Water March/April 2022

water MAY 2015 | ISSUE 189

MARCH/APRIL 2022 ISSUE 223

Responding to climate change challenges Coverage of Water New Zealand’s online conference Transforming the Three Waters workforce Wastewater win at Kinloch

CONTENTS WATER NEW ZEALAND

President: Helen Atkins Board Members: Troy Brockbank, Fraser Clark, Tim Gibson, Lorraine Kendrick, Priyan Perera, Dr Deborah Lind, Shelley Wharton, Chief Executive: Gillian Blythe

water Issue 223 MARCH/APRIL 2022

INSIDE

REGULARS

4

President’s comment – Sharing our knowledge

25 Profile – Tom Dyer

6

The evolving evidence base of water service delivery

78 Australia – Purifying water with a simple powder

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

8

Transforming the workforce

Backflow: Paul van den Berg, P: +64 27 509 9962

12 Capturing our water stories

80 Case study – Leak noise loggers deliver immediate return on investment

14 Hydraulic modelling – a key focus at this

83 Pacific – Responding to disaster

Water Group Co-ordinator: Katrina Guy Administration Officer: Pip Donnelly Technical Manager: Noel Roberts Insight and Sustainability Advisor: Lesley Smith Training Development Manager: Mumtaz Parker Communications Manager: Debra Harrington Design and Marketing Coordinator: Paris Elwood

Climate Change: Jon Reed, P: +64 9 300 9267 Smart Water Infrastructure: Rachael Casey P +64 27 378 1401 Modelling: Fiona Macdonald, M: +64 21 390 781 Small Wastewater & Natural Systems: Sandy Ormiston Stormwater: Kate Purton, P: 021 0375 872 Water Service Managers’ Group: Kalley Simpson, P: +64 21 223 3428 Young Water Professionals: AKL: Olivia Philpott, P: +64 22 043 2419 WLG: Aidan Crimp, P: +64 21 829 650 CHC: Liam Allan, P: +64 27 385 7003

year’s symposium 16 How do our own carbon emissions stack up?

20 New appointments to the three waters programme

CONFERENCE

60 Climate emergency: Water sector needs to be part of the solution

WATER JOURNAL

29 Minister urges sector to share knowledge and expertise

M: +64 21 676 034 Advertising Sales: Debbie Laing M: +64 27 455 0223 Design: Jonathan Whittaker

67 Building trusting relationships 70 Better investment decision-making:

Publishing: Contrafed Publishing,

34 Paper: Microplastics in wastewater 36 Paper: Modelling to meet compliance

Auckland 1024 PO Box 112 357, Penrose, Auckland, 1642 P: +64 9 636 5715 www.contrafed.co.nz Distribution: Pip Donnelly P: +64 4 472 8925 DISCLAIMER: Water New Zealand reserves the right to accept or reject any editorial or advertising material submitted for publication.

The opinions expressed in contributions to Water are not necessarily those of Water New Zealand. The information contained in this publication is given in good faith and has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, neither Water New Zealand, nor any person(s) involved in the preparation of this publication accept any form of liability whatsoever for its content including advertisements, editorials, opinions, advice or information. This extends to any consequences from its use. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or ink–jet printing without prior written permission of the publishers.

ISSN 1179-2949 (Print) ISSN 2382-1906 (Online)

64 Planning for an uncertain future

31 New regulator heartened by industry welcome

M: +64 21 147 5591

1 Grange Road, Mount Eden,

62 Preparing for and responding to drinking water emergencies

30 Think big and dream a little

32 Paper: The problem with microplastics

Managing Editor: Alan Titchall,

54 Low carbon concrete renaissance 56 Climate change and natural character

28 Water conference goes virtual

Contrafed Publishing

COMMENT AND THINK PIECES

22 Obituary: Chris Davis

WeCan: Christine McCormack, P: +64 22 512 3553

Editorial: Mary Searle Bell,

26 Profile – Siobhan Hartwell

FEATURES 40 Strengthening the supply

Getting the best from three waters asset data 72 Transforming our water system, for everyone 74 Coastal Marine Area lessons 76 Water Services Act 2021 has critical implications for wastewater

46 Golf club utilises wastewater in a win:win partnership 53 Coastal flooding likely to be main driver for adaptation

- ‘Ka ora te wai, ka ora te whenua, ka ora nga tangata’ ‘If the water is healthy, the land is healthy, the people are healthy’

40

46

67

www.waternz.org.nz

The official journal of Water New Zealand – New Zealand’s only water environment periodical. Established in 1958, Water New Zealand is a non-profit organisation.

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND FROM THE PRESIDENT

Sharing our knowledge Ka ora te wai, ka ora te whenua, ka ora ngā tāngata kaupapa / kei mua / i ā tātou

Helen Atkins President, Water New Zealand

A

s I said in my conference welcome, I want to acknowledge all of you for your strength and knowledge with regards to our most precious taonga – wai.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make our online, part one, Water New Zealand Conference and Expo such a success. To steal a quote from Douglas Adams, “We live in strange times”.

Thanks to the professionalism of our event organisers Avenues, the amazing technical work undertaken by Vidcom, the huge mahi from our team at Water New Zealand, and the untiring and unerring support from our partners, sponsors, presenters, delegates and exhibitors, we once again morphed a fully face-toface event into an online one.

