Issue 3: Our key water infrastructure

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Consultation has concluded

In our last LTP, Council agreed to invest $121m into drinking water, $171m into wastewater and $29m into stormwater. We spread this work over the next 20 years to align with how much we thought the district would grow, when different pipes need renewing, and how soon we’d reach the limits for the water and wastewater treatment plants. This also helped make things more affordable for our community. We now need to bring forward the commencement of some key projects, and increase the investment required. We’re proposing an additional $75m be spent over the next 10 years on three waters infrastructure.

Alongside the need to keep up with the pace of growth, since adopting the LTP 2021-2041, costs have skyrocketed and we now know that key parts of our water infrastructure will reach capacity sooner than we expected, with some infrastructure coming to the end of its life.





The strain on parts of our infrastructure was made particularly evident last year, when we experienced more annual rainfall in Horowhenua than we’ve had for 70 years.



Groundwater levels were significantly higher than normal due to the cumulative rainfall events, making it harder for water to drain away. Low-lying areas and coastal communities were hit the hardest, with Council receiving approximately 1,000 customer enquiries relating to stormwater for the year and over 200 wastewater customer enquiries.

So what is being proposed and where are things at?

Drinking water

Background

The Levin and Ōhau drinking water supply is currently sourced directly from the Ōhau River at an intake site near the existing Water Treatment Plant (WTP) on Gladstone Road.

Post-treatment storage of approximately 12,000m3 is provided at the WTP site. This equates to less than 24 hours of supply (less than one day of current peak demand). The post-treatment storage does not provide sufficient storage to meet extended periods of drought or high turbidity (muddiness) in the river. Options to increase this are being considered in the short term and will be considered as part of the LTP Amendment.

The Water Supply Reservoir project seeks to construct a large scale off-river raw water reservoir to improve the resilience (during heavy rain events and dry weather periods) and reliability of the Levin and Ōhau drinking water supply scheme and to provide sufficient water to meet the projected growth demands for Levin and Ōhau.

Following concept design and a multi-criteria analysis, a single reservoir was selected as the preferred option primarily due to cost considerations and the fact that the embankment required to separate the site into two reservoirs results in a significant loss of stored volume. The storage volume of a single reservoir is in the order of 700,000m3.

What’s been investigated so far?

  • Council has completed a feasibility assessment, which confirmed the feasibility of the reservoir site on Poads Road, Levin for construction.
  • Council also completed an options assessment, reviewing the water supply and storage options available, to ensure the option chosen is the right one. This assessment has been independently peer reviewed.
  • Iwi engagement has commenced and will continue through the project delivery.
  • A hydrology assessment is in progress and will continue with technical assessments to support the consenting and design processes. Work to date has confirmed availability of sufficient water in the supplementary allocation framework to support the projected community demand.
  • A feasibility assessment saw three intake options assessed. This work identified the preferred intake as a subsurface infiltration gallery in the Ōhau river adjacent to the reservoir site.
  • An ecological assessment has been completed of the reservoir site. This confirmed there were no wetland habitats, sensitive environments or threatened or endangered species within the reservoir site.
  • An archaeological assessment is in progress.
  • Preliminary design is in progress with the design being developed to sufficient detail to support consenting and costings.
  • Consents scoping is in progress, but given the scale and complexity of the project, we’re working through the options available.

Levin Water Treatment Plant upgrades

Alongside the Water Supply Reservoir project, a strategic upgrade of the Levin Water Treatment Plant is proposed, to increase capacity of the clarifiers, filters and chemical dosing plant, increase treated water storage capacity and improve the backwash water process and re-use, estimated to cost $21.5 million between 2024-2030. We didn’t have the detail needed to determine the cost for the LTP in 2021, so there is not currently funding included for this. We note that in addition to increasing storage capacity, we do need to reduce the amount of water lost from our network through leaks.

Levin Water Reticulation Renewals

We also need to keep maintaining the water supply network in Levin. This means replacing the water mains as they reach the end of their life and begin to break and leak. We have set aside a total of $27 million in the LTPA to achieve this.

Shannon Water Reticulation Renewals

Some of the water mains in the Shannon water supply network are aging and need to be replaced. This will be done through a $4.5 million renewal programme between 2024-2026.

Stormwater 

District wide, we need significant investment in our stormwater network, including above and underground infrastructure. This will improve performance, reduce the chance of flooding and make us better able to deal with the effects of climate change. We have indicated that an additional $7.5 million should be spent on this between 2024-2040, bringing the total to $36.8 million.

