Reservoir project to ease water worries in Hawke's Bay towns

Work has begun on a three-million-litre drinking water reservoir between Waipukurau and Waipawa as part of Central Hawke's Bay District Council's $20 million-plus water supply project.

The project will connect the water networks of the rural towns, situated about 30 minutes southeast of Hastings.

Water will be drawn from the Waionuku Borefield, treated at the recently built Waipawa Water Treatment Plant, and sent to a central reservoir.

Mayor Will Foley says the project is the most important piece of work the council has ever done.

He said Waipukurau currently has only about 10 hours of stored drinking water if normal water production is interrupted.

"It will provide resilience to the Waipukurau water network, increasing how much water can be extracted, treated, and stored for Waipukurau's drinking water supply. And in an emergency, it will also backfeed Waipawa and Ōtāne.

"We all remember so vividly after Cyclone Gabrielle when Waipawa and Ōtāne were on boil water notices for 26 days," Foley said.

He said the project was about providing peace of mind and reliability to thousands of people.

"We want our community to be able to turn on the taps for a glass of water or to flush the toilet, and it just works. Reliability doesn't sound aspirational, but it's the pinnacle of what we aim to deliver."

Manager of Infrastructure & Asset Management Mark Kinvig said the project started in 2018 but was delayed because of Covid and Cyclone Gabrielle.

He said it would be funded through contributions from the Government's Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, development contributions and ratepayers.

"This project will provide benefit and increased resilience for those connected to the water networks in Waipukurau, Waipawa and Ōtāne," Kinvig said.

He said contractors would undertake "what is called horizontal directional drilling" underneath the Waipawa River to install the pipes that will carry the water.

"We are connecting the pipe to the road bridge to cross the Tukituki River."

He said the council contract stipulated that a portion of the work went to local contractors and businesses.

"However, parts of this project require specialist expertise which will be completed by those with the skills to do this work."

Foley said the benefit of the work wasn't the pipes, the reservoir or the river crossings.

"It's about being able to keep delivering safe drinking water when something goes wrong," Foley said.

The project is expected to be completed by June 2028.