Dive deep into our water
Updated 15 August 2024
We manage water supply (drinking water), wastewater, and stormwater (runoff from rainfall) for the Kāpiti Coast district.
We own and maintain more than 21,000 wastewater connections and 5,400 access chambers to 350 kilometres of sewers, which handle a volume of 4,700 million litres per year.
Our drinking water is sourced from various locations around the district and we're responsible for the management and maintenance of its assets like treatment plants, reservoirs, pump stations and the reticulation network.
Wastewater
We own and maintain more than 21,000 connections and 5,400 access chambers to 350 kilometres of sewers, which handle a volume of 4,700 million litres per year.
Over 150 pumping stations work to carry what you flush down your toilet to our treatment stations.
We have two treatment plants:
- Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Raumati are served by a single wastewater treatment plant in Paraparaumu treating approximately 10 million litres of wastewater every day.
- The Ōtaki Wastewater Treatment Plant serves an estimated population of 6,000 and also treats wastewater from local commercial and industrial facilities.
- Paekākāriki uses septic tanks. Rural areas of the district rely on onsite disposal, septic tanks or community package wastewater treatment plants.
We monitor our network in real time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We’re alerted immediately if there are issues or a pumpstation isn’t working.
Drinking water
Our water is sourced from various locations around the district and we're responsible for the management and maintenance of its assets like treatment plants, reservoirs, pump stations and the reticulation network.
We supply safe water to approximately 20,000 connections for household and commercial use.
Water in Ōtaki, Hautere, Te Horo and Paekākāriki comes from a variety of local bore sources.
Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Raumati are supplied water from the Waikanae River.
There are hundreds of private bores throughout Kāpiti too.
All of our public drinking water is tested and treated with chlorine and high-intensity UV light and is pH corrected to make sure it’s safe to drink.
Daily water consumption:
- Waikanae – 4,638,000 litres
- Paraparaumu / Raumati – 7,766,000 litres
- Paekākāriki – 412,900 litres
- Ōtaki – 3,046,000 litres
Council purchased land in 2012 for a future dam site behind the hills of Nikau Valley.
With the current river recharge scheme and water metering, our community will not need to invest in the new dam for up to 50 years.
Stormwater is the run-off from rainfall through natural and urban pathways.
We provide a stormwater system to manage water run-off from our urban catchments, while protecting the receiving environment, ensuring water quality and reducing risks to human life, health and property from flooding.
Our stormwater network is made up of pipes, service holes, pump stations, open waterways, sumps and sump leads, kerb outlets, wetlands, overland flow paths, public soak pits, bridges, culverts and swales. Ponds, private pipes, private soak pits, gutters and down pipes, and storage devices also form part of the wider stormwater network.
We operate and maintain 210 kilometres of stormwater pipes and a vast network of open channels and streams across the district.
But we have work to do – half of this infrastructure may not cope with flows from a 1-in-10-year flood
We are working on a large capital work programme of 240 stormwater projects, to be delivered over the next 37 years.