Louise Askin - Whaitua Te Whanganui-a-Tara Committee

Community Engagement Advisor from Greater Wellington Regional Council

Kia ora koutou, I’m Louise from Makara, and a co-chair of the Whaitua Te Whanganui-a-Tara Committee. We are a community committee tasked with making recommendations to Greater Wellington Regional Council and our city councils on the future of water quality and its use in Wellington, Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt (our Whaitua). Our waterways are precious and our water networks (freshwater, wastewater and stormwater) are vital for our community’s wellbeing. Recently, we have been learning about the state of water in our area and gathering community input on how water is valued and what should be done to look after it.

I live with my family beside the Makara Stream and we follow its path each day, winding from the beach up toward the headwaters above Makara Village or Ohariu. Our rural communities value their waterways and we want their input on how to best achieve reductions of sediment and pathogens in our rural areas. In town, there is a huge job ahead in upgrading the piped water networks and lessening our three cities’ impact on water quality - while also planning for population growth. Our region must meet national water quality requirements within a few years so we want to find solutions that reflect our communities’ views and are informed by good evidence and information.

Get in touch with us to give us your thoughts. You can reach us at whaitua@gw.govt.nz. To see what we have been doing visit our Facebook page. To share what you value about our water and your solutions, have your say here.