48NAVIGATING THE FUTURE | WAIKATO DISTRICT COUNCIL
49Water SupplyWhat We DoStrategic focusTo maintain our present network, addressingspecific health issues and projects that arepredominantly growth driven.Water is one of the most precious assets we have.Our residents need enough water of a consistent quality, flow andpressure to meet their day-to-day requirements and our role is to collect,treat and supply water to meet those needs. This also includes providingwater for the district’s fire-fighting services.Presently we source our water from the <strong>Waikato</strong> River, treating itat plants at Ngaruawahia, Hopuhopu, Huntly and Te Kauwhata, anddistributing to communities around these townships.We also buy bulk water from Hamilton City <strong>Council</strong> for Gordonton,Puketaha, Newstead, Eureka, Matangi and Tamahere in the south-easternparts of the district, and Te Kowhai Road and Stonebridge in the southwesternparts of the district. Raglan’s water comes from a spring, whileTuakau, Pokeno and Te Akau’s water comes from ground bores.Our major projects reflect the need to more adequately address ourwater supplies and to manage them sustainably. For example, we haveincluded increased storage from 24 hours to 48 hours, to align withHamilton city’s requirements and Pokeno’s development needs, and alsoto manage our water more sustainably.We are also continuing with our roll-out of water metering, which willhelp people to better understand their usage and therefore encouragewater conservation. This will become more of an issue as the district’spopulation grows. We keep track of water loss and once our meteringprogramme is completed, we’ll be able to measure loss more accuratelyand will therefore have a performance measure to reflect this.On page 23, we have referred to the Three Waters Strategy, whichis part of the Future Proof growth strategy. The final adopted strategy(which the Future Proof partners will consult on in the near future) is ahigh-level one dealing with co-management of the three waters acrossthe sub-region. This aims to support future growth, which is importantfor our future development and economic security.Climate change, and how we respond to it, also presents issues – wherewe get water from, what its quality is like and what the demand will beare just some of the issues to be planned for.This plan reflects changing requirements that could impose more costs,as well as the need to invest in our infrastructure to ensure we canmaintain the standards we have now. The Ministry of Health has changedits water grading, which means we have also had to review our waterquality against those new grades. Under the previous grades, our waterwas generally graded as Aa (‘A’ = water treatment grade, and ‘a’ = waterpipes distribution grade). While we’ve continued to treat and supplyour water to the same or better standard, the drinking water is nowconsidered, under the Ministry’s guidelines, as Ed (unacceptable levelof risk), which is similar to most other district councils. Better qualitydrinking water does come at a cost and affordability is an issue.To maintain present levels and to improve to Cc (marginally satisfactory)needs investment in maintenance, and so we have included watertreatment plant upgrades in our budgets to ensure we can maintain ourwater quality at present levels or better.<strong>Waikato</strong> district’s future is full of potential. The predicted populationgrowth holds promise for our economy, but will also bring aboutpressure on our natural resources, including water.Strategic Direction ContributionsPrimarySecondary
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