Hamilton City 3-Waters Infrastructure Strategies – Master Planning in the Face of Uncertainty

Hamilton City is one of New Zealand’s fastest growing metropolitan centres with population increasing at around 2.3% per annum. Strategic infrastructure planning and delivery is critical to enabling growth in a manner that protects and enhances the Waikato River and the natural environment whilst being affordable.

Hamilton City Council (Council) has recently delivered Master Plans for water, waste water and storm water infrastructure. These Master Plans provide roadmaps for future investments in Hamilton’s 3-Waters infrastructure. They are keystone documents for short and long-term funding decisions involving a combined capital investment of more than $670 million over the next 10 years.

The Master Plans seek to recognise the social and cultural significance of the Waikato River and acknowledge the importance of the Waikato River to Hamilton City including in the provision of water services. In delivering the master planning programme, tools and methodologies have been developed from which to base future Master Plan revisions thus supporting agile strategies and investment plans.

This paper offers insight into the methods and tools used to support delivery and implementation of the Master Plans and recommended capital works programme. The challenges and uncertainties faced are presented along with tactics employed to achieve nimble infrastructure strategies able to accommodate change in key inputs and assumptions such as growth projections, environmental targets, levels of service and organisational structure.