Part two will take place at Claudelands in May. With that said, it would be an understatment to say that I’m certainly looking forward to seeing everyone in person in two month’s time.

As the Hon Nanaia Mahuta, the Local Government minister, said in the opening keynote, this is a big year for us in the water sector. This is somewhat of an understatement as we all know.

The three waters transition legislation will be introduced to Parliament this year and a lot of our members are already working within the transition unit or on advisory groups to the Government.

We understand that a lot of extra mahi had been asked of many of you.

The requests for information in tight timeframes, adapting to the new regulatory environment, as well as ongoing business-as-

4 www.waternz.org.nz

usual, has put strain on our organisations and staff. Overlay this with the ongoing issues associated with the pandemic and it is no wonder the cracks are showing a little in places.

Water infrastructure, servicing our communities, and ensuring our environment is protected is extremely complex. That’s why it is so important that you, the experts, share your knowledge and expertise through the reform process.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right and to facilitate a sea change in the way water services are delivered.

We have the opportunity to make a big difference to ensure long term sustainability and resilience in the water sector in Aotearoa New Zealand.

That’s why I urge you, our members, to stay in touch with Water New Zealand and take part in the many opportunities to contribute to our submissions, working groups and webinars.

Keep an eye on our website, our Pipeline e-newsletter as well as our monthly informal virtual coffee catch ups. You can also take a look at our special interest groups. Many of them are working at the forefront of innovative solutions and are a good way to connect with others with similar interests.

There’s a lot happening, and a lot of opportunities, investment and growth. We need to do it now and we need to get it right.

And with that I look forward to seeing you at Claudelands in May. Ka kite anō au i koutou Helen Atkins President

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WATER NEW ZEALAND UPFRONT

The evolving evidence base of water service delivery Lessons and reflections from the 2020/21 National Performance Review,

by Lesley Smith, insights and sustainability advisor, Water New Zealand When the National Performance Review was first launched in 2008, the national picture of water service provision was largely opaque. Little was known about the number of assets, their contribution to the workforce and economy.

The review launched with the goal of establishing, “a valuable building block for asset owners and managers alike to be able to publicly confirm the standing of the industry and the value delivered from public investment in the three waters assets”.

The knowledge gap was repeatedly thrown up as a roadblock to meaningful reforms of the sector, with various commissions and working groups concluding that too little was known about the performance of service delivery, either to make the case for change, or to catalyse it.

Fast forward to today and the situation is very different. In

broad brush strokes we now know a lot about our sector.

Main messages from this year’s National Performance Review tell a story of a sector that is big, and getting bigger – both in terms of economic activity, employment and the contribution to the lives and well-being of our public health and the environment.

The 2020/21 National Performance Review collated information from 38 of the country’s 64 drinking water, wastewater and stormwater service providers, with jurisdictions covering 87 percent of the population.

The water sector is large and makes a large contribution Collectively, these entities manage assets worth over $40 billion and annually expend more than $3 billion in their ongoing

National Performance Review 2020 2021 6 www.waternz.org.nz

Performance measures

• Wastewater overflows • Staffing levels

• Stormwater quality management

• Lost time injuries, near miss reports

• Trade waste management

Workforce

• Firefighting water • Backup power supplies • Treated drinking water storage

• Resource consent compliance

Public health and environmental protection

• Energy generation • Energy use • Greenhouse gas emissions • Residential water efficiency • Water abstractions

• Flood design standards

• Water restrictions

• Flooding events

• Assets under operation • Service cover levels

Resilience

Resource efficiency

Assets

Economic sustainability

• Water metering • Wastewater sludges

• Revenue • Operational expenditure

• Connection density

• Capital expenditure

• Percentage condition assessment

• Depreciation • Cost coverage

• Pipeline condition grading

Reliability

• Balanced budget

• System interruptions

• Residential charges

• Pipeline age

• Non-residential volumetric charges

• Inflow and infiltration

• Response times

• Waterloss

• Complaints

maintenance and development.

They directly employ 2842 workers, and a further 1067 contractors. They manage 339 water treatment plants, 193 wastewater treatment plants and over 60,000 kilometres of pipelines – enough to stretch up and down the length of New Zealand 38 times.

The economic importance of these assets is a direct reflection of the critical services they provide. They are responsible for the delivery of safe drinking water to three quarters of the population.

At the other end of the pipe, they are responsible for the protection of public health and the environment through the conveyance and treatment of 434,944,945 cubic metres of wastewater. Roughly the same volume as water contained in Lake Rotorua.

Our sector is growing rapidly

Over the past four years the number of properties receiving water and wastewater services has grown by eight percent, and total volumes of water supplied by six percent.

The workforce has slowly been expanding to keep pace growing by six percent over the same period, as has capital expenditure.

Capital expenditure amongst all participants grew to $1.8 billion this year, an increase of 16 percent on the previous year.

The boost in capital expenditure in part related to central government three waters reform stimulus, with a reported $136 million in grants received by NPR participants.

Overall growth in expenditure was primarily driven by increased spending in Auckland to service growth. Watercare’s reported capital expenditure on water supply grew from $192 million in the 2020 fiscal year, to $406 million.

Opportunities to evolve

• Debt servicing

Customer focus

At a high level there is now much that we can say about the water sector. However at an individual network level, our information base has much room to improve, both in what we measure and how.

