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.
