-to-date, it’s important to remember that successful water safety planning is a journey, not an event. This requires a continuous improvement philosophy being adopted throughout your organisation.

WSP principles must be embedded in day-to-day practices, and no matter where you are on your journey, keep moving forward and improving – share your experiences and learn from others.

Geographic and environmental diversity

Effective operationalisation requires consideration of geographic and environmental diversity, embedding WSPs within the organisation, and fostering an adaptation and continuous improvement mindset.

Our diverse geography presents significant challenges in operationalising WSPs. Each region faces unique challenges based on their specific environmental conditions, such as climate, topography, and water sources.

To address these challenges, WSPs must be tailored to the local context. This involves conducting customised risk assessments that consider local environmental factors and potential hazards and developing region-specific control measures.

It’s important to engage local experts and community members who have a deep understanding of local conditions, water sources and potential hazards.

Engaging communities and raising awareness can be challenging, especially in smaller, isolated communities. There is often a lack of understanding of the role of community members in maintaining water safety.

Fostering community involvement by being transparent and sharing water safety issues and solutions, can help build trust and improve cooperation.

Embedding WSPs within the organisation

Embedding WSPs requires an organisational cultural shift that prioritises water safety at all levels. This begins with strong leadership commitment to and endorsement of WSPs.

The establishment of clear organisational policies can help integrate WSPs into day-to-day operations and make it part of the business.

Effective communication and collaboration across organisational

business units is essential. The operations and maintenance team, and the strategy and planning team need to work closely with the water quality team. Establishing WSP teams with diverse skills and experience can help minimise operational blind spots.

Training and capacity building helps staff understand their roles and responsibilities. Regular training and emergency drills reinforce the importance of WSPs and keeps staff updated on best practices.

Incident debriefs and root cause analysis provide an opportunity to capture knowledge, building understanding across the organisation and feeds into the continuous improvement process.

Effective WSP implementation also requires coordination and collaboration among external stakeholders. This can be complicated by differing priorities, resource limitations, and varying levels of expertise, and developing clear communication channels and protocols can help facilitate information sharing and collaboration.

Most important is for the utility to start simple and get going with implementing its WSP. Initial implementation will be far from perfect.

We recommend following the Pareto Principle (or 80:20 rule) with incremental improvements to build familiarity and gain process momentum. Keep moving forward, step by step, every day.

To further embed this change management process and motivate staff, we recommended simple mechanisms and check-ins at various levels to ensure that ‘the elephant is slowly being eaten’.

Several areas of good practice have helped embed WSP principles in several water authorities in NSW, Australia, including, for example: • Regular check-in meetings (that provide a standing forum for

Philip de Souza

Annalisa Contos

A sample bow-tie diagram for ineffective filtration, highlighting the ability to capture barriers in place, consequences of hazards and hazardous events, and improvement actions to address shortcomings.

operators to raise issues, track performance, and keep the team accountable).

• Focusing on critical control points and immediately informing the regulator if critical limits are exceeded.

• Verification monitoring by the regulator (samples are collected by the utility with analysis costs borne by the regulator, and results stored on the regulator database).

• Participation by the regulator in risk assessments.

• Creating an easy-to-use structure on SharePoint/MS Teams channel for storing relevant documents and records.

• Conducting annual incident scenario exercises to test response and readiness (with the regulator present).

Visual tools, like bow-tie diagrams, improve risk communication and understanding. These diagrams help organisations identify critical risk pathways, evaluate control effectiveness and the need for change, and communicate risk information to diverse stakeholder groups, including both technical and non-technical audiences.

Adaption and continuous improvement

Water supply systems are dynamic, and new risks can emerge. Climate change requires an adaptive planning approach and resilient infrastructure. WSPs must be flexible and responsive, and fostering a culture of adaptability and of continuous learning and improvement encourages staff to proactively identify and address risks.

Regular reviews and updates help maintain WSP effectiveness. Implementing a robust feedback loop allows organisations to learn and continuously refine their WSPs.

Embracing innovation and new technologies, for example advanced monitoring systems and data analytics, can help identify potential issues before they become critical.

Even relatively well resourced and well managed utilities are not

Questions to ask yourself

• Have I developed my water safety plan?

• Do we have a solid foundation?

• Have I implemented my WSP?

• Do we have appropriate structures, processes, and systems in place?

• Was implementation achieved with inputs and assistance from other teams/all units within my organisation?

• Is my WSP embedded?

• Is the team aligned and working towards the same goal?

• Is WSP part of day-to-day activities?

• Is WSP part of top management’s business DNA?

• Will WSP related tasks/activities/processes continue without my supervision/intervention?

If you answered no to any of these questions, you may face challenges with the long-term sustainability of your WSP.

immune to challenges and weaknesses, and extraordinary shocks and stresses can highlight vulnerabilities that might not ordinarily be considered. This highlights the need to be able to adapt to changing circumstance.

Implementing WSPs can require significant financial investment, and this can be a barrier. Seeking funding is not always achievable or sustainable, and a shift toward cost effective/low-cost, high-impact interventions that can easily be implemented and maintained is key.

Finally, countries often identify a lack of WSP enforcement as a challenge to WSP sustainability. WSP auditing provides an opportunity to strengthen WSP operationalisation, impact and sustainability.

Indigenous knowledge merges with science to protect people from fish poisoning

Ciguatera fish poisoning is the world’s most frequently reported seafood-borne illness. It poses a serious health risk to tropical coastal communities, with some of the highest rates reported in Vanuatu. But now, Indigenous knowledge provides crucial insights for predicting fish poisoning outbreaks. By Meg Parsons, associate professor in historical geography, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Allan Rarai, PhD candidate in environmental management, The University of the South Pacific.

Our study documents a collaboration between scientists and indigenous knowledge holders on Vanuatu’s Ambae island. It offers a powerful new model designed to protect people’s health in vulnerable regions.

Ecological indicators and fish poisoning risk

Ciguatera poisoning occurs when people eat fish contaminated with ciguatoxins produced by marine algae that accumulate in reeffeeding fish. Symptoms can range from nausea and muscle pain to severe neurological effects. In some cases, the poisoning can lead to serious illness or even death.

For millennia, Ambae islanders have relied on their knowledge of the local environment to manage their lands and seas. They have observed ecological indicators, including environmental changes that precede ciguatera fish poisoning events, to monitor and respond to risks.

For instance, they note how heavy rains wash volcanic sediments into the ocean, triggering algal blooms that produce ciguatoxins. Likewise, jellyfish blooms and shifts in coral growth signal imbalances in the marine ecosystem, often preceding toxic fish contamination. These ecological indicators, passed down through oral traditions, have guided community decisions about fishing practices and food consumption.

The islanders’ traditional observations are now being woven together with scientific data to create an early-warning system known as the Gigila framework, named after a local term meaning ‘risk onset’, to aid public health responses.

Our research documents 14 key environmental indicators used by Ambae island communities. We cross-referenced these indicators

with climate, geological and marine data to confirm their accuracy. By comparing Ambae islanders’ observations with scientific data, we identify which indigenous indicators can be used to assess when and where ciguatera fish poisoning outbreaks take place.

Lessons for other regions

The Gigila framework is a community-driven early-warning system designed to reduce the risk of people eating contaminated fish. It uses visual markers, such as dials, to indicate risk levels.

Village elders appoint local people to act as observers to track environmental changes. They then share their observations (such as jellyfish blooms) with government agencies.

The Gigila model helps local community members make informed decisions about if and where they go fishing. It also strengthens collaborations between indigenous knowledge holders, scientists and medical professionals.

The approach makes health risk information more accessible and practical. Instead of replacing indigenous knowledge, it seeks to empower and enhance it. It also helps to ensure that younger generations learn about it.

Challenges of working with different knowledge systems

The weaving together of indigenous knowledge with scientific knowledge is not without hurdles.

Indigenous knowledge practices are deeply rooted in local culture, passed on through oral traditions and combined with lived experiences. Scientific research, in contrast, relies on standardised testing, numerical data and universal theories.

Unsurprisingly, miscommunication between scientists and indigenous knowledge holders abounds. Scientists sometimes misinterpret and misunderstand indigenous knowledge and treat it like data to be extracted and exploited. In doing so, indigenous peoples’ sacred knowledge systems, cultural identities and ways of life are disrespected and marginalised.

However, the success of the Gigila framework shows that respectful collaborations between scientists and indigenous knowledge holders are possible. At the heart of this collaboration is respect for indigenous knowledge holders’ expertise.

Another vital component is that indigenous communities are active participants in helping to create and maintain the early-warning system designed to protect their health. This approach highlights the strengths of combining different knowledge systems to address local environmental issues, which can be adapted to fit different problems and risks.

Local and global applications

The Gigila framework holds potential beyond Vanuatu. Many small island nations face similar challenges from fish poisoning. Climate change is making these risks worse by creating the environmental conditions that toxic algae favour.

Warmer sea temperatures, ocean acidification, more intense and frequent extreme weather events and changes in the distribution

of fish species are all contributing to more frequent fish poisoning outbreaks worldwide, including in areas with no history of it.

This highlights the need for enhanced monitoring and management strategies to reduce the impacts on human health and communities that depend on fisheries.

Other communities could develop their own early-warning systems drawing on the Gigila framework. Globally, indigenous peoples manage vast ecosystems. Their knowledge and environmental guardianship practices are critical for sustainability and environmental health, but are often sidelined in science and policy.

The Gigila framework highlights the continued relevance and importance of indigenous knowledge and the need for indigenous knowledge holders and scientists to work together in a respectful and equitable manner.

As climate change accelerates, partnerships between communities and researchers will be crucial. Governments should support locally led initiatives that promote the deployment of indigenous knowledge with scientific expertise to produce solutions that are both effective and culturally grounded.

The Gigila framework offers a compelling example of what’s possible when different ways of knowing are woven together. By embracing these approaches, we can build stronger, more resilient and adaptable communities in the face of an uncertain future.

This article first appeared in The Conversation

Strengthening governance forsustainable water services

By Judene Edgar, principal advisor –governance leadership, Institute of Directors.

Given the complexity of water infrastructure, ensuring the right mix of technical expertise and governance experience for water services providers is a challenge we need to prepare for.

The government’s Local Water Done Well initiative marks a pivotal moment in the governance of the country’s water infrastructure. This approach emphasises local ownership and decision-making. However, the magnitude of these reforms, which could lead to the establishment of numerous council-controlled organisations (CCOs) or separate entities, underscores the critical need for robust governance frameworks.

Effective governance and strong leadership will be essential to ensure these entities deliver safe, sustainable and efficient water services.

Submissions on the third and final Local Water Done Well bill closed on February 23. Within the legislation are options to address the challenges of water services delivery

including possible governance arrangements for the water service providers.

The new approach is deliberately flexible and affords significant scope for councils to choose to deliver internally, or either jointly or severally through a CCO or consumer trust model. The corollary of this is that it offers less prescription or guidance when it comes to some important matters such as governance arrangements.

In practice, while some councils could choose an in-house delivery model, under the Local Water Done Well framework councils could opt to establish a range of entities with independent boards to oversee water service delivery. This flexibility means that dozens of new organisations could emerge, each responsible for water infrastructure within a council’s jurisdiction. And with this, potentially hundreds of new governance roles.

The scale of these new entities – ranging from small councils managing water services independently to large regional collaborations – raises significant operational and strategic challenges. Good governance, technical expertise and financial resources will be essential to manage these complex water systems effectively.

The potential establishment of CCOs or

separate entities will require careful planning and coordination to avoid fragmentation, inefficiency and inconsistency in service delivery.

Ensuring that each new entity can meet high standards for water quality, environmental protection and infrastructure investment is a formidable task. The success of the Local Water Done Well reforms will therefore hinge on the ability of these entities, and consequently their governing bodies, to navigate these challenges while maintaining transparency, accountability and efficiency.

In this context, governance becomes the linchpin for success. Effective governance structures will ensure that new CCOs and water entities can operate sustainably, transparently and in the public interest, reducing risk and adding resilience.

The importance of good governance can be broken down into several key elements:

Clear roles and responsibilities

While the owners/shareholders will set out expectations, priorities, strategic direction and outcomes in a Statement of Expectations, each entity must have well-defined roles for board members, executives and councils.

Ambiguity in decision-making authority could lead to inefficiencies and conflicts.

Strategic leadership

Boards must possess a mix of governance experience, technical expertise, strategic insight and community representation.

The complexities of water infrastructure require leaders who can balance engineering, asset management and funding demands with long-term community needs and environmental stewardship to deliver a robust water services strategy.

Financial oversight

Sound financial management will be essential to ensure sustainable investment in infrastructure. This includes maintaining transparent funding mechanisms, managing debt responsibly and securing long-term financial sustainability, as well as meeting the requirements of the economic regulator.

Accountability and transparency

Non-council water service providers need to give assurance to their council owner(s) and the communities they serve that their water

services are being managed effectively and efficiently.

Regular reporting, public engagement and independent audits can foster trust and ensure accountability – including to the water services and economic regulators.