This year’s National Performance Review focuses on where

information limitations exist, in order to start looking at how to provide a more accurate picture of performance in the future.

Now is the ideal time to be taking stock of our evidence base.

In 2021, The Water Services Act was passed through parliament introducing new requirements for Taumata Arowai to monitor and report on the environmental performance of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater networks.

Much of the information that has until now been collected through the National Performance Review on a voluntary basis will soon be captured by the Network Environmental Performance Measure Rules.

We are working closely with Taumata Arowai to ensure that lessons captured through the National Performance Review inform these future reporting requirements, as well as to ensure no information gap in the transition to the mandated reporting requirements.

Once in place, the new rules will make information on the environment and public health available to the whole of New Zealand. Importantly though, they will also help set the focus for how we improve our environmental performance in the future.

Consultation on the measures is open until 28 March on the Taumata Arowai website.

Accessing information through the performance review The National Performance Review categorises performance outcomes into six groups: public health and environmental protection, resilience, customer focus, reliability, resource efficiency and economic sustainability, as well as providing supporting context on the workforce and assets responsible for delivering these assets.

An overview of the national picture, and limitations in our data is provided in the full report on our website at: www.waternz.org.nz/NationalPerformanceReview.

For detailed performance information at a district level and trended data head to the accompanying dashboard: www.waternz.org.nz/NPRdashboard.

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND UPFRONT

Transforming the workforce

A major report on how to transform the THREE WATERS workforce to support a thriving future industry has just been released. The ‘We Are Water – Ko Wai Tātau, THREE WATERS Workforce Development Strategy’ report has come up with four strategic goals underpinned by 14 actionable recommendations. Waihanga Ara Rau general manager assurance Mike Grumball explains.

8 www.waternz.org.nz

Strategic goals and recommendations Strategic goal 1: Respect Māori interests and knowledge

The water sector is entering a new stage of management that incorporates regionalised (and localised) Māori knowledge and oversight. Commissioning Māori-led research on this topic is needed to progress in a way that upholds the articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Our recommendations are: • Build understanding of Te Mana o te Wai • Understand new opportunities for Māori roles and pathways • Provide a bridge for rangatahi Māori into existing water roles • Grow and support Māori leadership

Strategic goal 2: Create intuitive career pathways Enacting the reform requires a not seen before step-change in

the industry’s ability to attract and recruit a diversity of talent.

Our recommendations are: • Create clear entry points from other sectors • Establish focused outreach to schools • Tell real stories of life in the industry • Find a united industry voice

Strategic goal 3: Design for career progression

There is a positive perception inside industry that a new level of collaboration is required for successful growth. Our recommendations are: • Create flexible, consistent pathways • Develop leadership and mentorship programmes

Strategic goal 4: Design for success

There is a need for a long-term, values-aligned strategy to strengthen recruitment, skills and training throughout the sector, and across all regions of Aotearoa.

Our recommendations are: • Invest in talent and communities • Build trust with small water suppliers • Build and leverage data • Create a values driven sector.

New Zealand’s water industry is fundamental to national prosperity, providing drinking, wastewater and stormwater systems to millions of households and businesses. It is vital that New Zealanders have safe water to drink, and that wastewater and stormwater are appropriately managed to achieve improved environmental performance outcomes.

The new regulatory environment means suppliers will require greater support, training and skill recognition. The three waters sector will need to spend $125 billion to $185 billion to address the infrastructure deficit which is predicted to create an additional 6000-9000 jobs over the next 30 years.

Water New Zealand’s National Performance Review has consistently reported job vacancies of around eight percent since reporting began.

In collaboration with the three waters sector, Waihanga Ara Rau Construction and Infrastructure Workforce Development Council, Water New Zealand, The Department of Internal Affairs, Taumata Arowai and Connexis secured funding from the Covid-19 Response Projects Fund to explore how the sector can respond to these workforce needs.

The result has been a three-part deep dive into the industry. Part 2 of ‘We Are Water – Ko Wai Tatou’ included an environmental scan of the sector, investigating what inspires people to consider joining the water industry and attracting new people into the sector without a reliance on immigration.

Our ultimate goal is to deliver a Workforce Development Strategy so that the three waters sector understands what its workforce needs are for the next five to 10 years.

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND UPFRONT

At the heart of the mahi we are doing, we are looking at how the three waters sector can maintain its current workforce, recruit new people into the sector, and retrain and upskill its current workforce to ensure that it is meeting its obligations to millions of households and businesses across the country in a post Covid-19 environment.

Water New Zealand’s chief executive Gillian Blythe reflects the view of the sector when she says that there is a serious need to increase the number of workers.

“From operators to engineers, from planners to modellers, from mātauranga Māori practitioners to climate scientists, we need skilled people to tackle today’s technologies and to prepare us for the transformation ahead.”

The importance of this for the water industry was brought into sharp focus when, during an Alert Level 3 and 4 lockdown, the sector sought special immigration exemptions to bring specialist skills into the country to fix a section of Wellington’s wastewater network.

One of the options we need to look at is how we can attract people with transferable skills from those sectors that have been heavily affected by Covid-19.

This means helping industry to deliver more learner-responsive programmes and qualifications with a particular emphasis on recruitment and support for Māori, women, and people retraining from other sectors.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an important part of the project with

Māori interests in water front of mind. Te Tiriti recognises the dual role of iwi/hapū and the Crown to develop and maintain decision-making processes for water, including mana whakahaere, kaitiakitanga and stewardship practices to sustain water.

