Mid-April’s formal launch of the new water services entity for the joint Wairarapa/Tararua area christened as Waiti Waters (formerly “Wai+T”) acted as the trigger for a decade-long investment in a system renewal scramble across the region.
The body’s five new directors took up their posts to begin work towards formally accepting the water services assets of the four district councils in July 2027, valued at $700 million.
At that point 25,000 customers connected to the systems will begin being charged by the new entity.
Other Fun Facts include:
- Waiti Waters will have a 10-year capital investment programme of $400 million;
- SWDC as part of that is projecting $145 million of capital investment in its pipes, pumps, ponds and other systems over the decade;
- Water structure across the four districts currently includes 1,322 kilometers of pipes (drinking, sewerage and drainage);
- It also includes some 14 fresh drinking water reservoirs; 69 pump stations, and, 31 water and wastewater treatment plants.
For householders the bottom line to all this is the price those using the water systems will pay for connection and usage. With the notified level of planned capital investment to upgrade the current system, customers should stand by for new and upgraded bills arriving separately from the Waiti Waters system.
As economists note, infrastructure and its upgrade to meet both requirements and demand doesn’t come cheap. The “projected” impact on South Wairarapa customers was set out in a detailed plan provided to the Department on Internal Affairs last year.
DIA was the agency which gave formal approval to the new three-waters entities which have now been set up under the government’s Local Waters Done Well legislation.
As part of its submission on Waiti Waters, the South Wairarapa council provided detailed financials, including material labelled as “Revenue sufficiency performance measures:”
These included the following 10-year projections:
Average annual charge per connection including GST:
24/25 $2,604 25/26 $3,156 26/27 $3,734 27/28 $4,151 28/29 $4,199 29/30 $4,249 30/31 $4,299 31/32 $4,352 32/33 $4,460 33/34
Projected annual charge increase:
24/25 22.6% 25/26 21.2% 26/27 18.3% 27/28 11.2% 28/29 1.2% 29/30 1.2% 30/31 1.2% 31/32 1.2% 32/33 1.2% 33/34 1.3%
Projected water services investment ($M per year):
24/25 $13,314 25/26 $14,484 26/27 $27,267 27/28 $23,032 28/29 $9,992 29/30 $13,013 30/31 $11,252 31/32 $8,331 32/33 $7,996 33/34 $16,207
Total SWDC investment over 10 years to June 2034: $144,887 million.
The new Waiti Waters company board of directors has Adrienne Young-Cooper as its inaugural chair with board members Clive Rundle, Jo Hayes, Maria Robertson and Sir Paul Collins.
Craig Bowyer, chair of the Stakeholders’ Forum which helped set up the new company, noted that “this change will deliver benefits for the Wairarapa and Tararua communities through more sustainable water services, greater access to finance to support necessary infrastructure investment, and the establishment of a large new infrastructure employer in the region.”
Beginning in July 2026, water services to South Wairarapa District Council will be provided by Citycare Water, before being taken up by Waiti Waters a year later, which has now begun its search for a chief executive.