Risk Management

Water infrastructure is vulnerable to climate change, natural disasters and aging systems. Proactive risk management strategies are needed to address these challenges, build resilience and ensure continuity of service.

Long-term planning

The three-year election cycle of local government can have a significant impact on the ability of CCOs to focus on 10 or 30 year asset management and planning cycles. Navigating the short-term changes in strategic direction against long-term planning demands can be complex.

The previous three waters reform highlighted the difficulties of balancing local control with the need for scale and efficiency.

The Local Water Done Well initiative aims to address these risks by promoting collaboration, sharing best practices and adopting standardised frameworks for service delivery with regulatory control over water quality, water revenue and costs (through the introduction of an economic regulator).

Ensuring that newly formed entities are resilient and adaptable will be crucial. As we face increasing pressures from climate change, population growth, and aging infrastructure, water service providers must be equipped to evolve and respond to these challenges.

The creation of multiple new entities will demand a heightened focus on governance to avoid pitfalls and maximise benefits. Strong leadership, strategic oversight, and a commitment to transparency will be essential in steering these critical entities toward success.

By prioritising good governance, Aotearoa New Zealand can ensure that Local Water Done Well leads to a future of safe, sustainable and efficient water services for all.

Navigating the waters of change

Innovative approaches are being deployed across the global water sector to address growing water scarcity that can help our own water-constrained sector. By Dan Johnson, technical principal – water asset management, WSP NZ.

Worldwide, the demand for water is growing rapidly – it’s expected to rise by 20 percent by 2050. At the same time, we’re losing a third of the water we treat through leaks. Meanwhile, the impacts of climate change are increasingly widespread, with around one-third of aquifers (where we have good data) falling by more than 100mm every year.

Aotearoa New Zealand is not immune to these trends. We’re increasingly experiencing periods of water shortages, and with them, growing recognition of water as the lifeblood of our communities. It’s driving a radical change in water management. However, to succeed, this shift will have to address entrenched beliefs.

Historically, there has been a perception that water is abundant and we are ‘water-rich’. We haven’t seen the same level of regulation in our water sector as other countries, nor have our water bills typically been linked to consumption. As a result, we haven’t managed or understood the value of water as a precious resource.

That’s now changing. We’re starting to think about how to plan and use water sustainably to restore the health of our rivers and waterways in alignment with our environmental objectives.

In reality, however, we are lagging behind many other regions that have been actively conserving their water for many years. For example, in the UK (another country not instantly associated with drought), water utilities are required to submit water supply plans every five years, Water Resources Management Plans (WRMP), and to forecast water demand and supply 25 years into the future.

Here, leakage is one of our biggest concerns. We haven’t even got the means to quantify it effectively. But we also need to drive down demand and develop more water-efficient systems, including appliances. Smart metering will be an important tool. We’re only at the start of this journey, and getting our communities on board will be crucial.

The good news is that countless utilities in other parts of the world are already addressing these challenges. Indeed, some have been operating in water scarce contexts for decades.

WSP has uncovered some of the innovative approaches being deployed around the world. The result of this work is our latest white paper, “Navigating the Waters of Change” [wsp.com/en-gb/ insights/navigating-waters-of-change-research].

WSP’s Future Ready team conducted interviews with dozens of

Finding global solutions

With our growing populations, climate change, and aging infrastructure, managing water resources is a global challenge. The water crisis is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. By 2030, the World Bank estimates there will be a 40 percent shortfall in projected demand and available water supply with current practices. It’s already forcing water utilities across the country to rethink long-established approaches to water management. Yet the solutions to addressing water shortages are often looked at locally. US water companies look to US water companies. UK water companies often look to UK water companies.

We researched and interviewed water companies across the world to learn about their strategies for tackling existing and future water availability challenges.

Drawing from this endeavour, we have compiled top 10 lessons learned for best practices. Our advice focuses on long-term planning, collaboration, innovation, and effective governance.

Our latest white paper, “Navigating the Waters of Change”, aims to provide a global view.

By David Symons, WSP global future ready leader and director of sustainability.

water companies worldwide to identify not just the solutions but, crucially, also the challenges they faced in their implementation.

We looked at solutions in three overarching areas: Establishing new supplies; reducing demand; and fixing leaks.

From this, we have produced two outputs: Our top 10 lessons, ranging from long-term planning and stakeholder engagement to the use of cutting-edge technologies and effective governance, and a compendium of case studies highlighting a variety of initiatives.

Some of these initiatives have been in place for years and are delivering sustained results; others involve the latest cutting-edge technologies and, while still in early stages of development, are showing encouraging results.

We hope this provides a blueprint for other utilities that are perhaps only just starting to build strategies for tackling existing and future water availability challenges.

Wildfires and drinking water

While residents, city officials, and insurance companies pick through the rubble of January’s catastrophic wildfires across Los Angeles, the focus is now on how the city was so outgunned and seemingly unprepared for an event of that magnitude. Water New Zealand technical lead, drinking water quality and education, Belinda Cridge looks at the risks to drinking water systems posed by wildfire events and the lessons we could learn.

Lack of water pressure from the city’s hydrants hampered the ability of the fire department to run equipment, and the inquiry into the response will no doubt look at into questions such as why the Santa Ynez reservoir was empty prior to the fires breaking out.

The Los Angeles water utility has admitted that there was a drop in water pressure during the initial firefighting response and stated the reservoir was undergoing planned maintenance. While fires in January are unexpected, it’s been reported that simple maintenance had been underway almost a year.

The comment by the utility that the infrastructure isn’t designed for firefighting, has done little to quell public anger. “When firefighters arrive at a hydrant, they expect water to be available,” said Los Angeles fire chief, Kristin Crowley.

High winds restricted aerial dousing and left hydrants as the primary means of delivering water to appliances. This, combined with increased hose use and other draws on the system, resulted in a drop in pressure.

Janisse Quinones, chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, says that the system was pushed to the extreme.

“Four times the normal demand was seen for 15 hours straight, which lowered our water pressure.”

The empty reservoir is interesting from a financial point of view. The US uses covers on drinking water reservoirs to protect the water from bird droppings and other contaminants. The widescale use of chloramine disinfection requires slightly different storage protocols due to the risk of ammonia release over time. This leads to bacterial growth and unsafe drinking water.

Hopefully the inquiry will address whether the utility had sufficient funds and resources to address the required maintenance and any wider risks associated with poor infrastructure resourcing, such as around firefighting.

As the fires started to be contained, another risk began emerging.

The 2017 Tubbs fire in Santa Rosa is a well-known case where plastic pipes leached toxic contaminants into the water. Benzene and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are linked to cancer and other health effects, were of highest concern.

These chemicals can be released by both direct and indirect mechanisms.

Ground surface temperatures during fires can reach 200°C to 800°C, while plastic pipes begin to release toxic levels of VOCs at 200-250°C, depending on the type of plastic.

After the fires in Santa Rosa and Paradise, nearly one-fifth of service laterals were contaminated.

Burned pipes can also serve as conduits for contaminant-laden smoke, which gets sucked into damaged water systems as they depressurise.

Ash contains numerous chemicals of concern, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are linked to cancer. The risks associated with ash exposure through drinking water contamination are not

well understood, but inhalation during or after the fire is the primary concern.

US data indicates that small diameter pipes, called service laterals, which connect individual buildings to large water mains, are most at risk of fire damage.

“The service lateral’s attachment to the house is the vulnerable part. The pipe gets very shallow, and that’s where you see high soil temperatures,” says Erica Fischer, structural engineer at Oregon State University.

Plastic pipes have benefits, including affordability and earthquake resistance, and many US utilities continue to replace outdated pipes with new plastic service laterals.

However, equipping each new service lateral with a backflow preventer is now considered essential to help keep toxicants from flowing backwards out of a house and spreading through the municipal water distribution system.

Fires in drinking water catchments can be a source of contaminants for many years.

Fires are associated with increased leaching of nutrients, such as phosphorus from devegetated soil, increases in iron and manganese in water due to ash deposits, and possible heavy metal contamination such as arsenic, chromium and lead.

Higher dissolved organic carbon and increased turbidity from particulates can interfere with treatment processes for many months after an event.

Overall, research suggests that following a significant wildfire there are multiple risks to drinking water systems. Monitoring of both source and treated water should be increased and expanded to include benzene and heavy metals. If possible, monitoring of VOCs and PAHs such as toluene and/or benzo[a]pyrene may be advisable.

For more information and resources go to epa.gov/ waterutilityresponse/build-wildfire-resilience and tewhatuora.govt. nz/assets/Publications/Environmental-health/Response-to-WildfiresGuidelines-for-Public-Health-Officers.pdf

Drop by the Neura Chillout Zone at Stormwater 2025 to chat with our IoT Specialists about all things water management.

Water metering –it makes good cents

With the Commerce Commission confirmed as the economic regulator for water services and the requirements in the Water Service Delivery Plans (to be produced by 3 September 2025), all water service providers are being challenged to publicly state how they will provide water and wastewater services in a sound and financially sustainable manner.

By Steve Carne of Taonga Water, and Marty Cole, independent consultant.

Network and consumer water metering, along with volumetric charging, are key tools for managing water demand. They temper consumer demand, significantly reduce customer-side leakage, improve the accuracy of water balances and allow targeted application of operational resources. This leads to lower operating costs, deferred capital upgrades, and overall better management of water systems.

All the above sounds desirable and attractive, but has the rubber actually hit the road in terms of some of these potentially very favourable and apparently ‘no-brainer’ outcomes?

The short answer is a resounding yes, as illustrated below:

New Plymouth District Council

Seventy-seven percent of 25,500 water meters are now installed; 466 leaks fixed including one property using 60 cubic metres a day; 1.09 ML being saved per day; and a $4 million pump station upgrade deferred by 10 years+.

Kapiti Coast District Council

When installed in 2014, peak daily demand was reduced by 25 percent, average daily demand by 21 percent, and dry weather wastewater flow volumes by five to eight percent.

The $9.8 million investment in water metering deferred $36 million in capital investment for early source augmentation and water storage options by around 40 years. Notably, no water restrictions have been required during summer since metering was introduced.

Tauranga City Council

Universal metering was installed from 1999 to 2001, with billing commencing in 2002. Peak daily demand was reduced by 30 percent, average daily demand by 25 percent. It was 17 years before water demand reached pre-metering levels, summer restrictions were required, or a third water source was needed. All this with an additional 40,000 people added to the scheme.

Furthermore, notable reductions in dry weather wastewater flow volumes were observed.

Nelson City Council

Water metering was installed from 1996 to 1999, with charging starting from July 1999. Peak daily demand reduced by 37 percent,

and seasonal water restrictions are typically not needed. The deferral of a new water source was extended by more than 50 years.

Setting the context for water metering

Despite water itself being free and access to clean drinking water being a basic human right, collecting, treating, distributing, and managing water services comes at a cost. Introducing water metering changes how people and businesses pay for water and establishes a social contract with consumers, involving opinions on the suppliers’ intentions and foundational assumptions.

So suppliers must be clear on the reasons for implementing water metering and volumetric charging.

A lack of clarity of intent will lead to many challenges, but by being aware of them and addressing these upfront, suppliers can achieve a smoother water metering rollout.

With clear articulation of why you’re metering, be it respecting the intrinsic value of water and/or the desire to defer or cancel costly upgrades to meet rising demand, it’s time to develop policies and specifications for the programme.

The 2017 Good Practice Guide by Water New Zealand, “Water Metering of Customers on Reticulated Supplies”, offers comprehensive guidance on various engineering aspects, and best industry

Resources to help

Water New Zealand has been working with the Infrastructure Commission to socialise findings of their report “Valuing Water: Sustainable Water Services and the Role of Volumetric Charging”. The report is an excellent resource for building the business case for volumetric charging.

Alongside Local Government New Zealand, the commission has developed training on navigating the political challenges of a smart metering rollout. This is now available through Local Government New Zealand.

A webinar recording on managing political aspects of smart water meter implementation is also available via LGNZ’s Ākona platform.

2014/15 Water Use

practices. It informs policies that support clear communication with communities about responsibilities and costs, such as who pays for what – whether it be the individual or the council – and how the system will be managed.

We suggest referring to this document for much of the engineering details necessary in the establishment, rollout, operation and maintenance of a programme.

In addition to these technical engineering aspects, our experience has shown that some non-technical aspects are just as important for a successful programme.

In practice, water metering rollout is a massive logistics exercise that directly affects every ratepayer and consumer. So you’ll have thousands of small construction sites across your whole network with hundreds of customer interactions daily, and every installation will be scrutinised by the end user.

So, build a team (including installers) that can manage scale and volume, automate and systemise, where you can use digital workflows, and make sure everyone on the front lines of installation and customer queries understands the key ‘non-technical’ aspects of what they are doing.

Tight tracking of rollout builds confidence in progress and identifies bottlenecks and issues faster. A question answered confidently in the first interaction is a happier customer. And all this makes room for your technical experts to support the trickier installs, such as commercial customers and tougher who-pays conversations.

You’ve found a leak now what?

Every new installation is an opportunity to identify the needles in the haystack that have been leaking for years. There may not be as many as you thought, but some could be eye-wateringly large.