With a regulatory model that is underpinned by the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the water sector is entering a new stage of management that incorporates regionalised Māori knowledge and oversight.

In the spirit of true partnership between tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti, it will be necessary to commission Māori-led initiatives to oversee all aspects of Te Mana o Te Wai, including strategies for Māori participation in the workforce. Additionally, we need to build wider awareness of the principles of Te Ao Māori and Te Mana o te Wai, particularly among tangata Tiriti.

In Phase 3 of the project, industry will be able to harness the insights and implement the 14 recommendations across the four strategic goals – respect Maori interests and knowledge, create intuitive career pathways, design for career progression, and design for success to support the transformational change needed.

I would encourage industry to work with us in the next phase of the project to develop actionable solutions aligned with recommendations so an expanded network can be built and retained for a new three waters sector.

For a copy of the Workforce Development Strategy, go to: www.wearewater.nz

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WATER NEW ZEALAND UPFRONT

Capturing our source water stories Water sector veteran Rob Blakemore has embarked on an ambitious new project to capture stories on our most precious taonga – source water. In this article, he explains his project, and requests assistance from the expertise and knowledge of fellow water professionals to bring it to fruition.

As we move into a period of likely transformation of the water industry, I have realised there is an important piece of work to do.

In making a commitment to do this work I will need help from you. Hopefully I can engage your enthusiasm.

We know that communities are dependent on their water supplies. Without them they would be very different places to live and work.

These communities will readily acknowledge the importance of their water supply. However, they don’t always appreciate the effort involved in finding a suitable water supply source that can be taken for treatment and distribution – whether from rivers and streams, lakes, constructed storage, or groundwater.

Increasingly, these sources are under pressure from upstream development, climate change, and ecosystem deterioration and loss. Their preservation is pivotal to the future of built communities.

The water supply sources are often associated with an important and interesting history as well as sensitive or protected environments that, to this day, may place constraints on their future use.

I believe that there are important stories to capture in words and pictures that communicate the variability in scale and type of our communities’ water sources.

Furthermore, it is important to capture the sensitivity to change that is imposed on these supply sources and to discuss how they have been developed and managed by councils throughout the country to allow communities of all sizes to survive and prosper.

Somehow, we must tell these stories without confusing the reader through scientific or engineering text.

A publication on our water supply sources must highlight the beauty of the environment they are dependent on, and ideally it would also tell a human history of the challenges confronted to provide this water 24 hours a day.

History tells us that as change occurs and reform takes place, the history of the water supplies and their relevance of the source

12 www.waternz.org.nz

to the communities can get lost.

As someone who has had the privilege to devote their working life to water, I see the need to start to capture the stories of water supply sources as a snapshot for the 2020s. In short, I see this work as high on my bucket list.

On a personal note, I would do this to fulfill a vision that I created with Dave Kettell – a working colleague at Opus who died before we could even start to work on our vision.

There is a lot to do but there is no point in just talking. I would like to start work on a project that is more likely to get finished if I can get support from my water supply colleagues across New Zealand.

At this point, I believe the scale of the task is big enough if I focus on communities with a population greater than 500.

Ultimately, I want to visit these sources and talk to people personally. Before this, I can do a lot of preparation by collecting information for every relevant water source. The sort of information I am interested in is listed below: • Communities served • Yield of source(s) • Physical size of catchment including groundwater capture zones • Location maps with abstraction points • Topographic maps of catchments and groundwater capture zones • Nature of upstream land use • History of development • Nature of water quality and variation • Operational challenges and risks • Photographs of abstraction point looking upstream/ downstream • Contact of people who have knowledge and stories to tell.

Your help in getting access to any of this information or pointing me in the right direction would really be appreciated.

You can contact me on 021 302 801 or by emailing Rob.blakemore@watenz.org.nz.

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WATER NEW ZEALAND UPFRONT

Hydraulic modelling – a key focus at this year’s symposium As this publication goes out, the Modelling Group members are meeting for their annual get-together (17-19 March). Once again, Covid has forced the symposium online. But, not surprisingly, modellers lived up to their reputations as problem solvers.

This report from Wioletta Gilfoyle and Vicki Koopal.

Due to the uncertainty of the current Covid-19 situation, Water New Zealand and the Modelling Committee decided to make the 2022 symposium a fully virtual event. It will still bring all the presentations and discussions that make this a compelling symposium for modellers.

Guest speakers include climate change commissioner, Judy Lawrence, along with Rob Blakemore talking about all things climate change. The line-up also includes previous modelling group chair, David Ward, and Michael Howden from Taumata Arowai.

The annual Modelling Symposium provides a great opportunity to showcase the work you or your organisation are doing in support to drive a reliable water industry.

Hydraulic modelling is a key tool used more and more extensively to plan a sustainable water future. However, the term ‘modelling’ is still often misunderstood as being a narrow, stand-alone task, which it is not!

Hydraulic modelling covers a wide range of aspects, including asset surveying and field investigations, data management, hydrology and hydraulics, infrastructure planning and strategies, concept design, risk management, decision making processes, community and stakeholder engagement, working with the research community, project and team management, and more.

There are many examples of how local authorities utilise hydraulic models to help inform their decisions.

