A: This already happens with storage reservoirs. However, in very dry years the storage can be insufficient. Smaller rain tanks cannot store enough water for long periods of drought.

A: Environmental and space issues make it challenging to construct more storage. We wouldn’t be able to build enough storage to make a single source for the future.

A: Different sites/options have been assessed. Environmental protections stop us from building in many places. A site near Rosedale wastewater treatment plant has been considered and this would be Watercare’s second largest dam. However, the streams to fill it are very small, and there would need to be recycled water to fill it (this would be indirect recycled water).

A: The dams currently supply about 70% of Auckland’s water. This reduces in a dry year as we rely more on the Waikato River. Over time, other sources will become more important. They will supplement the dams.

A: The targets are the result of joint council and watercare work. We modelled a plausible maximum water efficiency and a ‘no change’ scenario giving us a scope of opportunity for change. The targets ended up being right in the middle of this scope of opportunity. They represent conservative assumptions about background (‘natural’) water efficiency improvements (such as appliances) as well as conservative estimates for behaviour change etc. One thing to note is council and watercare staff were instructed to return to council’s elected member committee in 2024 with more ambitious targets – i.e. there is room for more aggressive investment to deliver more and faster consumption reduction across residential, commercial and leakage.

A: Not many water strategy actions require changes to the building code. Some do, for instance the ‘plumbing in’ of detention tanks to the dwelling for use in the dwelling (such as for a toilet). This is challenging as the central government manages the building act. This means council’s lever is one of advocacy. Council is progressing this line of advocacy.

A: When the dams are full in winter, we don’t worry so much about the following summer. In 2019 we began to worry about the following summer because our dams were at around 69% full and the two summers coming were projected to be dry

A: The chart showed years in order of decreasing water supply (from rain). The years at the right (in red) are the drought years, several of which have been recent. This was to show that what we need to plan for is the years where we don’t have enough rain, which are becoming more frequent.

A: Cities around the world are growing, and more people are moving to urban centres than out of them. We may hope that population growth slows or declines but we must plan for growth.

A: There is a prevailing idea that NZ is selling a lot of water overseas, but it is not borne out by facts. A Stats NZ report on the volume of bottled water exported for 2019 (pre covid) was ~110,000m3 for the full year, over the entire country. That equals a quarter of one day of Auckland’s water use.

A: Water is used by businesses in Auckland for food and beverage manufacturing. Some of these products are sold overseas.

A: There is asbestos pipe from 60 years ago, exact figure we don’t know.