3Waters Delivery on the Chatham Islands - Maximising Opportunities

A. Wong, K. Norquay (Stantec), O. Pickles (Chatham Islands Council)

The Chatham Islands are located 800 km east of mainland New Zealand, with approximately 660 people residing on Chatham and Pitt Islands. Chatham Island Council (CIC) provides 130 residents in Waitangi with both reticulated water and wastewater services, and 60 residents in Kaingaroa with reticulated water. The remaining residents rely on rainwater collection or private bores for water, and on-site wastewater systems.

Property owners pay targeted rates for three waters services based on their connection. But given the small rating base, CIC primarily relies on an annual Crown allocation to fund its services. The annual allocation is sufficient for day-today operations and minor urgent repairs, but not enough to complete preventative maintenance, renewals, or upgrades. As a result, urgent capital works are regularly deferred until external funding is secured.

In late 2020 CIC secured Ministry of Health and Three Waters Stimulus funding for critical water and wastewater capital works, totaling $1M. To maximise this funding opportunity, an integrated programme of works was developed to substantially improve public health and water resilience outcomes for residents. The programme of works was completed by the 30 June 2022 funding deadline.

This paper discusses the delivery of the funded works and associated challengesfor small, remote schemes.