Waipa District Council (WDC) has used its hydraulic water supply model for future growth planning, including possible changes to reservoir locations and the impact on the network, planned increase in demand and where the focus upgrades should occur to service future growth areas and development.

The Kihikihi Alternative Water Supply project, currently in construction, as well as Parallel Road Water Treatment Plant upgrade, were both identified through hydraulic modelling.

The council used its stormwater model to indicate any stormwater pipes surcharging at capacity to identify areas of planned upgrades to meet the level of service across the district. This links closely to their flood hazard modelling project.

WDC’s wastewater model has been used to assess the possible improvements of realigning the existing wastewater network, splitting catchments and upgrading the network to cater for increased wastewater discharges due to growth.

Hydraulic models informed Watercare’s ‘Waikato 50’ project, which involved building a new pump station on one of Watercare’s larger service

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mains to increase the flow. Loggers were installed on the assessed main to calibrate the model, which was then used to determine the duty required for the new booster station.

Watercare utilised its hydraulic models to plan the required infrastructure for several Kāinga Ora projects, which involve significant growth in relatively small areas. The models indicated capacity shortfalls in the existing network and were used as tools to determine the required solutions and estimate the cost of upgrades required to provide for the intensification.

In some instances, the cost has helped determine the required density, i.e. the models provided an understanding of the cost of the required infrastructure upgrades, which then was translated to the minimum number of dwellings required to make the investment worthwhile.

Both WDC and Watercare have conducted a Fire Flow and Water Level of Service assessment to identify potential low-pressure areas and to confirm that the pressure and flow available from their fire hydrants is aligned with the requirements outlined in the firefighting water supplies code of practice.

Based on this assessment, a new infrastructure and/or upgrades to the existing network were identified, including piped network, pump stations and additional fire pumps.

The approximate location of closed valves in the network were identified using the hydraulic models.

To reflect the wide range of models’ use, the papers presented at the symposium also cover a broad range of topics across Three Waters modelling, stretching from water network resilience, modelling corrosion potential in wastewater networks, through to urban stormwater and river modelling.

The symposium provides an opportunity to attend workshops and tours relevant to the industry. In the past these have included a visit to a wastewater flow monitoring site, the Auckland University Fluid Labs, and a very engaging workshop on the development of Stormwater Modelling Guidelines.

Current committee chair Fiona Macdonald says, working in modelling means “every day is different and challenging but, fundamentally, it’s about understanding what the issues and their root causes are, and working with others to find the best solution.”

Further information on the Modelling Group can be found on the Water New Zealand website: www.waternz.org.nz/Modelling.

1

2

1. Hydraulic Modelling Flooding Typical example of 2D modelling – floodplain extents.

2. Hydraulic modelling new Parallel Road Water Treatment Plant upgrade at construction phase.

3. Hydraulic Modelling Long Section Typical example of long section through a network at peak rainfall event.

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WATER NEW ZEALAND UPFRONT

How do our own carbon emissions stack up?

Water New Zealand members and readers of Water would be aware that one of our key goals is to assist our sector reduce carbon emissions. This is also a mission that’s close to the heart of our summer intern, Zoe Hubbard from the Pūhoro STEM Academy. With that in mind, we asked Zoe to check on us to see if we’re walking the talk in our office. This is what she found.

Water New Zealand’s Climate Special Interest Group has produced a document, ‘Navigating to Net Zero’, to present how the water sector is working towards a low carbon future. We decided to follow their example and look at our carbon emissions from the Water New Zealand office to ensure we are all contributing to the low carbon kaupapa.

Toitū Envirocare is an online initiative that provides businesses with tools and advice for a more sustainable workplace and future. Through Toitū we were able to calculate the carbon footprint of our office.

This process began with recording data from the last financial period (1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021) in the following categories: fuel, electricity, and travel. Waste and freight were offered; however, our emissions were not of significant value to be included in this report.

The data is submitted into the Toitū carbon assessment and calculates the carbon emissions.

Some of these activities will emit up to seven greenhouse gases, although for comparison and contextual purposes Toitū automatically converts these emissions into the equivalent of carbon dioxide.

Once the data is finalised, a report is published which presents the emissions in terms of carbon intensity (carbon emissions against revenue) in total and per category.

Overall, our organisation’s carbon intensity for the last financial period is 6.04kgCO 2e/$1k (6.04 kilograms of carbon per $1000 of revenue). Air travel was a major contributor to this figure, with 5.26CO 2e/$1k.

Our emissions in total and per category are less than the average within our sector, which is a positive result but there is still room for improvement.

Knowing our office carbon footprint, we began to plan our next steps.

To make a difference to our environment, we discussed ways to reduce our emissions and options to offset them from the last financial period. We wanted to offset our carbon through a verified source to a project that contributes to New Zealand and improves water quality if possible.

We came to the collective decision to offset our emissions

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through Toitū as opposed to other initiatives, as we have completed the carbon inventory through this programme and can receive certifications from Toitū as we continue our low carbon journey.

There are multiple forest restoration programmes that will receive our contributions through offsetting – which meet our interests of local programmes that will help the environment and waterways.

Zoe Hubbard.

Our efforts do not end here. We have begun the discussion of ways to reduce our emissions within the office and aim to have a smaller carbon footprint for the next year.

