Wellington Water

Looking for a hiking track as the weather gets warmer? We’ve got just the trail for you! The Kaitoke Pipe Bridge project is wrapping up, with planting and landscaping finishing this month. Get ready as this means the Kaitoke loop track will soon be back, looking better than ever! 💧 Construction of the Kaitoke pipe bridge started in March 2022 to replace the old flume bridge with a more resilient bridge that connects the region's primary water source from the Hutt River to the Te Mārua Water Treatment Plant 🏗 Our crews from Brian Perry Civil tackled some serious challenges, like navigating a remote site and a narrow, winding access road. Getting a 96-ton crane in there to crane in equipment and haul out excavated materials was also not a small feat! Stay tuned for updates and enjoy a sneak peek of the Kaitoke Pipe Bridge! For more info, check out https://lnkd.in/gyZfjKxk

Wellington Water people are out there days, nights, and weekends making sure your drinking water is safe and healthy, your wastewater disappears safely, and stormwater drains away. Mahi Monday celebrates some of these people. 👋 Meet Love, our awesome Performance and Reporting Lead! Love is the driving force behind our reporting, making sure we have the right information at the right time to make informed decisions and keep everyone in the loop. A key part of Love’s role is leading the process to create specific reporting for our six councils and performance reporting that showcase our overall delivery performance. We caught up with Love recently to learn more about his mahi and what he enjoys about working at Wellington Water! ❓ So, Love – what’s your favourite part of working at Wellington Water? My favourite part? Definitely collaborating with people from different areas of expertise in the organisation, like our project team and data team. It’s fascinating to see how our perspectives differ—while I’m focused on the information, the project teams come from a project delivery background, which adds a unique dimension to our work. It's also incredibly fulfilling to contribute to positive outcomes for our community and see the impact of our mahi. ❓ What’s the biggest challenge about your role? One of the biggest challenges is keeping up with the ever-evolving reporting needs. The water industry is always changing, so we must stay agile and adapt our reporting processes to meet these changes. It's a constant learning process, but one that I find both challenging and rewarding. ❓ What’s your proudest achievement? Professionally, I’m really proud of the process and system we developed last year to track and report on the kilometres of pipe being renewed across the region. Seeing that project come to life, from a draft presentation slide to an end product, was incredibly satisfying. On a personal level, moving countries, completing my Master of Business Administration, and progressing in my career are definitely key highlights over the last four years.

💧 Wellington Water people are out there days, nights, and weekends making sure your drinking water is safe and healthy, your wastewater disappears safely, and stormwater drains away. Mahi Monday celebrates some of these people. 👋 Meet Benjamin, our awesome Utilities Technical Advisor. Ben plays a crucial role in keeping our network running smoothly. He manages a wide range of tasks involving maintenance of pump stations and reservoirs. He also ensures that planned maintenance and shutdowns across Wellington go as planned, minimising any disruptions to our communities and network. Let’s chat with Ben to hear more about his mahi and what he loves about it. ❓ What’s your favourite part of working at Wellington Water? The people here are great! There’s such a strong sense of community here. It’s also rewarding to know that we’re working for the good of the community and that there’s so much value in our mahi. ❓ What’s the biggest challenge about your role? There’s always a lot going on. My small team looks after around 140 reservoirs, 350 pump stations covering wastewater, stormwater, and drinking water and so much more that happens within the network. Due to the sheer volume and wide range of work, keeping up my efficiency is something I'm constantly working on improving. ❓ What has been a highlight for you so far? The handover of the Omāroro reservoir, which can carry 35 million litres of water, at the end of last year was a huge milestone. It was satisfying being able to help with the whole handover process. I got to do a roof inspection with the assistance of a crane and helped run the superchlorination to remove contaminants and disinfect the reservoir. On a personal note? I performed in a musical comedy play at last year’s Fringe festival. As I’ve never done anything like that before, it was definitely something to remember! ❓ What are you working on at the moment? With the new financial year just starting, there's lots of planning to do. I’m currently working to organise diving teams to clean reservoirs across the region.

