Direction 4: Ensure Auckland’s infrastructure is future-proofed

It is essential that Auckland's infrastructure can withstand short-term shocks, such as flooding. It also needs to work well in the long-term, particularly in the face of longer-term climatic changes.

Transport infrastructure can have harmful environmental impacts such as run-off from roads which pollutes waterways. This is addressed under the Transport and access outcome.

Much of our other infrastructure such as water supply, wastewater and stormwater networks, and our power supply networks, is ageing and does not always meet modern requirements or expectations.

This can have negative impacts such as:

• poor water quality from ageing wastewater networks with insufficient capacity
• increased greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels-dependent transport

Find out more by reading Low Carbon Auckland.

New infrastructure involves significant time and investment. We have to start now to create the systems and services we want in the future.

This means that:

• we need to build flexibility and adaptability into infrastructure design to ensure it is easier to modify and respond to changing needs
• we must reduce and potentially eliminate the impacts of inefficient infrastructure through retrofits and upgrades and finding alternative ways to deliver core services.

New ways of delivering core services can range from decentralising power supplies to recycling wastewater and turning waste into resources.

We also need to consider bolder initiatives, such as retreating from some coastal areas and avoiding flood inundation zones to ensure development is sustainable over the long-term.