We hope this inspires others to start their low carbon journey and become conscious of how their activities are impacting our environment.

About our intern

We then asked Zoe to explain the Pūhoro STEM Academy and why she decided to study through that programme.

Pūhoro STEM Academy is an amazing initiative designed to boost rangatahi Māori participation and representation in STEM careers.

Support for students starts in high school, for those studying science/maths subjects from NCEA level 1.

Pūhoro provides tutors and workshops to help with mahi at school, and also have wānanga every term where all students come together to get to know each other, connect with Te Ao Māori and be exposed to a vast range of careers in STEM. Pūhoro then continues to support students through university and offer many internship opportunities each summer (such as my role with Water New Zealand).

I was very excited to be part of Pūhoro and joined when I was in year 11 at Palmerston North Girls’ High School, where I studied biology, chemistry, physics, calculus, and statistics – for all of which Pūhoro provided an abundance of resources and support.

The aspect of Pūhoro I loved the most is how much they helped me connect to Te Ao Māori and my whakapapa alongside other students like me. They even gave me a chance to see the world through the Amua Ao programme, where we travelled

to Taiwan and Singapore in 2019 and connected with another indigenous culture.

Pūhoro is definitely changing the game in schools and STEM globally, and I am very grateful to be a part of it.

What are you studying?

I am pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Māori resource management and environmental studies at Victoria University.

In 2020 I gained a diploma in Māoritanga, which really showed me the potential I had and motivated me to keep studying. I chose environmental studies alongside Māori resource management since the land/water is a precious taonga to Māori and we have a deep connection to the environment we live from, so I want to be able to encapsulate both aspects in my future.

What are your goals and ambitions?

My main ambition is to be content with the mahi I am doing and help improve aspects of life for Māori in the long run. Currently I am just taking things day by day and learning as much as I can in any field.

Why intern at Water New Zealand?

When Pūhoro told me about the internship at Water New Zealand, I didn’t really have any idea about what the organisation

does, or even how the water sector worked.

I love to learn new things and thought it would be a great opportunity to learn about how water services are run and see how I could relate my studies and mātauranga Māori to the water sector.

Apart from checking our carbon footprint, what else have you been working on?

Most of my mahi at Water New Zealand has been assisting Lesley Smith in creating this year’s National Performance Review, which is the annual performance comparison of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater service provision. I have been compiling a lot of data sets and creating graphs to showcase the recent information.

I also worked on updating the Water New Zealand wastewater treatment plant inventory and created a new GIS map showing all the plants across the country and information about each of them.

I was also lucky enough to complete the Water New Zealand online training programmes, Drinking water 101 and Wastewater 101, which really got me up to speed with the basics of our water sector.

I have learnt so much from my short time as an intern here and am very grateful for the opportunity.

Te Marua Twin Lakes - recent placegetter.

Send us your favourite water photos One of our favourite tasks at Water New Zealand is to go through the fantastic range of photos we see each year in our annual photo competition.

This year’s competition is closing soon, so get your entries in quick.

We particularly love seeing photos of projects and people working in the sector and we try to use as many of the photo

competition entries as we can in our publications throughout the year.

The overall winner will be decided by popular vote from finalists in one of the following four categories: our people; our assets; innovation; and natural environment.

The winner will receive either a free registration to the Water New Zealand Conference & Expo 2022, including the Gala Dinner, valued at $1700,

or registration and dinner at the Stormwater Conference and Expo 2022.

Entries close Thursday, March 31.

Online voting will open on April 21 and close on May 6.

Send your best photos to us at enquiries@waternz.org.nz. For further information on the competition, including terms and conditions, go to waternz.org.nz.

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND UPFRONT

Training and development opportunities

By Mumtaz Parker, Water New Zealand training development manager This will be a busy year for training and professional development.

In January we launched Stormwater 101 – the third in our series of online learning opportunities giving participants an introduction to the three waters.

Stormwater 101 joins Drinking Water 101 and Wastewater 101 which, together, give a comprehensive overview of three waters, the people and processes involved in sourcing water, to ensuring it goes back into the environment in a healthy state.

Later this year, we’ll be delving further into three waters with

the development of Backflow 101, Small Waters 101, and Drinking Water 201.

Also, one of our most popular professional development initiatives will be back on the agenda this year. The Cultural Significance and Importance of Wai module is running again online in March, Auckland in June and Christchurch in October.

Keep an eye on our website and Pipeline and join our virtual coffee catch ups to find out how to enrol for these courses.

Online Water Directory upgraded Water New Zealand is excited to bring you the new Water Directory website – a fresh new look and better search functionality than the old greenpagesnz website.

When you want to know who can solve your problem, who stocks a particular brand, which company can supply what you need, the Water Directory is quick, targeted supplier information at your fingertips.

You can search by keyword, browse by index category, or look up a company alphabetically.

With advanced solutions, new or improved products, and fresh approaches part and parcel of the changing water sector, having a specialised directory is a speedy way to find who or what you need.

Go online and take a look: www.waterdirectory.org.nz

Get your innovation in front of a key audience Our Innovation Showcase is a great opportunity to pitch your innovative process or idea to a wide audience of stormwater professionals at the Stormwater Conference and Expo.

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Present your innovative solution to a panel of judges. The audience will decide the Overall Best Innovation.

