Council meets the need for high quality drinking water and ensures fire-fighting performance standards are met within the defined water supply areas. This activity contributes significantly to present and future environmental and economic well-being of the district.

Activity: Water supply 

Council’s vision is for everybody in the Far North to have access to sufficient, safe, and reliable sources of drinking water that is provided in a sustainable manner. The water treatment plants, pumping stations, and reticulation systems contribute to that by providing the treatment and delivery of safe drinking water to communities served by Council owned systems.

Water supply is regarded as one of the core functions of Council, as required by statute. The Local Government Act 2002 (“the Act”) generally requires the continued operation of any water system that Council operated at the time the Act was passed, as well as continuing to operate any new system that Council constructs from that date.

Key facts 

Council operates and maintains:

• 8 potable (drinkable) water systems and one non potable system. 
• 9 water treatment plants. 
• 3 raw water dams. 
• 14 borehole sources. 
• 33 storage reservoirs. 
• 330 km of water mains.
• 20 booster pump stations.
• 9,279 properties are connected to Council 
• water systems.

Council also:

• Provides new water connections to areas of development.
• Installs water meters and undertakes reading for billing purposes. 
• Promotes water conservation. 
• Provides drinking water supply to commercial operators who service private rainwater tank owners.

Our major achievements in 2012/13 

Highlights of our progress during 2012/13 include:

• Council have proposed a Hokianga accord where a backbone pipeline would be installed that permitted movement of water between three adjacent catchments depending on the available supply in each catchment. The water pipeline would receive Ministry of Health funding and be owned and maintained by Council. Recent meetings with the Iwi groups and agencies indicated positive support and further design work will be progressed.  

Challenges we experienced 

• Drought conditions in the South Hokianga area due to the current raw water sources being very small. 
• Cost management was a key focus for projects with a diverse range of options, including new technologies being explored and in some cases introduced. This was particularly challenging for staff, many of whom were new to the organisation or have new roles and therefore limited experience, placing a heavy load on senior staff, and who were involved in detailed oversight of operational areas.
• Council lags significantly behind the larger councils when measured against some of the Asset Management Plan criteria. Council has recognised this weakness and is now advancing a project to develop an integrated Asset Management System. 
• May 2013 water shortage affected Kaikohe as bores supplying the town were not recovering as quickly as  expected.

Plans for the next 12 months 

• Work to finalise a pipeline route to Kaitaia and to establish the required infrastructure is proceeding. Construction is expected to commence during 2013.
• Progress water supply issues in Omanaia.
• Changes to water quality monitoring in line with drinking water standards.
• Gain approval for public health risk management plans.
• Assessment of fire-fighting performance, i.e. identifying improvements that compliment local fire-fighting operational strategies.
• Upgrade works at Paihia to meet new demands from Waitangi Trust/Copthorne Hotel.