A small number of consumers will proactively fix leaks when notified. Experience has shown that it’s not until the consumer understands the potential cost of the water being used that voluntary corrective action is typically triggered.

Running a trial reading period has shown to activate wise water use and fixing leaks by consumers.

The graph shows the two-year meter installation period at Kapiti leading up to volumetric charging and the response to trial readings prior to billing. The drop is marked, sustained and correlates to the issuing of trial readings.

Trial readings begin

To smart meter or not to smart meter ?

In recent years, water suppliers around Aotearoa New Zealand have been considering the implementation of smart metering programmes. These can take on various levels of ‘smart’, as follows:

Automated Meter Reading (AMR) where there is an automated collection of meter reads, but still requiring a meter reader to visit the property or be nearby.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) sees installation of a fixed wireless collection network, and the backhaul of metering data to a data management system.

Intelligent Water Network (IWN) The integration of intelligent devices including water meters, pressure sensors, and meter data into all relevant business processes and systems, and using this information to guide strategy and investment.

A range of AMR systems are already operating here. Trials of AMI are also occurring, and many suppliers are using these technologies for difficult-to-access locations.

Electronic or smart metering technologies offer great opportunities for further demand reductions and longterm capex, earlier and improved customer engagement and behaviour change, early leak identification and reduced run times, the possibility of targeted time and type of use tariffs, network pressure monitoring for rapid non-visible network leak detection, and improved water balance accuracy with reduced data latency.

So smart metering needs to be a key consideration in the development of any metering strategy in 2025.

Costs and benefits

Experience with the metering programmes suggest that typical (for budgeting purposes) ball-park costs for installing manuallyread 20mm mechanical meters are in the order of $500-700 per unit, depending on scale and extent of existing suitable meter boxes and manifolds.

While electronic ‘smart’ meters can cost as little as $200 more, the true cost must include additional IT infrastructure, licensing, and network charges. When carefully factored in, such costs can significantly increase raw $/unit rates for such a programme, so it is important to realise and account for this when preparing any metering strategy.

Kapiti Coast water consumption reductions pre and post metering.

Delivering rapid, reliable E. coli and total coliform testing

In January, Bactosure received accreditation from International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) for its portable E. coli and total coliform testing solution. This development follows a rigorous assessment process confirming that the company’s testing methods comply with ISO/IEC 17025 standards and Taumata Arowai requirements.

Under the Water Services Act, all tests for drinking water quality must be conducted by accredited laboratories. This legal requirement safeguards public health by verifying that microbial testing is both scientifically rigorous and fully auditable.

Bactosure founder Chris Bishop says IANZ accreditation is essential to ensure the organisation’s data can be used for compliance and regulatory reporting.

“Since late 2022, we have worked to streamline biological water testing through a focus on automation, quick turnaround times, and user-friendly protocols. A key design feature is that testing can be completed in the field, by anyone, anytime.”

This approach earned the company a Water New Zealand Innovation Forum Award in 2024, showcasing a solution that eliminates expensive transportation costs, reduces the time required to receive results, and minimises reliance on specialised microbiology skills.

Traditional approaches to E. coli and coliform testing require samples to be transported to a central laboratory. This extra step can lead to delays, spoilt samples, and added expense. Bactosure’s method is designed for on-site testing, removing transportation needs and ensuring samples remain in optimal condition.

Chris says validated results can be delivered in as little as 16 hours, enabling faster responses to potential contamination issues, and supporting preventative measures before problems escalate.

The test media used by Bactosure is approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and can reliably detect 1 CFU/100 mL in drinking water. This level of sensitivity helps ensure that even trace contamination is identified quickly.

Bactosure’s automated processes and advanced sensors reduce the complexity of

Bactosure’s method is designed for on-site testing, removing transportation needs and ensuring samples remain in optimal condition.

microbiological analysis. Chris says field testing in the Tairāwhiti region indicated that operators with no water sector or scientific background can be trained in under 15 minutes, an advantage for smaller water suppliers or remote communities.

Although the testing system is largely automated with built-in quality controls, monthly competence checks help operators stay current on essential factors such as correct media storage.

“Automation decreases the risk of variation introduced by manual processes, and monthly operator checks reinforce continuous adherence to established protocols rather than relying on periodic, large-scale audits.

“Automated analysis minimises human bias, a critical factor for ISO/IEC 17025 compliance. Instruments handle all analytical interpretation, while operators receive a clear pass/fail and numerical result. This uniform approach supports repeatable outcomes, even across different locations.”

Benefits for the water sector

Chris says, with Bactosure, councils managing stormwater and wastewater can obtain quicker bacterial test data, improving operational efficiency. Drinking water suppliers in isolated regions can adopt onsite testing, eliminating transport-related delays and costs.

Taumata Arowai relies on accredited data to ensure compliance with the Water Services Act. With Bactosure, an E. coli test started in the evening can be reported by the following morning, enabling prompt public health interventions such as boil-water notices when needed.

Many smaller suppliers lack the budget or staff expertise for a full microbiology lab. Bactosure’s subscription-based approach, which has customers pay a regular fee that covers equipment installation, calibration, and maintenance, allows these suppliers to routinely monitor water quality without incurring significant capital expenses.

Chris says the technology does not aim to replace full-service laboratories but complements them by focusing on E. coli and total coliform detection. He says laboratories performing broader analyses – chemical or toxicological – can integrate Bactosure’s microbiological data, creating a more comprehensive service offering.

“End-users ultimately want confidence in their drinking water and local recreational waters. By providing swift, accredited results, Bactosure supports ongoing safety measures, reinforcing public trust in water services.”

A core strength of Bactosure’s approach is its compatibility with existing systems. Councils and third-party laboratories can merge results into their preferred laboratory information management systems or compliance dashboards, avoiding duplication and ensuring that data from multiple analyses – biological, chemical, or physical – remains consolidated.

While Bactosure’s technology has already proven effective for E. coli and total coliform testing, the company continues to explore ways to broaden its capabilities. Chris says plans include adding other bacterial indicators and instant biological load tests.

Future-proofing wastewater

How do you future-proof a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) combatting aging infrastructure, growing community needs and shifting regulations?

Whangārei District Council is facing a number of challenges with its Whangārei City WWTP which serves 65,000 residents With growth on the horizon, key parts of the plant reaching full capacity and limited room to expand plus challenges li ke wet weather inflow, infiltration and changing regulations a simple upgrade was not simple.

The Council knew it needed an improvement plan that was flexible and adaptable to a number of changing circumstances That’s why they took an Adaptive Pathway Pl anning approach, creating a ‘living’ Master Plan. This set the foundation for an initial ten-year capital works programme, with future upgrades guided by ongoing monitoring and evolving needs.

The solution needed to not only meet growth demands but also maintain high-quality treatment and support the beneficial reuse of treated effluent

By working closely with the Council, key stakeholders and mana whenua while incorporating strategic foresight and ongoing feedback the approach and renewal of the WWTP discharge consents gained broad support.

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Nathan Malcolm E: Nathan Malcolm@ghd com

Introducing the Pressure Pipe Inspection Manual

The New Zealand Pressure Pipe Inspection Manual, launched in January, is a valuable resource to help water managers and contractors make informed decisions about renewals. With mounting cost pressures on our communities, it is vital that renewals are targeted to when and where they are needed the most. By Ian Garside

Water asset owners face unique challenges when it comes to assessing the condition and performance of their pressure pipes. Unlike gravity pipes, which can be inspected using closed-circuit television (CCTV), pressure pipes require more specialised techniques and technologies.

In the past, the limited availability of inspection techniques, including non-destructive testing techniques, has hampered the ability of utilities to effectively inspect and assess their pressure pipes.

However, in recent years, there has been significant progress in the development of new inspection methods and the access we have to them here. This has created new opportunities for water utilities to more accurately assess the condition of their pressure pipes and make more informed decisions about their maintenance and repair.

To help utilities take advantage of these new opportunities, Water New Zealand commissioned the development of a new manual, the New Zealand Pressure Pipe Inspection Manual. The manual is intended to be a companion to the successful New Zealand Gravity Pipe Inspection Manual, which has been widely used by utilities across the country to improve the management of their gravity pipes.

The development was a joint effort between ProjectMax and the Water Research Council (WRC), a UK-based global research organisation. The principal authors were Mark Kowalsk from WRC and Steve Apeldoorn from ProjectMax, with drafts reviewed by an advisory group and industry practitioners.

The manual can now be freely accessed by Water New Zealand members from the technical documents page of the website, waternz.org.nz/technicaldocuments

Key features

The manual is structured in four parts, each of which addresses a different aspect of pressure pipe inspection and assessment:

Part A: Planning for the inspection of pressure pipes

This section provides guidance on how to plan for pressure pipe inspections, including identifying the right pipes to inspect, preparing for inspections, and determining what information should be collected during the inspection process.

Part B: Inspection of pressure pipes

This has an overview of the different types of inspection techniques that are available, along with guidance on selecting the most appropriate technique for a given situation. This section also covers topics such as quality management and data collection.

Key benefits

Part C: Analysis and interpretation of inspection results

Here you will find guidance on how to analyse and interpret the results of pressure pipe inspections, including assessing the structural condition of pipes, assigning condition grades, and estimating remaining service life. This section also introduces the concept of confidence grades, which reflect the level of confidence that can be placed in the inspection results.

Part D: Model specification

This section provides model specifications for pressure pipe inspections, which can be used to help prepare contracts for inspection services and ensure that data collection processes are robust and accurate.

By providing a comprehensive guide to best practices for pressure pipe inspection and assessment, the manual will help utilities to more effectively manage their infrastructure and ensure the safe and reliable delivery of water to their customers.

“The challenge for most water asset owners is understanding how to plan and implement an inspection programme,” says coauthor Steve Apeldoorn.

“Mostly, water managers are seeking guidance on where to begin, what they should be inspecting and what technology they should be using and when. This manual will provide a robust guideline to help answer those questions.”

Some of the key benefits of the manual are:

• Improved accuracy of pipe condition assessments: By providing clear guidance on how to plan for and conduct pressure pipe inspections, the manual will help utilities to more accurately assess the condition of their pipes.

• Better decision-making: By providing guidance on how to interpret inspection results and estimate remaining service life, the manual will help utilities to make more informed decisions about the maintenance and repair of their pressure pipes.

• Enhanced safety and reliability: By helping utilities to identify and address defects in their pressure pipes before they become major problems, the manual will help to improve the safety and reliability of water delivery systems.

Whether you are a water utility manager, an engineer, or a contractor, the manual is a valuable tool for ensuring the effective operation of pressure pipes.

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Getting with the flow

Stormwater overland flow paths (OLFP) in urban areas have been a problem for many years but councils have lacked tools to effectively manage them. The coalition Government has now stepped in to help via the Local Government (Water Services) Bill (#108-1) released on 17 December 2024. But have they achieved the goal? By Ian McComb, senior infrastructure planning advisor – stormwater, rivers & coasts, Tasman District Council.

From the Regulatory Impact Statements (RIS), fact sheets, and other government information, the intent to improve the management of, and reduce the impacts from, stormwater overland flows are clear:

“110. Specifically relevant to this third RIS there are overlapping responsibilities for managing the impacts of stormwater in urban areas across territorial authorities, regional councils, road transport operators and other organisations including any new standalone water organisations. Current legislative provisions do not provide adequate clarity and mechanisms for efficient, integrated, and coordinated approaches to stormwater management across organisations.

“They do not, for instance, require organisations with different and overlapping roles in stormwater management to work together to develop integrated plans to inform their respective roles in or approaches to stormwater management. With the frequency of severe weather events increasing due to climate change, this is becoming an increasing problem for many parts of New Zealand.”

Whether stormwater management stays within councils or goes outside to a new Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) or Consumer Trust, multiple aspects will be changing. These changes include the formation of Water Services Providers (WSP) that will manage:

• Ring fencing of activity finances;

• New National Environmental Performance Standards under the RMA;

• New service agreements with WSP and other stormwater infrastructure managers;

• New risk management plans; and

• Probably, new or amended bylaws.

This article only addresses the last three points as there are key implications for OLFP.

Definitions and exclusions

Firstly, a stormwater WSP manages urban stormwater services, which are a subset of the stormwater network. This means the infrastructure that is used to provide a stormwater service is owned by, or operated by, for, or on behalf of a water service provider, and includes any of the following that is part of, or related to, the infrastructure referred to above: an overland flow path; green water services infrastructure; and watercourses.

But, significantly, stormwater service means the collection, treatment, drainage, reuse, or discharge of stormwater in an urban area, but does not include a service relating to a transport corridor or on crown land.

Therefore, stormwater infrastructure in NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) and railways are not included. Further clarity is required around this point.

Image 1 shows a typical urban environment where an existing council owned and managed stormwater system crosses a school picking up ‘Crown’ stormwater then enters the council road, collecting transportation corridor stormwater, before more private stormwater is added while the pipe is still collecting and conveying road related stormwater and lies within the road.

“Overland flow path means any flow path taken by stormwater on the surface of land”.

