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About us / Who we are / Our story

Our story

Wellington Water is the Wellington region’s professional water services provider. We’re fully council-owned and funded. Our purpose is to create excellence in three water services so our communities can prosper.

We’re owned by:

 

 

Our councils own the water infrastructure in the region, and they task us to manage the infrastructure and deliver water services to our communities.

Wellington Water was established in September 2014 as a result of a merger between Capacity Infrastructure Services and Greater Wellington Regional Councils water supply group.

We do not own any water infrastructure, nor do we set policies or user charges or control rates. These functions sit with our six shareholding councils.

A representative from each council sits on the regional Wellington Water Committee that provides overall leadership and direction for the company.

Wellington Water is governed by a board of independent directors.

Te Mana o te Wai

As a water services provider, on behalf of its shareholding councils, Wellington Water is required to give effect to te mana o te wai. Te mana o te wai is an expression in te reo Māori of the essential health of water, its significance to Māori, and the obligations everyone has towards water. Te mana o te wai is embedded as a fundamental concept in the management of water under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, and giving effect to te mana o te wai is a requirement of water services providers under the Water Services Act, overseen through Taumata Arowai.

Wellington Water carries out this duty by working with iwi mana whenua within its area of operations to understand and give effect to their expressions of te mana o te wai. This includes the aspiration to begin long term strategy and planning planning processes from a position of understanding iwi priorities, through to working with iwi on service delivery.

To further support this work, Wellington Water carries out ongoing training for staff on the principles of Te Tiriti, in te reo Māori, and capability building in te ao Māori me nga tikanga Māori.

Our Role

Our job is to provide safe and healthy drinking water, collect and treat wastewater, and ensure the stormwater network is well managed. We do this on behalf of our council owners.

We give our councils advice on their assets, and they make decisions on what to fund through their Long-Term Planning process. Councils also set the levels of water services and set policy.

We work to the budgets they set and prioritise our work to make the best use of the funding and resources provided to us.