Wastewater

We need to invest an extra $14.5 million dollars in the Levin Wastewater Treatment Plant and $3 million to upgrade the Foxton Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Levin's wastewater treatment plant is old, it's also reaching its capacity for treating organic waste (poop, pees and the other stuff that gets flushed down our pipes). We need to increase the amount of wastewater we can treat as well as the contaminants we remove from the wastewater.

We're currently spending money to repair the plant to extend its life by two to five years, but this isn't resolving the bigger issue of capacity and resiliency. To keep rates affordable, funding in the LTP 2021-2041 for this work was pushed out until year 9, but with a rapidly growing population and additional pressure put on the plant during heavy rain events, the case for bringing forward investment is overwhelming. To complete the treatment plant upgrades and ensure we're compliant with our wastewater resource consent, we need to fund an additional $14.5 million than agreed in the current LTP. This project is set to be completed by 2028 and cost $33.1 million.

Foxton Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Foxton Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant needs to be upgraded over the next 10 years. These upgrades will improve the treatment process of wastewater, increase how much the plant can store and discharge, and help make it more resilient to climate change. We also have some costs associated with renewing the consent for this plant in 2028. All up, we need to spend $3 million on the Foxton Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant.

How does this impact you?

We analysed all the customer enquiries we received last year relating to stormwater and wastewater, to show the impact to our community in a heavy rain event (which is when our network is at its most vulnerable). If we don't invest in the necessary upgrade and continue to see an increase in the severity of weather events, we risk failure at our wastewater treatment plants, which would mean an increase of localised sewerage overflow incidents for residents.

Key water infrastructure - our proposed approach

Our proposed approach is to take the projects in the LTP 2021-2041 and update the costs so we can deliver them in the timeframes needed, add funding for the Water Treatment Plant and increase Stormwater funding.

Option 1 - Increase budget to deliver the projects we need (Council's preferred option)

This is Council’s preferred option because it balances what is affordable against what we need to set our district up for the future This option takes the projects in the LTP 2021-2041, but updates the costs, so we can deliver them in the timeframes we need them. We would also add funding for the Water Treatment Plant and increasing stormwater funding. This table shows the difference between what is in the current LTP and what is proposed. The column on the right shows the total proposed amount and is made up of the current allocation plus the middle column. Where they are the same it means the funding wasn’t included in the LTP and is new.

Cost: Additional $75 million over 10 years.

Rates impact: The average impact is approximately $88 introduced over 3 years for each property with a water connection.

Option 2 - Reduce programme of work to meet current budget

This option is a short-term solution that keeps spending lower, but it has a trade-off – we’ll be continuing to underinvest in that critical water infrastructure. This is not Council’s preferred option because it means we can’t make the improvements to our key water assets that our district urgently needs.

What does this option mean? 

  • No additional investment in our water infrastructure.
  • Slowed investment in new water infrastructure to increase capacity.
  • Deferred renewals and replacements of old pipes where possible.
  • No new stormwater improvements above the current $6.2 million over the next five years.
  • District-wide water metering required to identify leaks.
  • Possibility of pushing out the Waitārere and Ōhau Water and Wastewater projects which already sit in year five and beyond in the current LTP – next year is year three.

Cost: No additional increases

Rates impact: No change to LTP.

Level of Service: Means we can’t deliver the level of service agreed on in our current LTP, and will make it more likely that we won’t be able to deliver as expected in the future if the infrastructure fails or exceeds capacity.

Option 3 - Increase budget to deliver the projects we need excluding universal water metering for leak detection

You’ll see both option 1 and 2 include water meters. We are proposing these for the purpose of detecting leaks and further reducing water losses. Our district is short on water, and we currently lose between 300 to 500 litres per connection per day which is putting unnecessary pressure on our water infrastructure. 

Option 3 presents the same program of work as Option 1 excluding water meters.

Cost: The cost for installing water meters district wide is $6.1 million. Not installing water meters will result in a saving of $6.1 million.

Rates impact: Not installing water meters as leak detectors will have no impact on rates for the 2023/2024 financial year as it will be paid for through borrowing. This option will reduce rates by 1.01% for the 2024/2025 financial year.

Option 4 - Reduce programme, of work to meet current budget excluding universal water metering for leak detection

Option 4 is the same as Option 2 but excluding water meters. 

As said above we are proposing these for the purpose of detecting leaks and further reducing water losses. Our district is short on water, and we currently lose approximately 300 to 500 litres per connection per day which is putting unnecessary pressure on our water infrastructure.