Wellington Water people are out there days, nights, and weekends making sure your drinking water is safe and healthy, your wastewater disappears safely, and stormwater drains away. Mahi Monday celebrates some of these people. 👋 Meet Leon, one of our amazing Trade Waste champions. Leon leads a small team looking after trade waste compliance and backflow prevention, making sure non-potable water doesn't sneak back into our drinking water supply, keeping it safe for all of us. His team provides support and advice to businesses in the Wellington region to protect our pipes from harmful material, blockages, dreadful fatbergs and more! We caught up with Leon recently to chat about his mahi and what he enjoys about working at Wellington Water! ❓ How did you get into the water industry? With a process engineering background in wastewater treatment, I had a few options as a young graduate. But the water industry has always been special to me personally. I decided to stick with it and have loved every second of it. ❓ What’s your favourite part of working in this role? It has got to be the great people I work with! They give me the support when I need it and keep me motivated every day. I also appreciate all the laughs and good banter we share! ❓ What are you working on at the moment? My team is currently collating all education material we've developed over the years. We believe education is key to good customer service and compliance. This is why we’ve created information sheets, posters and calling cards to improve the communication and customer engagement. These will be presented in the upcoming New Zealand Trade and Industrial Waste Conference highlighting our resources and customer service and the the great progress made. ❓ How do you unwind after a long day at work? I have two kids who keep me busy after work! Having chats with them about their school activities, achievements and everything in between is my favourite part of the day. Fishing is also the go-to activity for me if I need a break, do some deep thinking or simply destress. ❓ Something interesting you learned since joining Wellington Water? Before I joined, I was just like another normal Kiwi that takes a running tap with safe drinking water for granted. But after I learnt how it works and what it takes to provide safe drinking water and treat wastewater, I realised how valuable and vulnerable our system is and how hard it is to keep it flowing.

It’s not every day we farewell a legend – but after 46 years in the water industry, it’s fair to say Robert Blakemore deserved a send off to remember.   While to us at Wellington Water, Rob was the Chief Advisor Service Planning, over his storied career he’s played an integral role in so many facets of the water sector. He’s been at the forefront of new ways of working – setting up the condition assessment program, the criticality frameworks, the strategic asset management approach, and even Water NZ itself. As a leader, a mentor, and a teacher, there are so many people’s lives and careers he’s changed for the better, and it was great to see so many of them at his send off. From all of us at Wellington Water, thanks Rob. It’s safe to say you’ve left an indelible mark on Aotearoa New Zealand’s water services and a legacy to be proud of.   Enjoy retirement – and we’ll keep a spot on our bookshelves ready for your debut!

Wellington Water people are out there days, nights, and weekends making sure your drinking water is safe and healthy, your wastewater disappears safely, and stormwater drains away. Mahi Monday celebrates some of these people. 👋Meet Ben, one of our amazing Dispatch Coordinators. Ben joined us on an internship in the Digital Products and Services team last summer. Now he's our Dispatch Coordinator, working every day to resolve customer queries, and triage and escalate leaks logged with our councils to our frontline crews. We caught up with Ben recently to chat about his mahi and what he enjoys about working in the water industry! ❓ What’s been the highlight about working in this role? I love learning new things and making decisions on the fly. This job really keeps me on my feet. No days are ever the same. There’s also something especially rewarding about ensuring leaks in the region get fixed! It’s the little things really – there’s so much satisfaction in knowing a job I escalated to the crew is getting attended. ❓ What do you find challenging about it? It’s important to get the full picture of the issue to be able to escalate the job appropriately. There’s not always sufficient information on hand which requires some digging and liaising with both the customer and the crews. Being a messenger is also not always easy, especially when there can be quite a bit of technical language involved. ❓ Something valuable you learned since working here? I’ve learned so much about the scale of the network and how it operates. There’s so much work that goes into keeping water network going. This job has also deepened my appreciation for the mahi that our crews are doing out there fixing leaks every day.

