Water leak on Wellington’s Cuba St causes small sinkhole

A leak on Wellington's Cuba St has become so bad a small sinkhole has formed and authorities have now cordoned it until it can be fixed. Photo / Ethan Manera

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A leak on Wellington’s iconic Cuba St has become so bad a small sinkhole has formed and authorities have now cordoned it until it can be fixed.

The problem was first reported to Wellington Water three weeks ago and has been bubbling away on to the footpath since.

It comes amid a looming water shortage in the capital and as 44 per cent of the city’s drinking water is being lost through leaks.

A hole the size of an A4 piece of paper has formed, which has since been covered.

A leak on Wellington's iconic Cuba St has become so bad a small sinkhole has formed and authorities have now cordoned it until it can be fixed. Photo / Ethan Manera

A Wellington Water spokesperson told Newstalk ZB the leak was now being treated as a priority but it isn’t scheduled to be fixed until Sunday evening.

The water agency said it has received seven reports from the public about the leak since January 19.

This included a call on Wednesday complaining the condition had worsened and become a public safety concern.

“Following this customer call, Wellington Water investigated the site today and can confirm there is a sinkhole”, the spokesperson said.

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The leak was previously classified as not being urgent as information provided to Wellington Water did not show a sinkhole had formed.

“Given the location, and to ensure public safety and to avoid any inconvenience to businesses, this job has now been escalated as a priority,” the spokesperson said.

The Wellington metropolitan area is currently under Level 2 water restrictions, meaning all residential sprinklers and irrigation are banned.

The latest risk modelling shows there is a 60 per cent chance of moving to Level 3 restrictions this summer which would result in a ban on all outdoor residential water use.

A state of emergency is planned if restrictions fail and special emergency powers could be used to draw more water from Hutt River to avoid a water-shortage crisis.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau recently declared the capital’s water woes a crisis and blamed decades of underinvestment in water infrastructure.

The Wellington City Council is considering spending $1.7 billion over the next 10 years on water infrastructure.

This would push next year’s forecast rates increase from 13.8 per cent up to 15.4 per cent.

Whanau has said the council would need to reprioritise projects and find savings to accommodate the spending and avoid high rates increases.

“It’s a tough process and we may not all like some of the proposals - I know I don’t - but that’s the tough decision that we have to make.”