Cost: The cost for installing water meters district wide is $1.0-$6.1 million over 3 years.

Rates impact: Not installing water meters as leak detectors will have no impact on rates for the 2023/2024 financial year as it will be paid for through borrowing. This option will reduce rates by 1.01% for the 2024/2025 financial year.

What are the differences between the options 1 and 2?

Both Options 1 and 2 include:

  • An affordable programme of work
  • Budget needed for the Levin Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade to improve water quality and quantity
  • Budget for building the Poads Road Reservoir to improve Levin drinking water resilience
  • Leak detection using water meters to defer upgrades of our water treatment plants.

Key differences between the two options, and things to think about are:

  • Increase funding to deliver much of the needed work (Option 1) or to keep the funding level the same and decrease what we deliver to the community (Option 2).
  • Put $11.2 million towards improving stormwater, on top of the $6.2 million already allowed for in the current LTP (Option 1), or not (Option 2).
  • To hold off the Waitārere and Ōhau Water/ Wastewater projects (Option 2) or do them now (Option 1).

How will this be funded? 

Both options will be funded by borrowing. These projects have long life spans and so should be paid for by generations of residents to come, not just today’s ratepayers. Borrowing to pay for these projects means we can spread the costs over decades.

The graph below shows our forecast borrowings up to 2041 (vertical lines) compared to the last LTP. It also includes our borrowing limits. The red line is set by the Local Government Funding Authority – we cannot borrow more than that. We have set our limit lower to allow room for unforeseen situations or to help our community recover in the case of an emergency such as a natural disaster. The limit in the LTP 2021-2041 was 225% (yellow line) and we are proposing to increase our limit to 250% in the short term. This will enable us to borrow for the additional work we need now. Once the water assets and liabilities transition to the new water entity, the Council will be able to reduce its borrowing limit back to 225%.





Submissions closed

Further information on all issues and topics can be found in the LTP 2021-2041 Amendment and Annual Plan 2023/24 Consultation Document.

Submissions to the LTPA and Annual Plan closed at 4pm on Monday 1 May 2023. Hearings will take place on 10-11 May 2023 followed by deliberations on 31 May & 1 June 2023. Council will receive all submissions before this to inform that discussion and subsequent decisions. Elected Members will adopt the final Long Term Plan Amendment and Annual Plan on 28 June 2023.




In our last LTP, Council agreed to invest $121m into drinking water, $171m into wastewater and $29m into stormwater. We spread this work over the next 20 years to align with how much we thought the district would grow, when different pipes need renewing, and how soon we’d reach the limits for the water and wastewater treatment plants. This also helped make things more affordable for our community. We now need to bring forward the commencement of some key projects, and increase the investment required. We’re proposing an additional $75m be spent over the next 10 years on three waters infrastructure.

Alongside the need to keep up with the pace of growth, since adopting the LTP 2021-2041, costs have skyrocketed and we now know that key parts of our water infrastructure will reach capacity sooner than we expected, with some infrastructure coming to the end of its life.





The strain on parts of our infrastructure was made particularly evident last year, when we experienced more annual rainfall in Horowhenua than we’ve had for 70 years.



Groundwater levels were significantly higher than normal due to the cumulative rainfall events, making it harder for water to drain away. Low-lying areas and coastal communities were hit the hardest, with Council receiving approximately 1,000 customer enquiries relating to stormwater for the year and over 200 wastewater customer enquiries.

So what is being proposed and where are things at?

Drinking water

Background

The Levin and Ōhau drinking water supply is currently sourced directly from the Ōhau River at an intake site near the existing Water Treatment Plant (WTP) on Gladstone Road.

Post-treatment storage of approximately 12,000m3 is provided at the WTP site. This equates to less than 24 hours of supply (less than one day of current peak demand). The post-treatment storage does not provide sufficient storage to meet extended periods of drought or high turbidity (muddiness) in the river. Options to increase this are being considered in the short term and will be considered as part of the LTP Amendment.

The Water Supply Reservoir project seeks to construct a large scale off-river raw water reservoir to improve the resilience (during heavy rain events and dry weather periods) and reliability of the Levin and Ōhau drinking water supply scheme and to provide sufficient water to meet the projected growth demands for Levin and Ōhau.

Following concept design and a multi-criteria analysis, a single reservoir was selected as the preferred option primarily due to cost considerations and the fact that the embankment required to separate the site into two reservoirs results in a significant loss of stored volume. The storage volume of a single reservoir is in the order of 700,000m3.

What’s been investigated so far?

