A Wellington man resorted to digging a trench to stop a water leak from damaging his property during a three-month wait for it to be fixed by Wellington Water. Video / Supplied
A Miramar resident says the leak outside his house that took Wellington Water three months to fix makes a mockery of looming water shortages and severe restrictions this summer.
The man, who didn’t want to be named, resorted to digging a trench to divert the water into the gutter and stop it from damaging his property on Park Rd.
“It was like having a tap going full-noise outside your house all the time,” he said.
He offered to pay for a private plumber to fix the leak but was told this was not permitted.
It was only fixed on Tuesday, the same day the Herald began making enquiries, and after Wellington City councillor Tim Brown got involved.
Severe water restrictions could be enforced this summer, including a ban on all outdoor water use, two-minute showers, one load of washing a week and, in a worst-case scenario, boil water notices.
The Miramar resident first reported to Wellington Water in June that the connection between the council water main and his home was leaking.
The leak sprung within a week of another leak three doors down from him being fixed after a months-long wait.
Another leak was spotted in the neighbouring suburb of Seatoun on Wednesday morning. Photo / Georgina Campbell
As the weeks dragged on, further requests to Wellington Water for the leak to be fixed were to no avail.
The leak got worse and began to affect water pressure inside the man’s home.
“The pressure was getting worse. I thought, ‘Sooner or later we’re just not going to have any water left - it’s all going to be going out on to the street’. Plus, there were quite a few elderly people around, and I was concerned about someone hurting themselves out there.”
The man said he felt helpless and the situation made a mockery of possible water restrictions this summer.
A Wellington Water spokesperson said the leak was initially categorised as a medium-level priority at the time, which means between four and 10 litres of water was being lost per minute, with no risk to public safety or the property, and no impact on water pressure.
The spokesperson said the leak was fixed on Tuesday after Wellington Water was made aware of its worsening condition via a local councillor.
“We recognise the frustration this leak has caused and appreciate that some residents wanted to explore the use of private plumbers to get the leak fixed sooner.
“However, the public water network is complex and drinking water legislation requires specialist knowledge, training and qualifications for those who work on it. So, we are only able to use approved contractors who we know have the expertise and skills to carry this work out safely.”
Wellington Water has fixed 1,681 leaks since the beginning of July this year, but the company can’t fix every leak with the resources it has.
“We have to respond to urgent leaks first. This inevitably means that small low-priority leaks such as a leaking toby will be deferred for attention later, as and when resources and funding allow.”
This week, 60 elected council officials and mana whenua attended the region’s first Water Shortage Summit to discuss how to make the water supply more sustainable.
The three recommendations made were more money for fixing leaks and replacing old infrastructure, universal water meters across the metropolitan region, and building another storage lake.
Wellington Water Committee chairman Campbell Barry said the overwhelming majority of attendees agreed for each council to include these recommendations in the process of their upcoming Long Term Plans.
“We all know that there is a growing number of leaks due to an ageing network and historical underinvestment. We are also seeing higher water use generally and a growing population in the region that is increasing the demands for water and putting more pressure on our water services.
“Our drinking water system has a finite capacity, and we can only treat and supply a set amount of water on any given day. We need to do more to make sure we can continue to reliably provide our residents with enough water.”
Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.
