Ban lifted on outdoor water use

Effective 9am Tuesday 9 April 2013 for Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, Porirua and Wellington

Thanks everyone. You made the difference.

Thanks to a bit more rain lately and the great community effort to save water, the outdoor water use ban was lifted at 9am on Tuesday 9 April 2013 in Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and Wellington. It will still take some time for our rivers to recover fully. so please keep up the good work conserving water.

Find out more on the lifting of the outdoor water use ban here.

To see how our cities are doing with their water use, see our graphs.

Use a bit less, make a big difference

Now more than ever, it's worthwhile to use a bit less water. For tips on easy ways to use a bit less, visit our water conservation pages.

With one storage lake 'down' this summer, there'll be less stored water for Porirua, Wellington, Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt.

Water supply

High quality water is essential for the health and wellbeing of our region. The ciites of Lower Hutt, Porirua, Upper Hutt and Wellington are all supplied by Greater Wellington.

Operating four water treatment plants, 15 pumping stations and just over 180 kilometres of large-diameter pipelines Wellington's water treatment plants. Our role as wholesale water supplier to the region's cities involves:

Supplying enough water each day - around 150 million litres on average - to meet the needs of over 390,000 people
Maintaining a high quality of treated water, consistent with New Zealand's drinking water standards
Planning to ensure that the water needs of future generations can be met
Managing assets with a replacement value of almost $350 million

Our part in providing the region's water supply costs around $24.2 million dollars annually, or 48 cents per thousand litres. Each week we deliver enough high-quality water to fill Wellington's Westpac Stadium.

The Water Supply Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2012 is available to download. Click on the report in the Documents box on the right hand side of your screen.

Planning for regional growth

Our water supply system is nearing its design capacity. A major new water source will almost certainly be needed in the next few years unless water use per person can be reduced as the population grows. To read about our planning to meet the future water needs of the region's cities see Planning for regional growth.

Water education resources

We would like people to understand the importance of water treatment and the journey water takes from rainfall to their tap. In addition to this website we have printed material available on request.

Greater Wellington has recently commissioned a new water education resource - Turning on the tap. Turning on the tap helps students to understand where their tap water comes from and make informed decisions about how they use it. It provides an integrated unit of work for Year 5-8 students with content that is particularly relevant for schools in the Wellington region. For more information about our new resource visit www.gw.govt.nz/turning-on-the-tap.

Organised groups are welcome to visit one of our treatment plants, weekdays by arrangement, for a guided tour to see the treatment process in action and learn more about the region's water supply. Tours are provided free of charge. For more information contact info@gw.govt.nz

Our environmental education team has also developed 'Take Action for Water', a resource that aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to make informed environmental decisions in daily life. It investigates the relationships between the living parts of the ecosystem and the impact we have on it. It is aimed at year 5-8 students and has activities and resources for a school term.