A big thank you to everyone that joined us recently for a tour of the Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant! It was awesome to see the community braving the winter cold to come along and learn about the plant and how it operates. At Wellington Water, we're all about connecting with the community. This is why this event was a great opportunity for us and our plant operator Veolia to engage with you and tackle any of your questions. We had two groups go through the plant during the day, learning about the history of the plant, daily activities and some of the planned future upgrades. These upgrades are part of Hutt City Council and Upper Hutt City Council's multi-million-dollar investment to improve the plant's performance and help reduce odour. 💻 For more information about this work and the plant in general, head to https://lnkd.in/gPjnWHnD...

Wellington Water people are out there days, nights, and weekends making sure your drinking water is safe and healthy, your wastewater disappears safely, and stormwater drains away. Mahi Monday celebrates some of these people. 👋 Meet Jen, one of our dedicated Project Directors. Jen brings a wealth of experience in project management, having navigated projects across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe over the past 15 years. In 2020, Jan and his family made the exciting move to Wellington, now proudly calling it home! He joined Wellington Water last year and has since been taking charge of urgent projects. He oversees projects from start until completion, driven by his passion for people and engaging with different stakeholders. His role also involves sourcing consultants and contractors, ensuring these urgent and vital projects stay on track and are delivered promptly. We caught up with Jen recently to chat about his mahi and what he enjoys about Wellington! ❓ What’s your favourite part of working in this role? Working in this space demands faster delivery in comparison to traditional projects and this empowers me to think out of the box and provide solutions while negotiating the resource and commercial challenges. I also thoroughly enjoy the planning element in this role. ❓ What are you working on at the moment? I am currently working on a few renewal and repair projects that are of high priority and importance to build a more resilient wastewater network. In addition to these, I am also working on pressure management projects to deliver significant water loss savings which is a key pillar of Wellington Water’s approach to manage regional acute water shortage. ❓ What’s your proudest achievement since joining Wellington Water? I enjoy being able to make a difference – every project I’ve been part of so far has been vital for the region’s network. Most recently, a complex project to repair an interceptor taking wastewater from pipes to wastewater treatment plants was completed. It was especially rewarding as the physical works were in a confined space, requiring detailed planning of resourcing and work methodology. ❓ What do you enjoy about Wellington as a city? Wellington has plenty to offer like coastal walks, breathtaking mountain views and lush forest trails. I love exploring Wellington’s stunning landscapes with my friends on weekends. It keeps me grounded and connected to nature!

We've reached a major goal! ✨ Our crews from E Carson & Sons Ltd wrapped up the second year of the Avalon pipeline renewal works this week. Ka pai to all involved - this mahi involved replacing about 4,700 metres of pipes that carry wastewater along the centre of Taita Drive and across Fairway Drive in Avalon. It's part of Hutt City Council's wider project spanning over five years to focus on work to improve the water infrastructure, enhance the waterways, protect the environment, and plan for future growth. 💧 This proactive work is important as it will help reduce the risk of emergency repairs, minimise public health risks, and build a more resilient and reliable wastewater network in Avalon. We know the works have been disruptive at times with the digging of trenches and laying of new pipes in Taita Drive and surrounding streets. So, thank you to the Avalon community and businesses for your patience, co-operation and support throughout the past two years. This has been vital in helping our crews deliver this mahi! Want to find out more about this work? Head to https://lnkd.in/dXrgVHHm

❌ Checking your inbox  ✅ Getting out there and mucking in It was a no brainer for the crew that went out to Ōrua-Pouanui/Baring Head to kick off a new round of Volunteer Planting Days - during National Volunteer Week, no less! Ōrua-Pouanui/Baring Head is a special place, where you’ll find the mouth of the Wainuiomata River. It’s one of the rivers that provides the region’s wai, making this a particularly meaningful opportunity to give back to the river that gives us all so much. Altogether, around 300 natives were planted, helping to protect the area from fire, provide homes for native lizards, and help improve biodiversity. We know we’re a lucky bunch, at Wellington Water. Working so closely with our environment and our communities means there are plenty of opportunities to do some mahi that makes you feel good. Cheers to Greater Wellington Regional Council and Ranger Jo, who helped the team get stuck in, and have a great time doing it.