Waiaroha: Love water, our most precious resource

An artist’s impression of the water treatment and storage facility on the corner of Southampton St East and Hastings St South.

Concepts for Waiaroha, a water treatment and storage facility set amid water-related landscaping, are being presented to our community for feedback. The site is on the corner of Southampton St East and Hastings St South.

As we all know, water is critical to our lives, our environment and our economy.

The Havelock North water crisis showed us and the rest of New Zealand just how vulnerable our water supply can be, while increasing droughts and severe water shortages here and overseas show us that it is not an unlimited resource.

Waiaroha will improve the safety and resilience of our drinking water supply, increase capacity, and help us to meet drinking water standards.

But it will also be a place where we can, as a community, fully understand our water ecosystem. Having that knowledge will underpin water management as we work together on protecting it, and help the next generations develop innovative ways to manage it into the future.

The landscaping of Waiaroha will reflect the journey of our water from the mountains to the sea, while a public building filled with water-focused resources will host school and community groups. The information will help us understand our aquifer system and how nature fills them, how we use water in our region, the importance of water to mana whenua, and the treatment and supply of our drinking water.

Existing trees and new plantings will soften the visual impact of the infrastructure and outdoor furniture will make it a relaxing green space within the city that we can all enjoy.

The necessary infrastructure ($14m) will be funded from budgets already approved through the Hastings Drinking Water Strategy. Costs outside of the infrastructure and required mitigation (estimated at $4m-$6m) will be funded externally – ie not from ratepayers.

You’re invited: On-site open day; 10am to 1pm, September 11, corner of Southampton St East and Hastings St South.

For more information and give us your feedback, see the Waiaroha page on this website. 

24 August 2020

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