This definition within the Bill is so broad as to potentially include all land and so clarifying or limiting guidelines are required to allow for practical management.

My suggestion is to limit mapping and management of OLFP to H2 and greater hazards as defined by the Combined Flood Hazard Curves in the Water New Zealand National Urban Stormwater Modelling Guide, noting that this approach would continue to mean that some existing building floors will flood. However, this is reasonable cutoff for the OLFP provisions of the Bill.

The proposed private land access arrangements for WSP in the Bill are less permissive than current legislation allows for councils.

Image 1, showing a typical urban environment where an existing council owned and managed stormwater system crosses a school then enters the transportation corridor stormwater before more private stormwater is added whilst the pipe is still collecting and conveying road related stormwater and lies within the road.

Image 2, showing an OLFP that highlights the ownership/management issues. Within 600 metres the highlighted OLFP travels from a council-owned public road past four private dwellings, across another road, past five houses, through an iwi-owned DoE-managed school, over NZTA-owned State Highway 6, then over two industrial properties (only partly shown) onto another road before joining a creek to the coast.

As the Bill reads currently, the combined impact of the definitions and access arrangements would make practical management of OLFP impossible for WSP.

Image 2 shows an OLFP that highlights the ownership/ management issues: Within 600 metres the highlighted OLFP travels from a public road (council owned and managed), 105 metres past four private dwellings, 30 metres across another road, 85 metres past five houses, 130 metres through a school (iwi owned and managed by the Department of Education), 45 metres over State Highway 6 (NZTA owned and managed), 185 metres over two industrial properties (partly shown) onto another road and into a creek to the coast (not shown). Therefore, any lapse in the effective ability to manage the flowpath, such as an absent easement or service agreement, breaks the chain.

Not all councils will have specific flowpath mapping, and the accuracy of flowpaths is highly dependant on the grid size used and the precision of the terrain model used.

OLFP identified by full modelling are usually wider than the ‘rolling ball’ lines as shown in image 3 . Conversely the full model does not show the small kerb line flowpaths (catchment area generated) as these fall below the reliable accuracy limits of the 2D model.

Service agreements

WSP with overlapping responsibilities must establish service agreements. These are designed to facilitate the effective seamless arrangements for stormwater management.

However, the definitions and Clause 10 exclude transport corridor stormwater infrastructure from being a stormwater service and therefore appear to exclude NZTA and council road controllers from being a WSP. Therefore, they are not obligated to have a service agreement with the relevant WSP(s) under Cl.166(2) and they only “may” do so under Cl.176.

As transport corridor stormwater infrastructure cannot be transferred to a WSP and a stormwater bylaw cannot apply to an OLFP within a road, the lack of integration is entrenched.

Risk management plans

The bill states WSP must develop, adopt within two years, and implement a stormwater network risk management plan(s) (RMP) to identify critical infrastructure, and hazards and mitigate risks associated with stormwater overland flow (Cl.165).

The RMP requirement is a significant new duty and opportunity and includes:

• Identification of hazards: The plan must identify current, future, and potential hazards associated with critical elements of the stormwater network infrastructure (Cl.167(1));

• Management measures: The management, through elimination or minimisation of risk involves action and effectiveness monitoring (Cl.167(2)).

These RMP address critical infrastructure, which means stormwater infrastructure whose failure will prevent or seriously impair the conveyance of stormwater in a network; and includes infrastructure of that kind that conveys stormwater to, or receives stormwater from, an overland flow path or a watercourse that crosses over or beneath private land.

Similarly, this definition is currently too broad to be useful as a car wheel seriously impairs flow down a roadside channel.

Bylaws and enforcement

The Bill makes it clear that WSP and private landholders have increased responsibilities to manage OLFP and the ability to have a Bylaw that provides for a $1000 infringement fine has been created. This is a major step forward for councils compared to having to take the matter to court.

However, Cl.410 (5) excludes overland flowpaths, green infrastructure, and watercourses from the significant fine regime. Similarly, Cl.416 (5) from the medium fine regime. Therefore, larger players could simply ignore the infringement level fines, as they could amount to far less than their insurance premiums or damages if they didn’t divert an OLFP.

While the RIS wording appears confident that this new regime would be “fit-for-purpose”, these exclusions significantly undermine the ability of the WSP to protect OLFP.

Image 3. Overland flow paths identified by full modelling are usually wider than the 'rolling ball' lines as shown in blue in this example

Stormwater Conference OLFP workshop

Last year, a group of industry practitioners gathered at the Water New Zealand Stormwater Conference to consider issues and identified key actions that could be taken under the headings of identifying, enhancing, and protecting OLFP.

The Bill addresses a broad selection of these and creates a discussion platform to pursue further technical and regulatory enhancements such as:

• Building Code alignment;

• OLFP status in building compliance inspections;

• Standardised assessment processes;

• Simplified Public Works Act processes;

• Funding pool for buyouts;

• Legislating lower levels of imperviousness;

• Facilitating raised floors with H1 flows underneath;

• Insurance industry engagement;

• Standardised signage to advise/warn of OLFP;

• Nationally standard base education materials; and

• National centre of excellence for OLFP management.

Summary

The Bill is a big step forward for the management of OLFP and addresses many of the issues identified by participants in the Stormwater Conference Workshop. If the key definitional issues can be refined and practical access and management agreement rules implemented, then the future impact of overland flood flows in New Zealand urban areas can be greatly reduced.

Let’s not leave our IP behind in the face of new reforms

Leveraging existing intellectual property (IP) can provide a strong foundation for councils working to develop Water Service Delivery Plans. Beca business director and former National Transition Unit technical lead Lorraine Kendrick outlines some of the opportunities to access IP created during previous water reforms.

The Local Water Done Well reforms present a critical opportunity for councils to address longstanding challenges in water services, including aging infrastructure, underinvestment, and inconsistent delivery.

With new legislation to be enacted mid-2025, councils are required to develop water services delivery plans that ensure compliance with safety, quality, and environmental standards, while prioritising long-term affordability and investment. This requires a considerable amount of additional work for councils, so leveraging Intellectual Property (IP) from the previous reform will be beneficial.

Councils, water service providers (WSPs) and government agencies will need to work together to successfully provide water services to their communities.

The Local Government (Water Services) Bill provides councils with continued responsibilities for water services, such as retaining the legislative authority for bylaws and accountability for new planning arrangements (e.g. trade waste plans). While WSPs also have to respond to additional standards, such as the National Engineering Design Standards provisioned in the Water

Services Act 2021, collaboration will be critical, and entering into contract and service level arrangements will be necessary.

To assist councils, government agencies and future WSPs to deliver on the provision of the Local Government (Water Services) Bill and proposed amended Water Services Act, they can leverage existing IP that was developed during the previous water reform's National Transition Unit.

Much of the IP that was prepared, particularly in the technical areas of asset management, operations, and stormwater, was heavily supported by the wider water sector and expertise was provided by consultants, suppliers, contractors and council staff.

These documents have been provided to councils by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and offer a good foundation to build on regardless of the council-preferred service arrangements for the future WSPs.

Local Government (Water Services) Bill

The bill provides for a new framework for water services bylaws, which covers new functions and provides graduated enforcement tools. Councils will have

legislative authority to make bylaws, but may transfer any powers related to the administration and enforcement of bylaws to the water organisation.

A key area of focus for councils will be the requirement to undertake an initial review of water services bylaws within two years of legislation coming into force. There is a bylaw review and status update completed for each council, and this information provides a good base for councils to commence the bylaw review and can also assist WSPs to review and propose any amendments to bylaws to councils.

Councils will also be responsible for drinking water catchment and trade waste plans as outlined in the bill. For the development of the drinking water catchment plans, councils can refer to information contained in their water safety plans for source water protection which is a requirement of the Water Services Act.

The NTU prepared a Trade Waste Plan and Permit plan guidance document along with supporting materials that were drafted by trade waste specialists and practitioners.

These documents set out the process for the regulation and management for trade waste. This information is easily

transferable to the requirements of the Bill.

As outlined in the bill, WSPs must prepare stormwater network risk management plans to identify any hazards and assess risk relating to the network in the district. This responsibility may be transferred to a water organisation through a transfer agreement.

The management of stormwater, whether it remains with council or is transferred to a water organisation, will require service level agreements to support the integrated management of stormwater infrastructure and provide a framework for the management of interactions between concerned parties.

Draft templates for master service agreements, relationship agreements and service level agreements are available and have been made available to councils by the DIA.

Use what we already have

There are numerous documents, templates, frameworks, policies and plans that were prepared by the NTU for the establishment of water entities. Many of these documents can easily be repurposed to assist with the setup of a water organisation such as financing frameworks, business process models, change plans and transfer arrangements etc to name a few. All of these documents have been released to councils.

The bill introduces a mechanism for establishing mandatory National Engineering Design Standards (NEDS) to ensure consistent standards for the design and construction of water network infrastructure. NEDS will be made by Order in Council. There was extensive work undertaken by the NTU and it is hoped that these documents will be resurrected and form the basis for the NEDS moving forward.

The previous process sought significant input and engagement from the wider water sector to develop the existing draft documents, which predominantly focus on the design and construction of reticulated networks for water supply, wastewater and stormwater.

There are also a number of documents that are more suitable for when a water organisation has been set up, such as the health and safety framework, national asset management plan framework and national incident and emergency framework which could be repurposed for the water organisation future use.

So let us work smarter and be more efficient with our resources and utilise the IP that was developed by the NTU. This IP was only able to be developed by leveraging significant expertise from the wider water sector, who all want to support the new WSPs to be successful in providing water services to their communities.

Shining a light on the water sector

The Commerce Commission is seeking feedback on a recently-released discussion paper on information disclosure – a key pillar of the new economic regulatory regime under the Government’s Local Water Done Well policies. Setting requirements for the reporting (or disclosure) of information about performance is an important first step towards economic regulation.

By Charlotte Reed, Commerce Commission implementation director, water.

We intend to introduce a regulatory regime that makes use of our learning from other sectors and practice internationally but is fit for purpose for our water sector. The Local Government Water Services Bill proposes a suite of tools that we are expected to apply in a flexible and proportionate manner. These are outlined in Table 1.

Consumers are at the heart of what we do Economic regulation promotes the long-term benefit of consumers in sectors that are essential to everyone’s lives and livelihoods, where there is insufficient competition to act as a constraint against monopoly or market power.

The Commerce Commission oversees the economic regulatory environment for telecommunications, energy networks, transport fuel, the retail payment system, groceries, dairy, airports and now water.

Our vision is that New Zealanders are better off because markets work well and consumers and businesses are confident market participants, so it’s important to ensure consumers are not disadvantaged by a lack of competition or choice.

When competition is limited, suppliers of goods and services may face weaker incentives to invest, operate efficiently and innovate; provide services at a reduced quality to reduce costs and earn higher profits; not respond to the needs of their customers; or raise prices to earn higher profits.

Many infrastructure services (including water) are natural monopolies. They have little to no competition in the market and this is unlikely to change.

As an economic regulator, we are responsible for promoting outcomes that serve the long-term benefit of consumers so that the regulated suppliers have incentives to innovate and invest; have incentives to improve efficiency and provide their services at the quality consumers demand; share the benefits of efficiency gains with consumers; and are limited in their ability to extract excessive profits.

The Government is also proposing that the Commission will have a consumer protection function. If there is evidence that there are issues relating to consumer protection, such as service

quality and customer engagement, there are a number of tools available to us to enable protections to be strengthened.

Initial focus to be on information disclosure

Setting reporting requirements for the reporting (or disclosure) of information about performance is an important part of economic regulation. This increases transparency about how a supplier operates and performs, and how it spends the money it charges for services.

Information disclosure (ID) is the initial tool we will use for the regulation of water service providers. Most of the other proposed regulatory tools require Ministers to decide that a water service provider should be subject to additional regulation, by designation.

We can set ID requirements that make information more reliable, comparable, and accessible for anyone who is interested in understanding a supplier’s performance. This is intended to enable anyone to hold the supplier to account, including consumers, regulators and other stakeholders.

Suppliers will have to publish their information on their own webpages, and we typically require assurance about the quality and accuracy of the data provided to us. We will also publish the information in a form that consumers can use to compare suppliers.

The information “Performance accessibility tool - New Zealand electricity distributors - Data and metrics” currently published is a good example of this.

Better information about performance not only promotes accountability, but also benefits the supplier directly. When a supplier invests in information capture and systems it improves its understanding of its operations and performance. This leads to sound decision-making and prioritisation, trust from investors, and more efficient and effective investment.

We want your thoughts on ID

In mid-February, we published a discussion paper on information disclosure – our first official consultation with the sector.

The paper includes our initial views on what we think stakeholders might want to understand about the performance

Table 1: Proposed tools for economic regulation

Information disclosure

Revenue thresholds

Monitoring and enforcement of financial ringfence

Quality regulation and/or performance requirements

Price-quality regulation

All water service providers will be required to publicly disclose information in a prescribed form. Commerce Commission to set requirements within six months of commencement of the LGWS Bill.

Powers to set minimum and maximum revenue thresholds to issue clear expectations to providers regarding what level of revenue needs to be collected for investment in, and operating of, water infrastructure.

