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Te wai, te wai para me te wai āwhā

Water, wastewater and stormwater

Watercare Services Ltd delivers high quality drinking water to households and businesses, and removes and safely discharges wastewater. They build and maintain significant infrastructure assets to provide these services. The Healthy Waters department of council build and maintain the infrastructure and services that manage the stormwater runoff entering our streams and harbours.

Key areas of spend

  • Capital spend: $11,136 million
  • Operating spend: $10,407 million
  • Rates value per $100: $9

How operating costs are funded

  • Other, including fees and charges: 83%
  • Rates: 17%

The challenges

Growth

Water infrastructure is a key enabler of growth and there is major pressure for investment in both greenfield and brownfield development areas.

Drought impacts on water supply

Lower than average rainfall when added to population growth has meant ongoing water supply was restricted for several months.

Existing supply levels need to be supplemented to provide resilience.

Contamination of streams and beaches

Storm events result in contamination of streams, beaches and harbours across Auckland.

Climate change

Droughts and severe storms create issues for both water supply in drought conditions, and for our wastewater and stormwater infrastructure in heavy rainfall events.

Our plan

Focus areas for growth

As outlined in section 1.2 of the 10-year Budget 2021-2031 (Our Recovery Budget) - Volume 1 (PDF 10.6MB), we are focusing our support for growth into a few key areas and new water infrastructure will align with this.

Investing in additional water supply

Watercare has brought forward its plan for supplementing Auckland’s water supply with additional take from the Waikato River as well as upgrading some local reservoirs.

Improving water quality

Major projects such as the Central and Northern Interceptors will see sewage removed and treated that would otherwise flow into the harbours.

A range of other projects will remove contaminants from stormwater and restore streams and surrounding environments to improve water quality.

Building resilience

Improving the reliability of our network and ensuring that as new infrastructure is built it will take into account the changing impact of weather events and the need to provide resilience during natural disasters.

Water Quality Targeted Rate

The previous 10-year budget accelerated actions to improve our water quality funded by the Water Quality Targeted Rate.

It has already funded work such as contributing $10 million towards a six-year clean-up of the Kaipara Harbour and has allowed us to re-open five beaches that were previously closed because of public health concerns.

We have focused on the western isthmus where the worst wastewater overflows have been.

In this 10-year Budget we have extended the targeted rate to 2031 and increased it in line with the general rates increase. This will enable the water quality projects to extend further across Auckland.

You should know

This is a high level snapshot of what we will be delivering under each of our activity themes. See section 2 of the 10-year Budget 2021-2031 (Our Recovery Budget) - Volume 2 for more detail on these activities.

 Other activity themes

 

 

Transporthttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/what-we-will-deliver/Pages/transport-2021.aspxTransportFind out about our plan to manage transport in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland.aspx
Parks and communityhttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/what-we-will-deliver/Pages/parks-and-community-2021.aspxParks and communityFind out about our plan to manage parks and community facilities in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland over the next 10 years.aspx
Centres developmenthttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/what-we-will-deliver/Pages/city-centre-and-local-development-2021.aspxCentres developmentFind out about our plan to manage the development of centres in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland over the next 10 years.aspx
Economic and cultural developmenthttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/what-we-will-deliver/Pages/economic-and-cultural-development-2021.aspxEconomic and cultural developmentFind out about our plan to manage economic and cultural development in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland over the next 10 years.aspx
Environmental management and regulationhttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/what-we-will-deliver/Pages/environmental-management-and-regulation-2021.aspxEnvironmental management and regulationFind out about our plan to manage the environment in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland over the next 10 years.aspx
Other activitieshttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/what-we-will-deliver/Pages/other-activities-2021.aspxOther activitiesFind out about our plan for other activity themes in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland over the next 10 years.aspx

 Explore other Recovery Budget highlights

 

 

What we will deliverhttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/what-we-will-deliverWhat we will deliverRead about what we will be delivering under each of our activity themes in the 10-year Budget 2021-2031.aspx
The 10-year Budget 2021-2031 decision-making processhttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/Pages/the-10-year-budget-2021-2031-decision-making-process.aspxThe 10-year Budget 2021-2031 decision-making processFind out about the decision making process that leads to the adoption of Auckland Council's 10-year Budget 2021-2031 (Our Recovery Budget).aspx
Documents and videos for the 10-year Budget 2021-2031https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/Pages/documents-and-videos-ltp-2021.aspxDocuments and videos for the 10-year Budget 2021-2031Read the 10-year Budget 2021-2031 (Our Recovery Budget) documents, videos and translations.aspx
How the 2021-2031 budget will affect your rateshttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/Pages/how-the-budget-will-affect-your-rates-2021.aspxHow the 2021-2031 budget will affect your ratesFind out about the factors that influenced our decisions on property rates for 2021/2022 and how the 10-year Budget 2021-3031 (Our Recovery Budget) will affect your rates.aspx
Snapshot of our recovery budgethttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/Pages/snapshot-of-our-recovery-budget-2021.aspxSnapshot of our recovery budgetFind out about the key issues we focused on in setting the 10-year Budget 2021-2031 (Our Recovery Budget).aspx
What's happening in your areahttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/Pages/whats-happening-in-your-area-2021.aspxWhat's happening in your areaFind out what's happening in your area for the 10-year Budget 2021-2031 (Our Recovery Budget).aspx
Summary of decisionshttps://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/budget-plans/The-10-year-budget-2021-2031/Pages/summary-of-decisions-2021.aspxSummary of decisionsRead a summary of the decisions made for the 10-year Budget 2021-2031 (Our Recovery Budget).aspx