Water Supply Project FAQs
Water meter questions
What is the Council doing about our water supply?
What input do tāngata whenua have into this process?
What input is the wider community having into this process?
What are the top ranked options for additional water supply?
Why aren’t we just using water from the Ōtaki River?
Is there any background material available if I want to find out more about the Council’s goals in relation to water?
Is the Council doing anything right now to help conserve water?
What other water conservation methods could be suitable for me?
How is our water being treated?
Isn’t there a lot of leakage anyway? Why not just fix the leaks, rather than reduce consumption by the end user?
What impact will the introduction of district-wide meters have on the existing water supply project? Will this result in Council pulling out of the project?
I thought Council had made a decision on a new water supply at a cost of $23 million. Why do we need water meters?
If I find a large leak on my property, will Council fix the leak for me free?
The focus for water is on two major goals.
The first goal concerns finding additional water supply for future needs. The challenge is substantial, with many environmental, social, cultural and financial issues to be considered. The community has been consulted on what it considers important to them about water supply. This was developed into criteria that has been applied to each option and used to select the preferred supply option. Construction of relevant infrastructure is expected to proceed in 2012/13 for completion by 2015.
The second goal is the reduction of water use to a peak target of 400 litres per person per day. “Litres per person per day” is a common measure but does not mean that all of this water is used by individuals at home. The measure is an average figure for all users, including businesses, industry, schools, hospitals, councils etc., and also contains an amount of unaccounted for water (UFW) – water lost in large reticulation systems.
Whilst this amount is generous by New Zealand standards, the challenge faced by the district is considerable, our current consumption rate is approximately two thirds more than the target. A Water Conservation Plan has been developed.
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The Council is working in partnership with tāngata whenua on the water issue. There are regular meetings on this topic.
Council and Iwi have a signed Memorandum of Understanding with Te Ati Awa relating to water and this has been the basis for Iwi consultation for the water supply project.
Tāngata whenua, through Council partnership committee Te Whakaminenga o Kāpiti,said: “Water is a valuable and important natural resource [that is] fundamental to future development management on the Kāpiti Coast.”
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The Council is meeting regularly with a wide range of stakeholder groups.
The wider community will be able to comment on suggested initiatives as part of the Annual Plan and Community Plan process.
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River Recharge with Groundwater
The River Recharge with Groundwater option involves extracting groundwater from the Waikanae Borefield and discharging this to the Waikanae River immediately downstream of the river water intake. This will mean only riverwater is drunk in the future
The groundwater discharge would bolster river flows downstream of the water treatment plant thus enabling more water to be taken from the river while maintaining the minimum flow during times of drought.
Under this option, every additional litre extracted from the river will be offset by a litre of groundwater discharged downstream.
Maungakotukutuku Dam
A dam on the Maungakotukutuku Stream behind the hills of Nikau Valley has been confirmed by Council as its second ranked water supply option.
This proposal involves creating a 28 hectare lake behind a 31.5 metre concrete dam. Stored water from the dam will be released into the Waikanae River to supplement the river's natural flow as required. Geotechnical drilling in the area has confirmed no active faults or significant concerns with foundations. Some 4.4 hectares of covenant protected land will be affected, however, requiring Ministerial action and mitigation.
Council has authorized its Chief Executive to begin negotiations for the conditional purchase of the dam site, subject to final approval by Council. the dam and 'river recharge with groundwater' options will provide a secure source of good quality water for the next 100 years.
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In early 2010, Council consulted with local communities and tāngata whenua about what was important to them about additional water supply for Raumati/Paraparaumu/Waikanae. The Ōtaki Community Board advised Council that out-of-catchment solutions, such as the Ōtaki River, would not be supported by the Ōtaki community.
Council itself had earlier indicated that it prefers in-catchment water supply solutions for the district. This is documented in the 2003 document Water Matters which outlines the district’s 50-year water management strategy and was reaffirmed during the Water Project consultation in 2010.
Further, with an earlier resource consent decision having gone against an Ōtaki River pipeline (Greater Wellington Regional Council, Sept 2001), it seems likely that revisiting the Ōtaki pipeline proposal could cause a protracted and costly consent process.