After commencement

From 2026, when necessary

The ability to monitor and enforce the requirement that water service revenue is spent on water services. After commencement, when necessary

The ability to set infrastructure and service quality standards and require water services providers to take certain actions to improve performance, such as to make certain types of investments, to consult or seek approval from the Commerce Commission on investment programmes, or to undertake cost-benefit analysis.

Ability to set minimum and/or maximum prices that may be charged, and/or minimum and/or maximum revenues, alongside quality and performance requirements.

of water service providers. For example, we could ask for a range of information including on service quality, asset management, financial performance and pricing. This might include information on leakage/water loss, asset condition, forecast spend and investment, development contributions, and prices for residential customers.

We are aware that water service providers already report a lot of information, and in our paper we ask for views on how we could

If required, after designation from 2026

For Watercare, after the Charter set under the WSPA Act ends. If required, after designation from mid-2026 for other providers.

develop cost-effective information disclosure requirements, and how these may evolve over time.

We would appreciate any feedback as it helps to ensure we design a regime that is effective and efficient and in the long term interests of consumers.

Visit our webpage comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/waterwai to find out how you can provide feedback, which is due by 4pm on March 26, 2025. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Legal update

The legislative programme has been somewhat of a tsunami of activity so far this year. This article focuses on a number of bills and Acts currently or recently under review. By Helen Atkins.

Treaty Principles Bill

The controversial Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill is currently in Justice (Select) Committee hearings. Much has been said in the media (both for and against the bill).

By way of reminder to those of you who are following this issue, the overarching objective of the bill is to define what the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) are.

The Explanatory Note states that this is (among other matters) to promote a national conversation about the place of the principles in our constitutional arrangements.

The commencement date is subject to the outcome of a referendum and the bill encapsulates what the questions in that referendum would cover.

As a snip-it on day four of the hearings (around the time this article was written) the Committee heard from a number of notable submitters, including, the former National Party minister – Hekia Parata, and former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer. Amongst the arguments – both for and against – there was much debate about what the Treaty/te Tiriti actually meant (had Māori knowingly signed away their sovereignty).

Hearings continue and a further update will appear in a later article.

Regulatory Standards Bill

The public submission process asked for feedback on what this bill should aim to do and what it should include, rather than the specific provisions or wording of the bill. Public submissions closed on 13 January this year.

Details about this process can be found on the newly-established website under the newly-established Ministry of Regulation.

In short, the aim of the bill is to improve the quality of regulation so regulatory decisions are based on principles of good law-making and economic efficiency.

The 23,000 submissions will now be summarised in a report which is due later this year and will be considered by the Minister of Regulation. There will be further opportunities to provide feedback once the bill reaches the Parliamentary process stage.

Fast-Track Approvals Act 2024

The Fast-Track Approvals Act 2024 (FTAA) got royal assent on December 23, 2024. As we reported in the October edition of Water, the Government-recommended changes essentially ended up in the FTAA.

There are two processes set out in the Act that allow projects to use the fast-track process. A project is either listed in Schedule 2 or it has to go through a Ministerial referral process.

The administering agency (the EPA) has set up a dedicated Fast-track Approvals website which went live on 7 February 2025.

The process of making this process ‘live’ is well underway with the convenor, Jane Borthwick (retired Environment Court Judge), and associate convenors, myself and Jennifer Caldwell (a senior lawyer and managing partner at Buddle Findlay), having been appointed by the Minister in the second week of February.

More updates on the progress of projects under the FTAA will be included in future articles.

Resource Management (Consenting And Other Systems Changes) Amendment Bill

Water New Zealand has submitted on this bill and a copy of its submission can be found on the website.

The bill is a short document which is designed to make relatively minor tweaks to pieces of the resource management system. As signalled in October the key proposal in the bill include the following:

• A number of amendments that simplify information requirements and conditions, extend lapse periods and consent terms for infrastructure. Of note, water services infrastructure, while included in the changes to consent and designation requirements, are not covered by all of the changes (Water New Zealand has submitted on this omission).

• Allowing certain councils to opt out from implementing the Medium Density Residential Standards; and other changes that support the implementation of the Going for Housing Growth plan.

• A new regulation making power for emergency responses; ability to decline land-use consents, or attach conditions, where there are significant risks of natural hazards.

• A number of system changes to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the resource management system.

There is more to come where we will hear, among other things, further farming and primary sector package announcements in the coming months.

Local Government (Water Services) Bill

The elements of Local Water Done Well are to keep water assets in local ownership; give councils choice as to how they wish to organise their water service delivery going forward; and provide a clear regulatory framework within which those water services providers will operate.

The Local Government (Water Services Preliminary) Arrangements Act 2024 (assented in September 2024) advanced the objectives by establishing a process for communities to select their preferred water services delivery model or arrangements, and to prepare and adopt a water services delivery plan.

In every case all possible delivery models be they in-house council delivery; a single or jointly owned CCO; or a consumer trust, involve council ownership (either direct or indirect) of the water services infrastructure currently owned by territorial authorities.

Water New Zealand is concerned that in several important respects, the bill is inconsistent with and potentially undermines the Government’s own policy objectives for Local Water Done Well, and to some extent undoes what has already been legislated for in the Preliminary Arrangements Act.

The essence of the Water New Zealand submission regarding this bill is underpinned by the fact that territorial authority ownership of water services infrastructure in Aotearoa New Zealand has generally resulted in under-investment in water services.

This under-investment has led to a myriad of problems ranging from failure to provide safe drinking water, to recurring network failures and shutdowns, to planned urban development being stymied though lack of infrastructure. See more on page 12.

The Local Water Done Well programme relies, in part, on

regulation through the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai and the Commerce Commission to address some of these issues. However, before any regulatory intervention actually impacts on the sector there is a need for competent professional governance of water services.

The bill needs to appropriately balance the focus on delivering safe, reliable and financially sustainable water services with the prescription and control of water organisations by their shareholder councils.

Summary

The one constant in all of this government work is change. In addition to those matters listed here, there is a multitude of complex and sometimes interrelated changes proposed across the whole spectrum of our legislative and policy system, including significant constitutional changes.

This is a year of political changes for those in local government, with an election taking place in October, and there will be more as we head towards a national election in late 2026.

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Transforming data into

ART

An ingenious use of data from the Taieri River in Otago resulted in this artistic representation of a rare geomorphological form – the scroll plain, an area where a river meanders across very low gradients.

“Whīwhiwhi – entangled” is by NIWA hydrodynamics and GIS technician Jochen Bind.

Jochen created this work without a camera. Instead, he used a 19th century technique called cyanotype photography. As indicated by its name, cyanotype images are always blue.

A hand-made print was constructed from data of the river’s elevations, which he then coated with a cyanotype solution that reacts with UV light, resulting in a stunning white and blue picture. He explained the process more to Water :

“From start to finish, it’s about eight to 10 hours of work. It is a hands-on process but there’s a lot of preparation to be done before even starting to print.

“I go through elevation data publicly available through LINZ and find a river I’m interested in. I prepare the LiDAR data in a way that shows not the height of the landscape itself in relation to a constant reference like the level of the sea, but that shows the relationship of local topography to the river itself. In this process, old river structures like abandoned channels, cut-off meanders, etc. are revealed which would normally go unnoticed.

“I make a negative by printing it out on an Inkjet printer, then paint fine art water colour paper with a light-sensitive emulsion, place the negative on it, and then wedge it between two pieces of glass. It’s then exposed to UV light for about 1015 minutes before being taken out and developed by rinsing it in water.”

Of his image, Jochen says: “Rivers are often taken for granted. With my portraits, I try to create an emotional bond to rivers by showing their nature in a more abstract and

aesthetic way... showing their entirety with all the channels and landforms that were created over its whole lifecycle.

“When viewed as an abstract image like this, most people can recognise the area pictured as being part of a riverbed. However, looking at the landscape in today’s context, the river is reduced to a narrow band (the brightest narrow channel in the print), while the rest is covered by agricultural land.

“Whīwhiwhi – entangled” is one in a series of river portraits he has created.

“Just like any good portrait doesn’t simply show the likeness

of a person but captures a person’s essence, my river portraits show much more about a river than you could see if you stood on the ground and looked at it.

“Like lines on an old person’s face, these prints show the entire life of a river – every turn it took over its life of thousands of years. The channel that you’d see on ground today often makes only one to 10 percent of what you see in these prints.”

Although a hobby, Jochen does sell his artwork. Each cyanotype print is made by hand. Visit his Facebook page, Maverick Aesthetics.

Rolling life back into our lakes

NIWA is using biodegradable ‘life rafts’ to reintroduce native plants to degraded lakes.

NIWA biogeochemist Ben Woodward says they work in similar way to when you roll out a lawn onto soil without having to wait for plants to grow from seed.

“We use mats called ‘roto turf’ –  roto is Te Reo for lake and  turf refers to dense aquatic vegetation. They act like a carpet with plants growing on top, which are then rolled out onto the lake sediment. They are a quick way to reintroduce plants into a body of freshwater that doesn’t have a native community any more.”

Roto turf is a NIWA-led Smart Ideas project funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). The project infused scientific research with Mātauranga Māori to ensure the best outcomes from the research.

Tawera Nikau from Matahuru Marae has been working with NIWA on the project.

“I swam in this lake about 30 years ago, but I wouldn’t want my kids swimming in it now. There are 14 lakes in north Waikato that are all degraded, so it’s really important for us to change that,” says Tawera.

Many of our shallow lakes are in poor condition, with permanently murky water, meaning aquatic plants don’t have sufficient light to grow. Without them, lake-bed sediment gets resuspended, and a feedback loop is created that results in poorer water quality.

Project lead Deborah Hofstra says that they are testing a range of plants, including milfoil, pondweed, and charophyte.

“Many of these native aquatic plants are long-lost from our degraded lakes, and our seed stores may not be healthy or plentiful enough to easily re-establish them, which is why we came up with this project,” she says.

“When putting vegetation into a lake with poor water quality, you need to think about the photic zone – the top layer of a body of water where sunlight can penetrate, allowing for photosynthesis and plant growth. We put light sensors in with the plants during roto turf development so we could learn the optimal levels of light that they could grow at.”

To make the mats, the team trialled

different types of products, including those made from hessian, coconut fibre, muka (flax), and wool. In the end, they chose wool and muka fibre.

“Both materials were stable enough to remain intact during months of cultivation and can break down once used to transfer plants into the lake. We used different plants, plant densities, and lake locations to see what species thrived in a variety of conditions,” says Deborah.

“Our dream would be to grow enough plants and have a mass planting event that reaches a threshold where the plants are self-perpetuating, the water becomes clearer and the ecosystem is in much better health.”

Initial trials have yielded great data and clearly show it’s possible for milfoil and pondweed to survive in a degraded lake after being cultivated elsewhere and transplanted.

Tawera Nikau says a lot has been learnt.

“We’ve built a really great relationship with NIWA and are delighted with the results so far. We’re confident this technique works, so hopefully with more time and funding we can expand to larger areas and our kids can eventually swim in these lakes again.”

Article provided by NIWA, images by Stuart Mackay

Tawera Nikau from Matahuru Marae with NIWA researchers Deborah Hofstra and Ben Woodward at Lake Ohinewai.

Rototurf mat trials in tanks at NIWA’s Ruakura site. This plant is Potamogeton ochreatus.

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How sharing stories about river restoration can inspire others to take care of waterways

By Katharina Doehring, freshwater scientist, Cawthron Institute; Cathy Cole, senior lecturer in sustainability, Liverpool John Moores University; and Nancy Longnecker, professor in science communication, University of Otago.

Water is the lifeblood of our planet. But in Aotearoa New Zealand, a staggering twothirds of the rivers monitored for water quality are classified as unswimmable. Only two percent of large lakes are deemed to be in ‘good health’.

Unfortunately, this decline is due to the human impacts of urbanisation, intensive agriculture and poor land management. Many communities that depend on freshwater sources have witnessed this deterioration first hand.

To address this critical issue, numerous catchment care groups have emerged over the past decade, championing sustainable land management to enhance the health of rivers, lakes, aquifers and wetlands.

These groups engage in activities such as planting native vegetation along waterways, erecting fences to keep livestock at bay and altering farming practices to be more environmentally friendly. Many people care deeply about the land and water, and their intricate, collective knowledge is a powerful force for change.

Collective storytelling as a tool for freshwater restoration

Over the past few years, we have been listening to these communities and exploring a tool that might elevate their efforts and empower those who haven’t yet started on their river restoration journey. It’s a simple and ancient tool rooted deeply in human history and embedded in our social identities today: collective storytelling by trusted storytellers.

Rural communities, including food

Storytelling can help restoration projects of rivers, lakes, wetlands and aquifers.

producers, identify with trusted peers. When they share their experiences, others can learn from them. We saw that this kind of trust motivates people to get involved in caring for waterways, for the benefit of generations to come. It is independent of changing governments and policies, and grows stronger when passionate people come together, united by their shared sense of place.