  • Council has completed a feasibility assessment, which confirmed the feasibility of the reservoir site on Poads Road, Levin for construction.
  • Council also completed an options assessment, reviewing the water supply and storage options available, to ensure the option chosen is the right one. This assessment has been independently peer reviewed.
  • Iwi engagement has commenced and will continue through the project delivery.
  • A hydrology assessment is in progress and will continue with technical assessments to support the consenting and design processes. Work to date has confirmed availability of sufficient water in the supplementary allocation framework to support the projected community demand.
  • A feasibility assessment saw three intake options assessed. This work identified the preferred intake as a subsurface infiltration gallery in the Ōhau river adjacent to the reservoir site.
  • An ecological assessment has been completed of the reservoir site. This confirmed there were no wetland habitats, sensitive environments or threatened or endangered species within the reservoir site.
  • An archaeological assessment is in progress.
  • Preliminary design is in progress with the design being developed to sufficient detail to support consenting and costings.
  • Consents scoping is in progress, but given the scale and complexity of the project, we’re working through the options available.

Levin Water Treatment Plant upgrades

Alongside the Water Supply Reservoir project, a strategic upgrade of the Levin Water Treatment Plant is proposed, to increase capacity of the clarifiers, filters and chemical dosing plant, increase treated water storage capacity and improve the backwash water process and re-use, estimated to cost $21.5 million between 2024-2030. We didn’t have the detail needed to determine the cost for the LTP in 2021, so there is not currently funding included for this. We note that in addition to increasing storage capacity, we do need to reduce the amount of water lost from our network through leaks.

Levin Water Reticulation Renewals

We also need to keep maintaining the water supply network in Levin. This means replacing the water mains as they reach the end of their life and begin to break and leak. We have set aside a total of $27 million in the LTPA to achieve this.

Shannon Water Reticulation Renewals

Some of the water mains in the Shannon water supply network are aging and need to be replaced. This will be done through a $4.5 million renewal programme between 2024-2026.

Stormwater 

District wide, we need significant investment in our stormwater network, including above and underground infrastructure. This will improve performance, reduce the chance of flooding and make us better able to deal with the effects of climate change. We have indicated that an additional $7.5 million should be spent on this between 2024-2040, bringing the total to $36.8 million.

Wastewater

We need to invest an extra $14.5 million dollars in the Levin Wastewater Treatment Plant and $3 million to upgrade the Foxton Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Levin's wastewater treatment plant is old, it's also reaching its capacity for treating organic waste (poop, pees and the other stuff that gets flushed down our pipes). We need to increase the amount of wastewater we can treat as well as the contaminants we remove from the wastewater.

We're currently spending money to repair the plant to extend its life by two to five years, but this isn't resolving the bigger issue of capacity and resiliency. To keep rates affordable, funding in the LTP 2021-2041 for this work was pushed out until year 9, but with a rapidly growing population and additional pressure put on the plant during heavy rain events, the case for bringing forward investment is overwhelming. To complete the treatment plant upgrades and ensure we're compliant with our wastewater resource consent, we need to fund an additional $14.5 million than agreed in the current LTP. This project is set to be completed by 2028 and cost $33.1 million.

Foxton Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Foxton Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant needs to be upgraded over the next 10 years. These upgrades will improve the treatment process of wastewater, increase how much the plant can store and discharge, and help make it more resilient to climate change. We also have some costs associated with renewing the consent for this plant in 2028. All up, we need to spend $3 million on the Foxton Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant.

How does this impact you?

We analysed all the customer enquiries we received last year relating to stormwater and wastewater, to show the impact to our community in a heavy rain event (which is when our network is at its most vulnerable). If we don't invest in the necessary upgrade and continue to see an increase in the severity of weather events, we risk failure at our wastewater treatment plants, which would mean an increase of localised sewerage overflow incidents for residents.

Key water infrastructure - our proposed approach

Our proposed approach is to take the projects in the LTP 2021-2041 and update the costs so we can deliver them in the timeframes needed, add funding for the Water Treatment Plant and increase Stormwater funding.

Option 1 - Increase budget to deliver the projects we need (Council's preferred option)

This is Council’s preferred option because it balances what is affordable against what we need to set our district up for the future This option takes the projects in the LTP 2021-2041, but updates the costs, so we can deliver them in the timeframes we need them. We would also add funding for the Water Treatment Plant and increasing stormwater funding. This table shows the difference between what is in the current LTP and what is proposed. The column on the right shows the total proposed amount and is made up of the current allocation plus the middle column. Where they are the same it means the funding wasn’t included in the LTP and is new.

