Whaitua Committees
http://www.gw.govt.nz/whaitua-committees
Whaitua Committees
Whaitua committees are groups of local people tasked with recommending ways to maintain and improve the quality of our fresh water. Whaitua is the Māori word for space or catchment. You can help whaitua committees achieve effective and lasting water management solutions by making sure you have a say about the waterways in your community.
Get involved! Find out how you can speak for water in Ruamāhanga, Porirua, and Wellington Harbour/Hutt Valley catchments.
What are Whaitua Committees?
Whaitua committees are responsible for developing a Whaitua Implementation Programme (WIP) together with their communities. A WIP describes the ways in which the people from that catchment want to manage their water.
Committees are made up of local community members, iwi representatives, local authority representatives, and Greater Wellington Regional Council representatives.
From mountains to sea, ki uta ki tai video
This video explains the whaitua concept in more detail.
Five Whaitua Committees
The Wellington Region has been split into five whaitua with a committee in each making decisions on the future of land and water management in that whaitua.
The following whaitua committees have been established:
- Ruamāhanga Whaitua – established December 2013
- Te Awarua-o-Porirua Whaitua - established December 2014
- Te Whanganui-a-Tara - established November 2018
The following two committees to be established are:
- Kāpiti Coast Whaitua
- Wairarapa Coast Whaitua
What’s happening with the Kāpiti Coast and Wairarapa Coast whaitua committees?
The Kāpiti Coast whaitua committee will be established by the end of 2020 and Wairarapa Coast will follow.
A number of projects are currently under way that will feed into the shape of the final whaitua committees before they are formally announced.