The consultants have worked on a number of “in-catchment” options following a Council directive. However, to provide a “total picture” to Council, the consultants have also designed and provided costs for two Otaki options.
Their assessment was included in the full report to Council on 19 August 2010.
One option involved drilling shallow bores at the river’s edge and piping water 16.5 kilometres to the existing water treatment plant at Waikanae. This has a $37.8 million price tag.
The second option involved drilling shallow wells near the Otaki Gorge and a pipeline to transfer water to the top of the Waikanae River catchment. This has a $32.8 million price tag. The consultants say pumping and piping costs would be significant.
The Otaki options were costed on a like-for-like basis and were clearly outside the budget of $23 million set by Council.
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- In January 2003, Kāpiti Coast District Council adopted a Sustainable Water Use Strategy. The strategy has a 50 year focus and is concerned with reducing demand for water, while investing in new infrastructure for the supply of water to the community.
- The goals as outlined in the Sustainable Water Use Strategy were further refined in the Kāpiti Coast District Council 2009 Long Term Community Plan. Large sections of the community contributed to the development of this plan, reflecting the importance people on the coast attach to this issue.
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A number of practical Council initiatives on water are already available to the community, such as:
Other initiatives being developed are innovation fund, education in local schools, and financial incentives that provide loans for installation of non-potable water systems.
For more information, you can contact the Council’s Water Use Advisor.
The Council has an active leak detection programme and any leaks can be reported 24/7 on 0800 486 486
During the summer months, water is saved through water usage restrictions – information is available on the website, on billboards, in newspapers and on the radio.
New regulations also help to conserve water – for example, most new properties are now required to have rainwater tanks and greywater reuse. This is a groundbreaking new regulation that puts the Council ahead of other local authorities in New Zealand and underlines its commitment to sustainability.
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There are many ways to conserve water, from grey water plumbing systems to planting the right plants for the local conditions. You can contact the Council’s Water Use Advisor, for more information.
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Most water is treated at the Waikanae Water Treatment Plant. Water from the plant goes to residents in Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Raumati. There are also treatment facilities for the Ōtaki, Hautere and Paekakariki water supplies. View more information on water treatment here.
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Isn’t there a lot of leakage anyway? Why not just fix the leaks, rather than reduce consumption by the end user?
While the Council is working hard to reduce loss of water, it is inevitable that some water is lost in the district’s very large reticulation system. The key is to reduce peak demand for water and that is an issue which can only be resolved if residents reduce overall water consumption.
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We still need to improve water quality and increase our supply capacity. Work on the new scheme will continue, but water meters and associated conservation moves, will mean we can better stage capital investment over a longer period of time.
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The Water Supply Project has two seperate but related streams.
The first is to improve the water supply to Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Raumati residents by using groundwater from an expanded Waimea borefield to supplement the Waikanae River during times of drought. This will address two serious issues with the Waikanae/Paraparaumu/Raumati water supply system - capacity and variable quality.
The second stream involves a number of conservation and educational initiatives. They include:
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Plan Change 75. This requires all new dwellings to have a 10,000 litre rain water tank or a 4,000 litre rain water tank, and a grey water diversion system;
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a new interest-free loan scheme to encourage existing home owners to install water tanks, launched at the March 26/27 Sustainable Home and Garden Show. Under this scheme, home owners will be required to pay back just the principle over a 10 year period through their rates;
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on-going educational programmes, including the award winning school essay competition, free Green Plumbers and Green Gardener advice, and free leak detection work.
Council has a target of reducing peak water consumption to 400 litres per person per day. At present peak consumption ranges between 540 and 560 litres per person per day across the District, but some areas are as high as 760.
Our capital investment in water infrastructure is based on getting our peak consumption down to 400 litres per person per day. There is no certainty that the above measures will enable us to reach this target. Water meters will provide that certainty.
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No. Property owners are responsible for their own pipe work. The cost of water supply would go up dramatically if Council accepted this responsibility across the district. Advice on solutions can be sought from Council.