Our research highlighted an absence of collective storytelling in national freshwater restoration efforts and pioneered a way to develop this at scale.

To this end, we have been working with the Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA) environmental reporting platform. Communities can now share their restoration knowledge as ‘Actions for Healthy Waterways’

in the form of stories. Beyond reporting facts and figures alone, stories represent more meaningful narratives that others striving for healthy waterways can relate to.

We interviewed 23 land managers and met with five catchment care groups across the country. We discussed why knowledge sharing is important, how knowledge should be shared and who may be best placed as knowledge brokers.

Based on those conversations, we highlight three guiding principles of collective storytelling that can enhance the restoration of rivers, lakes, wetlands and aquifers.

Respected storytellers

Trust is crucial. It influences who is believed and who inspires action. When peers share their experiences, particularly farmers

discussing restoration efforts, collective responsibility is created and drives others to participate.

One food producer encapsulated this sentiment, noting: “If you start creating that collective responsibility, then you can go, ‘Oh yeah, you’ve put 100 [trees in] – we’ll do 100, too.”

Catchment champions – locally-respected individuals who are driving restoration activities and encouraging others – are immensely important in amplifying these stories. We found authentic storytellers could be individuals or an entire catchment group, as long as they held this trust, or had the mana.

One participant shared: “I’m a newcomer, so I was learning what’s gone well and what works. I don’t want to make someone else’s mistake, I can’t afford to already, so if I go, ‘Oh this works well,’ I will do that, too.”

Authenticity in storytelling

The content of stories is as vital as the tellers. It needs to be genuine and honest.

Catchment care groups emphasised that restoration stories need to include failures

as well as successes. Celebrating successes, like the return of a fish species, while also acknowledging challenges, such as vegetation die-off, creates a more genuine narrative. This unconditional storytelling fosters connection through shared experiences.

As one participant highlighted: “It is important to share what we know about land management and restoration: the things that worked and the things that didn’t work.”

Future generations motivate action

The motivation behind restoration efforts is a crucial aspect of knowledge sharing.

Our research shows that rural communities expressed a profound responsibility to act triggered by a concern for future generations.

Farmers frequently voiced a desire to leave rivers in better condition for their children and grandchildren, saying: “We acknowledge that we are only passing through, so that whatever we do now should have longlasting impacts for our children.”

This inter-generational perspective fosters

Self-supporting aluminium domes to over 100m diameter.

a long-term commitment to restoration. While our study participants were Pākehā this view aligns well with kaitiakitanga, the integral Māori principle of environmental stewardship. It illustrates a shared deep sense of responsibility for future generations.

Given that reversing damage to freshwater systems will require sustained effort over time, collective storytelling that emphasises intergenerational goals helps cultivate patience and resilience within communities. It also possibly avoids disappointment when improvements are not seen as quickly as hoped.

We advocate for the broader integration of collective storytelling as a valuable strategic tool in restoring the health of waterways globally. At the same time, we emphasise that restoration is only one part of improving freshwater health.

Substantial changes in land use will also be needed in New Zealand and elsewhere to prevent further degradation. Authentic, local and collective storytelling can help both the transition in land use and restoration.

This article first appeared in The Conversation.

Geodesic domes for any tank.

Stand-alone domes can be designed and fitted to any tank. Whether the tank is new, old, bolted steel, welded steel or concrete, a dome can be designed to fit and cover the tank.

As the regional agent for Tank Connection – premium, bolted steel storage tanks and aluminium domes –we design solutions for even the largest applications.

A roadmap for change

In Papua New Guinea (PNG), access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in healthcare facilities remains a major challenge.

With a rapidly growing population of 9.2 million people, PNG ranks among the countries with the least access to these essential services globally. The lack of adequate WASH facilities significantly impacts healthcare delivery, particularly in rural areas where disparities are stark.

Recognising the critical role of WASH in healthcare, the PNG government outlined ambitious goals in its 2010–2030 plans, aiming to modernise healthcare facilities and upgrade healthcare centres into hospitals.

Given PNG’s high maternal and infant mortality rates, urgent investment and commitment are needed to ensure safe healthcare environments for all.

To address these challenges, WaterAid supported the National Department of Health to develop the “WASH in Healthcare Facilities National Guidelines and Roadmap”. These frameworks highlight the importance of WASH services in protecting health workers, patients, and caregivers, while preventing unnecessary deaths due to infections and poor sanitation.

The roadmap outlines key priorities to achieve the ambitious target of ensuring 100 percent of medical centres – hospitals, health centres and aid posts – have access to safe and sustainable WASH facilities by 2030.

However, with less than a decade remaining, increased investment from the PNG government and international donors

is critical. The National Guidelines set clear standards and provide step-by-step guidance for achieving minimum WASH requirements, ultimately improving the quality of healthcare services for all Papua New Guineans.

Combating antimicrobial resistance in the Pacific

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to health, especially in low-resource settings like the Pacific Islands. Inadequate infection prevention and control (IPC) in healthcare facilities allows resistant infections to spread, making effective WASH services more crucial than ever.

The Pacific faces particular challenges due to weak antimicrobial regulation, limited laboratory surveillance, and inadequate WASH resources. In response, WaterAid has been supporting the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Centre for Health Security programme to strengthen IPC in national hospitals across Fiji, PNG, the Solomon Islands and Samoa.

This programme provides tools and frameworks to help ministries of health accelerate WASH improvements in healthcare facilities.

An assessment of the National Referral Hospital in the Solomon Islands found that while IPC teams were skilled and dedicated, a lack of resources hindered their ability to maintain effective infection control. Non-functional or inaccessible

Sister Jocelyn Leo treats a child at Balam Community Health Post, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea.

Photo: Tariq Hawari.

WASH infrastructure, inconsistent knowledge and supply chain disruptions for hygiene products further exacerbated the problem. To combat AMR and improve infection control, WaterAid and its partners are working on the following urgent actions:

1. Stronger governance and monitoring: Establish active governance structures to oversee WASH improvements and ensure ongoing quality control in healthcare settings.

2. Updated IPC protocols: In the wake of Covid-19, healthcare facilities must revise their standard operating procedures to reflect new epidemiological data, risks, and best practices.

3. Accountability for WASH compliance: Implement clear accountability mechanisms to ensure healthcare professionals,

caregivers, and facility managers adhere to best-practice hygiene and sanitation standards.

Achieving universal WASH access in healthcare facilities requires political will, financial investment, and cross-sector collaboration.

WaterAid remains committed to working alongside governments, donors, and communities to ensure healthcare facilities have the water, sanitation, and hygiene services they need to provide safe, dignified, and effective care. Because every patient, every mother, and every child deserve nothing less than a clean and safe healthcare environment.

Article provided by WaterAid

www.agru.co.nz www.huerner.co.nz

Ph: 09 299 3640 Mob: 021 329432 @: r.gruen@xtra.co.nz

AGRU New Zealand Ltd Huerner

Ltd

Water Directory

Brought to you by Water New Zealand www.waterdirectory.org.nz

2024 was the last year we published a full printed edition of the Water Directory. Here we showcase the companies on our Gold and Platinum plans . We have a variety of plans available to suppliers to select from based on their needs.

www.waterdirectory.org.nz is a valuable tool for identifying potential suppliers, finding out about their key products or services and examples of work they’ve done that might be of interest to you. The directory allows you to request information or quotes from multiple suppliers at once, as well as read case studies, articles and videos. Jump online and view more about the following companies and all the other suppliers listed on the Water Directory website. It’s a great place to start your research, and to get information from suppliers.

Platinum Plan companies

35 Te Tiki Road

Mangere

Auckland

Phone: 09 815 9500

Website: www.aconz.co.nz

Contact: Alan Beer (Managing Director)

Email: sales@aconz.co.nz

Company Profile: Today, ACO in New Zealand offers an extensive portfolio of stormwater, building drainage, electrical pit and ducting, access covers and other products for niche applications, both external and internal. These include polymer concrete Polycrete ® grated trench drainage, stormwater pits, electrical and communication pits, cabling pits, utility ducting, steel, cast iron and plastic access covers, multipart access systems, light oil and grease separators and geocellular stormwater management products, industrial and hygienic stainless steel drainage and pipe systems, stainless steel bathroom and balcony drainage and cast iron roof and floor drains.

Armatec Environmental Ltd

42 Egmont Road

Waiwhakaiho

New Plymouth

Phone: 06 755 0410

Website: www.armatec.co.nz

Contact: Socrates Fernandes (Sales Manager, Engineering & Design)

Dayna McCormick (Engineering & Design)

Todd Landers (Engineering & Design Manager)

Bryan Holyoake (Managing Director, Engineering & Design)

Email: enquiries@armatec.co.nz

Company Profile: Armatec works with industry and local authorities to reduce emissions to the environment.

• Designers, build-to-order manufacturers and turnkey suppliers

• World-class air pollution & odour control solutions

• Industrial fibreglass (FRP) products Chemical drainage and coating systems.

We are committed to the journey towards carbon neutrality and zero waste, for ourselves and our clients. We value leadership, trust and commitment.

Operating for over 40 years, we manufacture fibreglass products in New Zealand and leverage our international manufacturing, engineering, agency and distribution partners to bring you worldwide capability. Armatec serves broadly across industries including dairy, wastewater, pulp & paper, fertiliser, food, chemical plants, galvanizers and marine.

We offer a unique combination of trusted solutions, strong technologies, in-house design by experienced Chemical Engineers, pilot plant testing capability & highly skilled fibreglass technicians. From concept to commissioning, our team works with customers, consultants, contractors, and global technology partners to implement cost effective and innovative solutions to reduce emissions to the environment. We deliver on what we promise and look forward to working with you on your next project.

Certified Quality (ISO9001), Health & Safety (ISO45001), Environment (ISO14001) and Toitu Net Carbon Zero (ISO14064-1)

Our Services include:

• Industrial Fibreglass design & supply, standard or customised

• In-house Engineering & Design

• Commissioning & Operational Support

• Maintenance & Repair of FRP equipment

• Research & Development assistance

Arthur D Riley & Co Ltd

137 Thorndon Quay

Wellington Phone: 04 916 6200

Website: www.adriley.co.nz

Contact: Basil Vrizonis – 021 221 3856 (Business Development Manager –North Island, Water)

James Christophers – 021 986 180 (Sales & Development Manager –Control (loT))

Anak Lumb – 027 336 4696 (Business Development Manager)

Kevin Head – 021 879 715 (Technical Manager – Water) Bruce Franks – 021 421 072 (All Waters – Sales and Development Manager) Email: water@adr.co.nz

Company Profile: Arthur D Riley & Co is involved in the import, export and sale of water metering and high voltage equipment, in addition to RTU/SCADA and loT solutions to the utility and rural sectors. The ADR Group of Company’s provides meter reading & leak detection services, meter standards testing and end-to-end integration of control & monitoring solutions. The Company is involved in hardware and software design for high voltage equipment, hand-held computers for parking and metering utility services, data collection, monitoring and management and the manufacture of RTU & SCADA products.

Beca Ltd

124 Halsey St

Auckland Phone: 09 300 9000

Website: www.beca.com

Contact: Lorraine Kendrick –Business Director Water Email: info@beca.com

Company Profile: Beca is one of Asia Pacific’s largest, most innovative and

ACO Limited

progressive employee-owned professional services consultants offering market leading engineering, technical and advisory services.

Our purpose is to make everyday better and we aim to create value through strong relationships, exceptional service, and a values-driven culture. We help our clients shape communities and optimise their assets and operations in multiple global markets.

Our focus is on delivering multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy to support a wide range of clients across the full life cycle of their assets. Our services, including engineering design, project management, asset management, digital solutions, planning and environmental consulting are delivered in an integrated way to specialist market sector groups, including Water Authorities.

Established in 1920, Beca has grown and evolved over the past 100 years, and currently has over 3700 employees. In 2022 Beca joined forces with Hunter H2O to create Asia-Pacific’s leading water industry specialists, with the ability to service clients across Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. The combined Beca Water team now numbers over 350 skilled three waters practitioners.

To allow us to bring even more experience and international expertise to our client projects, Beca has formed a close association and working relationship with global engineering, consulting, and construction firm Black & Veatch (BV). Our collaboration with BV is based on shared strengths and values. With a combined 200 years of experience, both organisations are proudly employee-owned and care passionately about the environment. BV operate from over 100 offices worldwide, executing projects in more than 100 countries on six continents.

CSL (Cuthbert Stewart Ltd)

22 Fisher Cres

Mt Wellington

Auckland

Phone: 0800 288 423

Website: www.csl-online.nz

Email: support@csl-online.nz

Company Profile: Innovation is core to CSL’s belief with products enabled to turn sensor information into useable data. Representing some of the world’s leading electrical brands CSL has consistently delivered the best technical electrical product solutions to the New Zealand industry since 1948. Backed up by product specialists delivering technical knowledge to utility, hazardous area and automation and control customers in the Utilities, OEM, F&B & industrial sectors. CSL’s principles extend to excellence in customer service. The sales and customer support teams are at the front line to provide customers with technical product support, general sales and design services.