Cost: Additional $75 million over 10 years.

Rates impact: The average impact is approximately $88 introduced over 3 years for each property with a water connection.

Option 2 - Reduce programme of work to meet current budget

This option is a short-term solution that keeps spending lower, but it has a trade-off – we’ll be continuing to underinvest in that critical water infrastructure. This is not Council’s preferred option because it means we can’t make the improvements to our key water assets that our district urgently needs.

What does this option mean? 

  • No additional investment in our water infrastructure.
  • Slowed investment in new water infrastructure to increase capacity.
  • Deferred renewals and replacements of old pipes where possible.
  • No new stormwater improvements above the current $6.2 million over the next five years.
  • District-wide water metering required to identify leaks.
  • Possibility of pushing out the Waitārere and Ōhau Water and Wastewater projects which already sit in year five and beyond in the current LTP – next year is year three.

Cost: No additional increases

Rates impact: No change to LTP.

Level of Service: Means we can’t deliver the level of service agreed on in our current LTP, and will make it more likely that we won’t be able to deliver as expected in the future if the infrastructure fails or exceeds capacity.

Option 3 - Increase budget to deliver the projects we need excluding universal water metering for leak detection

You’ll see both option 1 and 2 include water meters. We are proposing these for the purpose of detecting leaks and further reducing water losses. Our district is short on water, and we currently lose between 300 to 500 litres per connection per day which is putting unnecessary pressure on our water infrastructure. 

Option 3 presents the same program of work as Option 1 excluding water meters.

Cost: The cost for installing water meters district wide is $6.1 million. Not installing water meters will result in a saving of $6.1 million.

Rates impact: Not installing water meters as leak detectors will have no impact on rates for the 2023/2024 financial year as it will be paid for through borrowing. This option will reduce rates by 1.01% for the 2024/2025 financial year.

Option 4 - Reduce programme, of work to meet current budget excluding universal water metering for leak detection

Option 4 is the same as Option 2 but excluding water meters. 

As said above we are proposing these for the purpose of detecting leaks and further reducing water losses. Our district is short on water, and we currently lose approximately 300 to 500 litres per connection per day which is putting unnecessary pressure on our water infrastructure.

Cost: The cost for installing water meters district wide is $1.0-$6.1 million over 3 years.

Rates impact: Not installing water meters as leak detectors will have no impact on rates for the 2023/2024 financial year as it will be paid for through borrowing. This option will reduce rates by 1.01% for the 2024/2025 financial year.

What are the differences between the options 1 and 2?

Both Options 1 and 2 include:

  • An affordable programme of work
  • Budget needed for the Levin Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade to improve water quality and quantity
  • Budget for building the Poads Road Reservoir to improve Levin drinking water resilience
  • Leak detection using water meters to defer upgrades of our water treatment plants.

Key differences between the two options, and things to think about are:

  • Increase funding to deliver much of the needed work (Option 1) or to keep the funding level the same and decrease what we deliver to the community (Option 2).
  • Put $11.2 million towards improving stormwater, on top of the $6.2 million already allowed for in the current LTP (Option 1), or not (Option 2).
  • To hold off the Waitārere and Ōhau Water/ Wastewater projects (Option 2) or do them now (Option 1).

How will this be funded? 

Both options will be funded by borrowing. These projects have long life spans and so should be paid for by generations of residents to come, not just today’s ratepayers. Borrowing to pay for these projects means we can spread the costs over decades.

The graph below shows our forecast borrowings up to 2041 (vertical lines) compared to the last LTP. It also includes our borrowing limits. The red line is set by the Local Government Funding Authority – we cannot borrow more than that. We have set our limit lower to allow room for unforeseen situations or to help our community recover in the case of an emergency such as a natural disaster. The limit in the LTP 2021-2041 was 225% (yellow line) and we are proposing to increase our limit to 250% in the short term. This will enable us to borrow for the additional work we need now. Once the water assets and liabilities transition to the new water entity, the Council will be able to reduce its borrowing limit back to 225%.





Submissions closed

Further information on all issues and topics can be found in the LTP 2021-2041 Amendment and Annual Plan 2023/24 Consultation Document.

Submissions to the LTPA and Annual Plan closed at 4pm on Monday 1 May 2023. Hearings will take place on 10-11 May 2023 followed by deliberations on 31 May & 1 June 2023. Council will receive all submissions before this to inform that discussion and subsequent decisions. Elected Members will adopt the final Long Term Plan Amendment and Annual Plan on 28 June 2023.