Taking Action on Resilience, Wellington’s Story

Our region is vulnerable to natural disasters, particularly, to earthquakes. This is a fact of life for those living in the Wellington region as it is located on or near major fault lines, such as the Ohariu, Wellington and Wairparapa faults. The Culverden Earthquake of November 2016 demonstrated that significant earthquakes, and indeed other natural disasters, can badly affect our region’s buildings and infrastructure while disrupting business and everyday activities. It was a timely reminder that we need to consider how best to prepare our region’s water supply network so it can recover as efficiently as possible from a significant earthquake if one was to occur under or near Wellington.

Our long term goal is to provide 80% of our customers, within 30 days of a reasonable seismic event, with at least 80% of their water needs. Our strategy to achieve this long term goal is called Towards 80-30-80. It is premised on the levels of service we have agreed with our client councils, and is underpinned by our strategic thinking that we need to increase community support in the shorter term, whilst focusing on regional risk reduction in the longer term.

Under the status quo, we expect parts of Wellington to be without drinking water for up to 100 days, Porirua to be without drinking water for up to 40 days and the Hutt Valley to be without water for up to 30 days (and on the Western Lower Hutt Hills, up to 50 days). In addition, more than 100,000 people could be displaced following a significant event; many of whom will require immediate access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities (as well as other lifeline essentials). Displaced customers are not only local residents, but tourists and visitors in the region.

This paper:

• Introduces the strategic thinking that led to the development of 80-30-80; setting out a path of small, incremental milestones that bring us closer to our long term goal
• Outlines how we are converting our strategy into a targeted programme of works to make our network more resilient, underpinned by smart investment principles
• Presents our short term resilience action plan that is underway, designed to bring about a significant step change in emergency levels of service for our communities across the region

Towards 80-30-80 sets in place a pathway that will enable us to stage improvements to our water supply network over time. Doing so will ultimately see our water supply network well-prepared for a significant earthquake – it will be ’80-30-80 ready’.