Deeco Services Ltd

35 Wakefield Street

Alicetown

Hutt City Phone: 0800 433326

Website: www.deeco.co.nz

Contact: Marcus Durrant (Managing Director)

Email: service@deeco.co.nz

Company Profile: Founded in 1938, Deeco Services Ltd is a private New Zealand owned company, specialising water process solutions. With a carefully selected suite of Control, Measurement and Filtration products from world leading manufacturers Deeco empower organisations in New Zealand and the South Pacific to deliver sustainable, high-quality water services by providing expert knowledge, innovative solutions and best in-class products. The Deeco team are passionate about what we do and determined to deliver exceptional service and solutions in the water industry.

We make Complex Simple.

Hygrade Water

102 Neilson St

Onehunga

Auckland Phone: 09 579 4690

Website: www.hygradewater.co.nz

Email: sales@hygradewater.co.nz

Company Profile: Supplying quality imported products and technical expertise for valves, fittings, access covers, and surface drainage solutions for projects from world class suppliers, Hygrade Water’s wealth of experience offers the best products for your three waters infrastructure projects.

As a wholesaler to the New Zealand water industry for over 26 years, our team of dedicated sales and technical staff are focused on providing confidence and expertise to resellers, consultants, and asset owners. With Distribution Centres located in Auckland and Christchurch, we are able to support the local market in a timely manner.

Hynds Pipe Systems Ltd

Hynds Support Centre, 25 Arwen Place East Tamaki

Auckland Phone: 09 274 0316

Website: www.hynds.co.nz

Contact: Rumana Sayyad –Rumana.sayyad@hynds.co.nz (National Stormwater Manager)

Wendy O’Halloran –wendy.ohalloran@hynds.co.nz (Watermain Manager)

Mike Dawson –mike.dawson@hynds.co.nz (Wastewater & IoT Devices Manager) Mark Ballard –mark.ballard@hynds.co.nz (Precast & Engineered Solutions Manager) Nihal Kaushik –Nihal.Kaushik@hynds.co.nz (Concrete Pipe Systems Manager) Email: enquiry@hynds.co.nz

Company Profile: Established in 1973, Hynds Limited is a privately owned New Zealand manufacturer and distributor of products for the management of water and water-based waste in the civil and rural infrastructure industry.

Hynds are leaders in the supply of drainage, pre-cast, rural, pressure system and surface system products; Stormwater treatment and management; and wastewater treatment.

Hynds Water

36 Apollo Dr Auckland Phone: 0800 937 473

Website: www.hyndswater.co.nz

Contact: Wendy O’Halloran Email: Wendy.OHalloran@hygradewater.co.nz

Company Profile: A division of Hynds Pipe Systems, Hynds Water brings together the water expertise from across the Hynds Group, creating a focused team of professionals, dedicated to providing our water customers with the highest level of service, technical expertise, with easy access to world leading water products brands and agencies. Our team have the qualifications and experience to provide expert technical assistance on pipeline planning, product selection, installation and cost-benefit analysis specific to your project needs. By combining our extensive product range with our expertise, we offer our clients comprehensive tailored solutions.

Prime Fluid Management

Head office: Greymouth

Branches: Auckland, Tauranga, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, Christchurch

Phone: 0800 482 747

Website: www.primefluid.co.nz

Contact: Ricardo Holt 021 220 1107

Email: info@primefluid.co.nz

Company Profile: Prime Fluid Management provides fluid management solutions to the municipal, civil, industrial, dairy and mining sectors. We work with district and local Councils and engineering consultancies throughout the country, bringing practical experience and extensive knowledge of pumps systems to the table.

Flood Control: In-ground and surfacemounted flood control solutions leveraging best-of-breed pump technology from Europe. Low footprint. Relocatable. Fish-friendly.

Flood Response: Rapid flood response equipment and 24/7 hire-team support during large-scale flood events.

Wastewater Treatment Plants: Low-wear pumps and stirrers engineered for fast, efficient maintenance. Products suited to conveying waste at all stages of the treatment process.

Core Brands: BBA, Bosman, Grindex, Varisco, Wangen Strongvac Limited

6 Progressive Way East Tamaki

Auckland Phone: 09 265 1655

Website: www.strongvac.co.nz

Contact: Jack Sun (General Manager)

Email: info@strongvac.co.nz

Company Profile:

Company Overview: As one of the large hydro excavation company in the market, StrongVAC specializes in using the latest equipment and trucks from 2023. We are committed to safety and delivering high-quality work. As approved subcontractors for Fulton Hogan, we uphold the highest standards on all our projects.

Safety and Certifications: Safety is our top priority. We hold Sitewise Gold and IMPAC Prequal certifications. All our operators are certified in First Aid, and our management team is trained in Confined Space and Gas Detection. This ensures safe and precise project execution.

Services and Availability: Our team is available 24/7 and ready to respond at any time. With six hydro trucks, we can significantly increase work efficiency.

Our experienced staff can handle various situations with flexibility and expertise. We are based in East Tamaki, providing easy access to Auckland.

Conclusion: We believe our skills, focus on safety, and modern equipment will meet your hydro excavation needs. If you have any questions or need our services, please contact us. We look forward to working with you.

TDG Environmental

12 Bancroft Crescent

Glendene

Phone: 09 6000 888

Website: www.tdgenvironmental.com

Contact: Paul Southen (General Manager) 021 175 5021

Email: psouthen@tdgenvironmental.com

Company Profile: Established in 1989, TDG Environmental is a proudly Australian and New Zealand-owned and operated company specialising in providing innovative environmental solutions to a range of industries. We believe success is best when it’s sustainable and reliable – for the environment, our clients, and the job at hand. As the largest and most experienced provider of sustainable waste management and recycling services throughout Australia and New Zealand, we deliver prompt, reliable, high-quality services that offer value for money and continuously put safety and sustainability at the forefront. With world-leading technologies, experienced team members, and long-term industry knowledge, we can deliver projects of any scale, from simple blocked pipes to servicing large networks of Gross Pollutant Traps.

Water New Zealand

Level 12, Ranchhod Tower

39 The Terrace

Wellington

Phone: 022 600 5863

Website: www.waternz.org.nz/training

Contact: Belinda Cridge, Technical Lead – Drinking Water Quality and Education

Email: belinda.cridge@waternz.org.nz

Company Profile: ‘Ka ora te wai, ka ora te whenua, ka ora ngā tāngata’‘If the water is healthy, the land is healthy, the people are healthy’.

We are your water community. We share

knowledge and bring expertise together to uphold the mana of water for Aotearoa New Zealand. Water New Zealand is the country’s largest water industry body and provides leadership in the water sector through collaboration, professional development and networking. We represent water management professionals and organisations.

As a not-for-profit organisation, we have around 3000 corporate and individual members drawn from all areas of the water management industry including regional councils and territorial authorities, Crown Research Institutes, consultants, suppliers, government agencies and scientists.

Water New Zealand promotes the sustainable management and development of the water environment. This includes the promotion and support of best practice and management of the Three Waters – drinking, waste and stormwater – and we advocate for the sustainability and health of our freshwater environment.

White International

15 G Kerwyn Ave East Tamaki

Auckland Phone: 09 579 9777

Website: www.whiteint.co.nz

Contact: Deborah Prus -Loughlin –021 915 761 (Water Treatment)

Garth Cohen – 021 143 2359 (Pump Enquiries)

Email: sales@whiteint.co.nz

Company Profile: White International are specialists in Small and Very Small Drinking Water Supplies, including design of water treatment systems and associated equipment including matched water pump systems. As an established distributor of quality water treatment products, pumping products, control equipment and accessories, we distribute throughout Australasia via specialist re-sellers. We have supply arrangements with OEM manufacturers and welcome enquiries for any project.

White International has an enviable reputation for developing enduring customer relationships. We are known for our technical advice, industry experience and product support of our quality brands.

Gold Plan companies

ABB Limited

83 Grafton Road

Auckland

Phone: 0800 464 222

Website: campaign.abb. com/l/501021/2020-09-29/s3mwns

Contact: Marvelo Yanong - Business Development Manager Water and Wastewater

Email: contact.center@nz.abb.com

ABB is a global technology leader in electrification and automation, enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future via its engineering and software expertise.

Accurate Instruments (NZ) Ltd

192 Marua Road

Mt Wellington

Auckland

Phone: 0800 500 380

Website: www.accurate.kiwi

Contact: Nick Farmer (Sales Manager)

Email: sales@accurate.kiwi

Trusted supplier to the surveying, infrastructure, inspection, and technical safety industries. we offer advanced professional equipment to meet the highest standards.

Aeris Global Limited

8 Enterprise Drive

Ballantyne Ridge Industrial Park

Wanaka

Phone: +64 3 443 8991

Website: www.aeris.global

Contact: Bruce Henley (Director)

Email: nz@aeris.global

Australasia’s leading mechanical aeration, mixing, decanting and safe access specialist incorporating the aeris.global®, aerdisc®, aquaturbo® and aquadecant® products.

AGRU New Zealand Limited

12 Croskery Road

Papakura

Auckland

Phone: +64 9 299 3+640

Website: www.agru.co.nz

Email: admin@agru.co.nz

Leading NZ supplier of HDPE/PE100/PP piping and lining systems (Pipes, Fittings - Smooth Liners, Concrete Protective Liners - Sheets).

Altex Coatings Limited / Carboline

91-111 Oropi Road

Tauranga

Phone: 07 541 1221

Website: www.altexcoatings.com

Contact: Michael Thorne (Sales Manager)

Email: sales@carboline.co.nz

Altex Coatings supply paint, coatings & linings used in water purification, storage, reticulation and wastewater treatment.

Applied Instrument Group (2007) Ltd

5/20 Kaweroa Drive

Omanawa

Tauranga

Phone: 09 579 2633

Website: www.applied-inst.co.nz

Contact: Colin Hooper (Director)

Email: colin@applied-inst.co.nz

From initial concept through to implementation, we use our extensive engineering knowledge and the support of our suppliers to provide optimal solutions.

Aqua-K NZ Ltd

65 Crown Road

Paerata

Auckland Phone: 021 123 3020

Website: www.aquak.co.nz

Contact: Chetan Thapar (Director)

Email: ct@aquak.co.nz

Aqua-K is a tech driven, wastewater treatment company with efficient and effective treatment using PVA GEL.

AquiSense Technologies

New Zealand

15 D Collard Pl

Henderson

Waitakere

Phone: 09 213 7191

Website: www.aquisense-newzealand.co.nz

Contact: Alison Young (Technical Sales)

Email: sales@aquisense.co.nz

AquiSense NZ specialises in advanced UV-C LED water disinfection solutions WITHOUT MERCURY.

Babbage Consultants Limited

68 Beach Road

Auckland Phone: +64 9 379 9980

Website: www.babbage.co.nz

Contact: Suman KhareediInfrastructure Business Manager

Email: suman.khareedi@babbage.co.nz

Babbage is a 100% New Zealand-owned consultancy offering engineering design services across 19 disciplines, located in Christchurch, Auckland, Hamilton and Melbourne.

Bell Technology Ltd

10c Maurice Road

Penrose

Auckland Phone: 09 525 1875

Website: www.belltechnology.co.nz

Contact: Gavin Bell (Sales Manager)

Email: info@belltechnology.co.nz

We are suppliers of Instrumentation and apparatus for Process and Laboratory needs.

Brown Brothers Engineers Ltd

16 Sir James Wattie Drive

Hornby

Christchurch

Phone: 03 365 0279

Website: www.brownbros.co.nz

Email: info@brownbros.co.nz

From small domestic pressure systems to large industrial process pumps, Brown Brothers Engineers provide a full range of pumps and pumping solutions to meet your needs.

City Contractors

58 Lovegrove Crescent

Otara

Auckland

Phone: 09 573 0566

Website: www.citycontractors.co.nz

Contact: Mark Bason (Director)

Email: office@citycontractors.co.nz

Specialists in water main installation, renewals, extensions, connections and upgrades. Installation of underground fire mains, backflows & strainers.

Cla-Val Pacific Ltd

45 Kennaway Rd

Woolston

Christchurch

Phone: 03 964 4860

Website: www.cla-valpacific.com

Contact: Craig Russ 0275 308 353 Glynn Nuthall 021 2274 255

Email: cruss@cla-val.com

Cla-Val leads in automatic control valves, trusted by waterworks, fire protection and industrial clients for 85 years, showing our dedication and commitment.

Davey Water Products NZ

7 Rockridge Ave

Penrose

Auckland

Phone: 0800 654 333

Website: www.daveywater.com/nz

Email: sales@dwp.co.nz

For perfect pressure, healthy drinking water, protection from fire & flood, a clean, relaxing pool or spa, or water to run your farm or business, depend on Davey.

Davis Ogilvie & Partners Ltd

Level 1, 24 Moorhouse Ave

Addington

Christchurch

Phone: 0800 999 333

Website: www.do.co.nz

Contact: Sophie South (Principal Civil Engineer)

Email: hello@do.nz

Davis Ogilvie provides a complete range of multi-disciplinary engineering, surveying and development planning services within one company.