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Entries close 28 April

visit www.stormwaterconference.org.nz for more information

18 www.waternz.org.nz

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Enclosed with this issue of Water and online!

WATER NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE

New appointments to the three waters programme The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has announced the appointment of two new executive directors for the Three Waters reform programme.

Hamiora Bowkett will lead the reform programme, as set out in the Water Services Bill. He is a senior leader with 21 years’ experience across the public and private sectors and joins the team from Te Puni Kōkiri, where he is deputy secretary strategy, finance and performance. Hamiora has also worked at partner and executive director level at PWC and EY. Heather Shotter will head the National Transition Unit, responsible for establishing the four new water services entities that will deliver the three waters programme.

She is currently chief executive at Palmerston North City Council, and was previously executive director of the Committee for Auckland, which promotes positive social and economic development.

The DIA’s has also named the members of the Three Waters National Transition Unit Board, tasked with advising on the transition and establishment of the water services entities: Sir Brian Roche (chair) has direct experience in the establishment and operation of organisations. He chairs Waka Kotahi NZTA and the Covid-19 Independent Continuous Review, Improvement and Advice Group.

John Duncan has extensive experience in management and global financial markets, including banking and risk management. He is a deputy chair of Kāinga Ora and the Public Trust, and an advisor to Auckland City Council on funding, risk management, and balance sheet and capital issues.

Fiona Mules started her career as an investment banker specialising in

transactions and valuations, then was brought in by Treasury to help establish a Public-Private-Partnership programme. Fiona is currently an independent director of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Lyttelton Port Company and Rural Livestock. She is also a Member of the Southern Response Earthquake Services Independent Oversight Committee for government.

Rukumoana Schaafhausen is a lawyer with significant governance experience. She was recently the chair of Te Arataura, Waikato-Tainui and is currently serving across a number of iwi, community, private and public organisations in governance roles including Contact Energy, AgResearch, Miro Berries, Te Waharoa Investments, Tindall Foundation and The Princes Trust.

Richard Wagstaff is president of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU). He was previously NZCTU vice president and national secretary of the Public Service Association. He is also a member of the International Labour Organisation’s governing body.

Peter Winder is an experienced director, chief executive, and senior manager in local and central government and the private sector. He is a council member and establishment board member of Te Pūkenga, the chair of Unitech and Manukau Institute of Technology. He is also a former chief executive of Auckland Regional Council and Local Government New Zealand.

Seafloor geoscientist wins prestigious award NIWA scientist Joshu Mountjoy has walked away with the esteemed McKay Hammer Award from the Geoscience Society of New Zealand.

This accolade is given to a researcher who has made momentous contribution to geoscience over the past three years.

Joshu claimed the prize thanks to his work on seafloor earthquakes and canyons, specifically the study he led on the 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake. In this study, Joshu and his team recorded, for the first time, a process that causes the development of deep-sea canyons.

They found that the Kaikōura Earthquake triggered powerful and widespread underwater landslides. These led to “canyon flushing”, where hundreds of megatons of sediment moved into the deep ocean, leaving behind a deep-sea canyon.

This was the first time globally that this process has been observed and documented, showing how significant a single canyon flushing event can be.

Joshu comments on how pivotal the Kaikōura Earthquake was for his research and the knowledge it provided for the scientific community.

“The Kaikōura Earthquake was such an incredible event, it’s not something I thought I’d ever see in my career. We were well positioned to take advantage of the opportunity because NIWA’s vessel, the RV Tangaroa, was at sea at the time. We had also done so much mapping prior to the event that we were going to be able to see change”.

“The paper we wrote brought together lots of different threads and is the most satisfying publication I have led or been involved in. It is the scientific highlight of my career.”

20 www.waternz.org.nz

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Nature-based solutions in 3-waters projects, when implemented well, can deliver a range of benefits for climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation. Nature-based solutions reduce climate change by capturing CO2 from the air and sequestering it in plants, soils, and sediments. They also provide a wide range of other important benefits, such as cleaner air and water, economic benefits, and increased biodiversity.

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MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

21

WATER NEW ZEALAND OBITUARY

It is with much sadness that we have learnt of the passing of Chris Davis, the former CEO of the Australian Water Association (AWA). Chris was a great friend and colleague of Water New Zealand and over the years worked closely with a number of our members, especially on Water Environment Federation (WEF) activities when both AWA and Water NZ were WEF member associations.

More recently, Chris is remembered for his tireless advocacy and raising awareness of Parkinsons Disease in Australia, the disease which lead to his untimely death.

His tenure as the first full time CEO of AWA lasted 14 years and, in this time, he not only contributed hugely to the Australian water sector but also in the international sector, particularly through WEF and the International Water Association. This included the promotion of women and young professionals in the workplace.

Chris ended his term as chief executive of AWA in 2007, and remains the association’s longest serving CEO to date.

He received a Life Membership Award from the AWA in 2008, an Exceptional Service Award in 2016, and continued to volunteer for the association as technical editor of the Water Journal until 2019.

Prior to joining AWA, Chris worked in the wastewater sector in South Africa and then Australia for GHD and, following that, for Aquatec Maxcon, being at the

22 www.waternz.org.nz

leading edge of nutrient removal in wastewater.

AWA was not his only passion. Chris was on the founding committee of WaterAid Australia, serving on the board as treasurer. Chris helped create a series of successful fundraising campaigns to provide funding for WaterAid Australia’s first project, in Papua New Guinea.

