Three waters growth planning to support integrated investment and land use planning

Katrina Murison (Wellington Water Limited), Olena Chan (Wellington Water Limited), Mohammed Hassan (Wellington Water Limited)

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” Benjamin Franklin

In a constrained and ageing network, Wellington Water Limited (WWL) and its client councils are faced with some tough decisions on investment prioritisation. At the same time the Wellington Regional Growth Framework (WRGF) is planning for population growth upwards of 200,000 people (WRGF, 2021) over the next 30 years. Population growth will put pressure on existing infrastructure but also offers an opportunity to do things differently and to think more strategically about the outcomes we want for our communities and environment.

WWL have been on a journey since 2018 to refine three-waters growth planning. So far this has involved a range of studies to provide infrastructure assessments to support development capacity understanding on a council-by-council basis. Given growth by its very nature is complex, growth planning must be able to cope with dynamic shifts and respond to the uncertainties in predicting the pace and location of future growth patterns.

Our growth planning work has had a huge impact on the way WWL provides advice to our Client Councils on long term planning and investment in three-waters infrastructure.

WWL has adopted a strategy-led approach to respond to growth alongside upcoming RMA and Water Reforms. Some of the challenges include the need for thought leadership, limited skilled expertise in the sector, working with other regional infrastructure providers, and implementing emerging strategic water priorities during a period of significant housing demand requiring new connections to our network.

This paper explores WWL’s experiences in three waters growth planning, covering:

• Learnings from our journey of evolving three waters growth planning;

• Approaches to managing uncertainty and phasing growth infrastructure to allow new houses to connect to the network; and

• Reflections for future growth planning to achieve integrated land-use and investment planning.