Detection Services Ltd

Unit J, 150 Harris Road East Tamaki

Auckland Phone: 0800 100 899

Website: www.detectionservices.co.nz

Contact: Vaughn Healey (General Manager Service Delivery New Zealand)

Email: info@detectionservices.co.nz

Detection Services specialises in multi discipline pipeline solutions and state of the art technologies covering the water and wastewater industries.

EMC Industrial Group Ltd

56 Tarndale Grove

Rosedale

Auckland Phone: 09 415 5110

Website: www.emc.co.nz

Email: sales@emc.co.nz

EMC combines a wide portfolio of smart measuring instruments with industryexperienced consulting and expert services to ensure water safety with regulatory compliance.

Eurofins Food and Water Testing NZ

85 Port Rd

Seaview

Lower Hutt

Phone: 800 3876 3467

Website: www.eurofins.co.nz

Contact: Rob Deacon (General Manager)

Email: infonz@eurofins.com

Our nationwide network of laboratories offers world-leading analytical testing and support services to customers across the food, water, and agricultural industries.

FILTEC

102A Carbine Road

Mount Wellington

Auckland

Phone: 09 274 4223

Website: filtecwater.com/nz/

Email: infonz@filtecwater.com

FILTEC are leading water treatment specialists delivering comprehensive solutions for safe drinking water and healthy waterways across New Zealand and Australia.

Grundfos Pumps NZ Ltd

17 Beatrice Tinsley Crescent

Auckland

Phone: 0800 788 900

Website: www.grundfos.com/nz

Contact: Jase Keen, (Country Director NZ)

Email: nzsales@sales.grundfos.com

Grundfos Pumps NZ Ltd is our part of a global network delivering pumping expertise and innovation in over 80 countries.

Hach

16 Botha Road

Penrose

Auckland

Phone: 0800 50 55 66

Website: nz.hach.com

Contact: Bryn Hellier (Sales ManagerNZ and Pacific Islands)

Email: sales@hachpacific.com continued...

Hach provides innovative water quality testing equipment and reagents, ensuring safe and clean water for municipal water treatment plants and various industries worldwide

Hall Machinery

10 Midas Place

Middleton

Christchurch

Phone: 800338702

Website: www.hallmach.co.nz/

Contact: Roy Campbell(Owner) Paul Fox (General Manager)

Email: sales@hallmach.co.nz

Hall Machinery Ltd. offers a complete sales and service package from a foundation of technical expertise and over 50 years of professional experience.

Huerner Welding Technology NZ Ltd

12 Croskery Road

Papakura

Auckland

Phone: 09 299 3+640

Website: www.huerner.co.nz

Email: admin@huerner.co.nz

Supplier of high quality German made Plastic Welding Machines from HÜRNER Schweisstechnik GmbH.

Hydroflow Civil

40 Rockridge Ave

Penrose

Auckland Phone: 09 448 5844

Website: www.hydroflowcivil.co.nz

Contact: Steven Duckworth, National Specification Manager

Email: orders@hydroflowcivil.co.nz

We are specialists in infrastructure solutions. Now enhanced through the synergy and connection to the Hydroflow Group, offering solutions for the lifecycle of water.

Hydroflux NZ Ltd

Level 7, Spaces

50 Albert Street

Auckland Phone: 09 352 2052

Website: www.hydroflux.nz

Contact: Joshua Eickoff

Email: info@hydroflux.nz

Hydroflux deliver engineering, scientific and technological solutions focusing on water, wastewater, renewable energy, climate resilience and environmental protection.

Hydrographic Technologies

5g Cain Rd

Penrose

Auckland Phone: 09 930 6365

Website: www.hydrograph.co.nz

Email: sales@hydrograph.co.nz

Hydrographic Technologies is a specialist supplier of water loss equipment, working closely with councils and contractors to ensure equipment purchased is fully utilised.

Hynds PKS

80 Francella Street

Christchurch

Phone: 03 384 6294

Website: www.hyndspks.co.nz

Contact: Steven Kallai (Engineering & Design Manager)

Email: enquiries@hyndspks.co.nz

Hynds PKS collaborate with you to design and manufacture bespoke solutions to fit your PE/ PP pipeline and structures needs.

Innovative Filtration Solutions Pty Ltd

42 Mayor View Terrace

Waihi Beach

Phone: 09 974 4802

Website: www.ifs-consultants.com.au/

Contact: Robert Rejall

Email: info@ifs-consultants.co.nz

IFS provide comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of industrial filtration and mechanical separation; especially in the field of solid/ liquid separation.

Instrumatics Equipment Ltd

19 Beasley Ave

Penrose

Auckland Phone: 09 526 0096

Website: www.instrumatics.co.nz

Contact: Sales Team

Email: sales@instrumatics.co.nz

Instrumatics has been supplying Instrumentation to the process industry in New Zealand for over forty years.

Kliptank Limited

19 Poturi Street

Tauranga

Phone: 0800 255 222

Website: www.kliptank.com

Contact: Kim Henderson (Director)

Email: info@kliptank.com

Kliptank provides a range of covered and uncovered above ground tank solutions. Proudly designed,engineered and manufactured in New Zealand. Storage volumes from 34m³.

KRE Engineering Services

205-213 Port Hacking Rd

Miranda

Phone: +61 2 9522 4922

Website: www.kre.com.au

Contact: Keith Edmunds

Email: keith@kre.com.au

Australian-owned company with 30 years of expertise in manufacturing equipment for trenchless sewer and stormwater pipeline maintenance and repairs.

kwik-ZIP Marketing Pty Ltd

Unit 30 4 Wicks Street

Bayswater

Phone: +61 04 389 32 178

Website: www.kwikzip.com

Contact: Paul Keegan (Business Development Manager)

Email: paul.jeffreys@kwikzip.com

Manufacturer and supplier of high-grade thermoplastic casing spacer and centralizer products.

LeHunt & Associates Pty Ltd

8 Hamilton Court

Pearcedale

Phone: +61 3 59 787 121

Website: www.lehunt.com.au

Contact: Robert LeHunt (Director) (+61 4 09 146 104)

Email: rjlehunt@bigpond.com

We provide specialist technical support for pipelines materials, installation and testing, including training and quality Assurance programs for PVC and PE applications.

Liquipro

1 Maurice Rd

Penrose

Auckland

Phone: 09 622 1835

Website: www.liquipro.com

Email: support@liquipro.com

Importer and supplier for industrial, commercial agriculture, horticulture and municipally water and waste water processes. Established in 1989 in NZ and going strong.

MacEwans Pumping Systems Ltd

19 Ride Way

Albany

Auckland Phone: 09 415 4860

Website: www.MacEwans.co.nz

Contact: Tom Bailey (General Manager)

Email: sales@macewans.co.nz

MacEwans Pumping Systems is a NZ owned and operated Pump Company with over 100 years of trading and experience.

Maskell Productions Ltd

24 Bowden Road

Mt Wellington

Auckland

Phone: +64 9 573 0548

Website: www.maskell.co.nz

Email: sales@maskell.co.nz

Maskell Productions manufacture a wide range of fibre reinforced plastic (fibreglass/ FRP/GRP) products for corrosion resistant applications to a range of industries.

Pacific Technologies (NZ) Ltd

Unit 14, 18 Lambie Drive, Manukau, Auckland Phone: 09 263 9867

Website: www.pacifictechnologies.net.nz

Contact: Abdul Khalil (Managing Director), Junaid Khalil (Instrumentation Engineer)

Email: info@pacifictechnologies.net.nz

Pacific Technologies - Providing IoT & sensor solutions for the Water, Wastewater & Environment sector since 1989.

Pipe Technologies Ltd

1 Dakota Pl Bell Block

New Plymouth Phone: 272812310

Website: www.pipetech.net.nz

Contact: Rowan BurgessManaging Director

Maifea Maifea - Operations Director

Email: rowan@pipetech.net.nz

PipeTech specializes in innovative pipe rehabilitation solutions, prioritizing quality, safety, & efficiency. We stand for excellence in service & sustainable practices.

Pipeline and Civil Ltd

23 Airdrie Road

Ranui

Auckland Phone: 09 831 0005

Website: www.pipelinecivil.co.nz

Contact: Hugh Goddard (Managing Director)

Email: admin@pipelinecivil.co.nz

Specialising in critical asset construction and renewal that has enabled communities to thrive.

Plasson Australia Pty Ltd

Auckland Phone: 021 747 938

Website: www.plasson.com.au

Contact: Michael Kemp –Regional Manager New Zealand & the Pacific Islands

Email: mkemp@plasson.co.nz

Manufacturer of quality fittings & tooling for Polyethylene pipe systems

Pump Supplies NZ Ltd

18 Hammersmith Drive

Wigram

Christchurch

Phone: 0800 PLEUGER

Website: www.pumpsupplies.co.nz

Contact: Corey Busch –(Managing Director)

Email: office@pumpsupplies.co.nz

Pump Supplies NZ Ltd – Engineered Pumping Solutions – Pleuger Best-in-Class submersible pump and motor solutions from the reliability experts. SALES|SERVICE|TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Reliant Solutions

32 Benmore Street

Invercargill

Phone: 03 215 9125

Website: www.reliant-solutions.co.nz

Contact: Brad Kelly (Sales Advisor)

Email: sales@reliant-solutions.co.nz

Reliant Solutions partner with the world’s best tank manufacturers to offer a complete range of bolted steel tanks.

Smith & Loveless NZ Ltd

2-8 Manukau Road

Epsom

Auckland Phone: 09 488 6701

Website: www.sandlnz.co.nz

Contact: Joe Gill (General Manager); David Maynard (Design & Project Manager); Wouter Nel (Site/Customer Services Manager); Jordan Coutts (Project Engineer)

Email: jgill@sandlnz.co.nz

S&L are global leaders in advanced water & wastewater treatment equipment design and supply, including our patented range of PISTA® Grit Removal and Inlet works systems.

Steel & Tube Holdings Ltd

Phone: 0800 478 335

Website: www.steelandtube.co.nz

Email: david.lennox@steelandtube.co.nz

With over 10,000 unique products, we provide a wide range of quality, strong, lightweight and versatile solutions.

Swan Analytical New Zealand

15/D Collard Place

Henderson

Waitakere

Phone: +64 9 213 7191

Website: https://swan-analytical.co.nz/

Contact: Alison Young (Lead Technical Sales Specialist)

Email: sales@swan-analytical.co.nz

Swan Analytical NZ offers advanced online monitoring instruments for water analysis, ensuring precise and reliable results across various industries.

Tasman Tanks

81A Byron Street

Sydenham

Christchurch

Phone: 0800 826 526

Website: www.tasmantanks.com.au

Contact: Greg Lilly 021 826 501

Email: salesnz@tasmantanks.co.nz

Tasman Tanks is a leading provider of storage solutions in NZ, Australia & the Pacific. We have designed, manufactured and constructed a wide range of tanks for 30 years

Teltherm Instruments Limited

5G Cain Rd

Penrose

Auckland Phone: 09 633 0040

Website: www.teltherm.co.nz

Contact: Jason Clarke (Managing Director)

Email: sales@teltherm.co.nz

We are experts in Industrial Instrumentation ( pressure, temperature, level, flow, gas detection), as well as analytical instruments, measurement and Control systems.

Viking Containment

2 Nazareth Avenue

Middleton

Christchurch Phone: 0800 454 646

Website: www.containment.co.nz

Contact: Doug Spain (General Manager)

Email: info@containment.co.nz

Supply & Installation of geosynthetic liners for: Reservoir, Irrigation, Floating Covers, Landfill, Petrochemical, Dairy Effluent, Wastewater Lagoons & Baffle Curtains

Water Supply Products Ltd

74 McLaughlins Rd

Manukau, Auckland Phone: 09 916 0094

Website: www.watersupply.co.nz

Contact: Mike Stapleton (Industrial Sales)

Email: wsp@watersupply.co.nz

At Water Supply Products, our vision is distinct: we aspire to stand as the foremost supplier of irrigation, filtration, and water reticulation equipment in New Zealand.

Watermetrics – A Division of Arthur D Riley & Co Ltd

89 Vickerys Road

Wigram

Christchurch

Phone: 0800 493 762

Website: www.watermetrics.co.nz

Contact: Bruce Franks - 021 421 072

(All Waters - Sales & Development Manager)

Email: support@watermetrics.co.nz

Watermetrics work with private and government organisations to provide endto-end wireless, measurement, and online monitoring solutions.

Woods

8 Nugent St

Grafton

Auckland Phone: 09 308 9229

Website: www.woods.co.nz

Contact: Pranil Wadan (General Manager Water Infrastructure & Planning)

Email: pranil.wadan@woods.co.nz

Woods is your pragmatic partner with innovative Water Infrastructure & Planning solutions. We work collaboratively, we drive efficiency, and we get the job done.

Yokogawa New Zealand Limited

Unit 1H, 5 Ceres Court

Albany

Auckland

Phone: 0800 706 060

Website: www.yokogawa.com/nz

Email: nz.sales@yokogawa.com

Yokogawa are renown for technological & thought leadership in automation, instrumentation, asset management, analytics and renewable energy management.