Water supply and sanitation in the Wellington Region

Water supply and sanitation in the Wellington region involves the provision of the "three waters" – drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater services in the Greater Wellington region.

Water supplies to the Wellington metropolitan area meet the requirements of the Health Act and conform with drinking water standards. However, for some of the towns in the Kāpiti Coast and Wairarapa regions, there have been occasional non-conformances with the required standards for drinking water quality and safety.

The challenges for managing the three waters in the Wellington region include the deteriorated condition of pipelines across the Wellington region. It has been claimed that the deteriorated state of the three waters infrastructure is the result of 50 years of under-investment, and that large increases in rates for water services will be necessary. The pipelines are in significantly worse condition than those in other large networks nationwide, and there has been a recent history of serious failures. The water supply to the region is also at significant risk because of the high rate of leakage, and it is also vulnerable during a severe earthquake, although some projects are underway to improve resilience.