1689 days ago

We Say/You Say: Leaks

Reporter Kāpiti Observer

Kia ora Kāpiti,

Have you had water supply cut off as a result of burst water mains? What other water problems are prevalent in your community?

Wellington residents are filing more than 50 complaints a day regarding the capital's ageing water infrastructure.

One leak near the Prime Minister's official residence in Tinakori Road has not been fixed since being first reported in September 2020.

Wellington Water spokesman Alex van Paassen says that some longer running leaks may not be showing up in data searches.

"Sometimes they get fixed but other nearby leaks are still going; sometimes the fix doesn't work, or a new leak pops up at the same place; sometimes they're private – private leaks can get into the neighbours at war territory," he said.

Van Paasen said that there were several reasons for the delayed fixes including Wellington Water's aging workforce, lack of skilled workers and an increase in work volume.

A presentation was delivered to Wellington City councillors in late-2020 showed that almost half of the cities pipes needed replacing, with $578 million needed to clear a variety of other accumulated issues.

Share your thoughts below and don't forget to type NFP if you don't want your comment featured in the Kāpiti Observer.

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Driven On The Akatarawa Rd Lately?

Marie from Waikanae

If so, its good to know you are still alive and reading this.

We have a function to go to over Christmas up that way and having heard a few hairy stories about the road, I went up there on Thursday to check it out. The road's ok, narrow and winding, but not much worse than a Wellington hill suburb. What was pretty scary was the behavior of other drivers. Three vehicles heading the other way at speed would have crashed into me if I hadn't been pulled off the road. I had pulled in to check the address when a truck came flying past, taking up all of the narrow road at speed. There is no way the driver would have been able to stop had they come around the corner immediately in front of me. The other two drivers came hurtling past as I had turned in to turn around and come back down the hill. They were also driving at speed and taking up most of the road. Coming back down I passed another car coming up and estimate that the safe speed to pass another car was about 30-35 kms.p.h. So, now we're thinking, do we go to the function or not.? Feels a bit like we're taking our life in our hands going up there. Drivers appear to be overconfident, and they are courting serious injury.