WaterAid Australia remains a key partner of the water sector and annually provides $17 million for communities in need of water and sanitation services.

Our Water New Zealand members who were closely involved with Chris include ourselves, Jim Bradley, Garry Macdonald, Rob Blakemore, and others.

Jim fondly recalls the days in the mid 1990s when Chris and he were the

Australian and New Zealand association representatives on WEF and banded together as the ‘to-be-noticed ANZACs’ at many a WEF annual conference activity.

In the late 1990s, Garry took over from Jim as Water New Zealand’s WEF delegate and continued our relationship with WEF and AWA, and with Chris to the fore. Garry recalls that Chris would always make space for the Kiwis in AWA’s annual OZWater conference, willingly welcoming us into his extensive network of Australian and global water industry leaders.

Rob’s time with Chris was at a stage when Water New Zealand was deciding how to develop industry training and at a period when they were finding their feet to be a credible industry advocate. He provided wise and considered advice to help affirm the need that an organisation delving into advocacy had to be supported by technical credibility.

Chris had technical credibility and experience with government advocacy in bucket loads. He simply commanded respect wherever he ventured.

The Water New Zealand membership and staff salute Chris Davis on his many achievements and send our condolences to his family.

E te rangatira Chris, moe mai koe i tō moenga kahurangi, tiraha, okioki.

By Jim Bradley, Garry Macdonald and Rob Blakemore.

PHOTO COURTESY OF AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION

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PROFILE WATER NEW ZEALAND

From surf to science An unanswered question about sewage in the surf and a spontaneous road trip to Otago University, put Tom Dyer onto a career path as a scientist in the water industry. By Mary Searle Bell.

Tom Dyer grew up in Gisborne, a city known for its plentiful sunshine and excellent surf.

Lesser known, however, is historical struggles with water pollution in the bay.

Before the wastewater treatment system was upgraded in 2010, following a storm or heavy rainfall, untreated sewage from the outfall pipe at Midway beach, along with other contaminated runoff from the city and surrounding farms, would result in the beaches being regularly closed.

“My family was heavily into surf lifesaving and surfing, so we spent a lot of time at Midway Beach and the spot affectionately known as ‘Pipe’. When it rained heavily, we were told to stay off the beach because of the level of contamination.

“It was frustrating, and I often wondered what it would take to be able to enjoy the surf without having to worry about getting crook – although I never imagined I’d develop a career in the water industry.

“Any surfer will tell you the best waves are to be had after a storm, but that was when the water was dodgy.”

This may have remained an unresolved question for Tom if it wasn’t for the chance intervention by a friend.

“I had a pretty cruisy lifestyle – I took things as they came. So, when a mate asked if I wanted to go on a road trip to Otago, I said yes.

“I thought I would stay for a week, but I’m still here.”

That was 16 years ago, and a lot has happened in that time. No longer a beach bum, Tom is science manager at Otago Regional Council and father of three children, including a newborn.

That chance trip saw Tom eventually sign up for a Bachelor of Science in geography at the University of Otago. His career then began with a cadetship at Dunedin City Council.

For the following 11 years he worked his way up the ranks, spending the last four and a half years as the council’s three waters group manager and making a lasting impact on the city.

“We implemented a couple of work programmes that will impact water outcomes for Dunedin, improving the health of both the community and the environment.

“It is very rewarding work but takes patience, as the most meaningful initiatives are typically long term in nature and results can take a few years to show up.”

He is also proud of the team at DCC’s achievements under his watch.

“We took some big steps forward, one stand-out was a significant uplift in renewals work – Dunedin is an older city and much of the

network needs to be replaced. The need to renew infrastructure at scale had long been overlooked.

“Four years ago, we had a $10 million budget and we always struggled to deliver this. We took a good hard look at how to make our operations more efficient, and now, with the same number of people, the council is on track to deliver $70 million of work this year.

“The result will be a net reduction in wastewater overflows, and a better overall three waters service to the residents.”

At the beginning of the year, Tom made a move across to the regional council.

“It was time for me to do something different and expand my knowledge.

Tom Dyer.

“I now have a young family and needed a lifestyle change – my work at the city council was demanding at times, it took a lot of work and the consequences of getting something wrong were major.

“Here at the regional council, the pace is still busy but the team I am working with are not quite as operationally focused. There’s a lot to be done but we’re future focused – our next big deadline is December 2023.”

Tom describes his position as science manager as a broad role.

He is responsible for the team that does everything from looking after Otago’s state of the environment monitoring to providing environmental models as an evidence base to help to drive better water outcomes in the region.

“The Land and Water Regional Plan is all-consuming right now.

We’ve got quite a bit to do in the next two years to ensure the plan has a sound scientific basis to ensure that all of the right people in Otago are on the same page about the future of our water quality.”

Once that job is delivered, then Tom will think about the next steps in his career.

“Who’s knows what’s ahead?

“The water sector is pretty exciting at the moment, and will be for the next few decades I think, and I know I want to stay working in water.

“It’s important that you enjoy yourself at work, and I get enjoyment out of taking a few risk. The New Zealand water industry is in real need of new thinking, new ideas, and new approaches to dealing with problems, and I’m not afraid to share mine.

“I have found the more I pushed a new idea or way of doing things, the more I, and the teams around me, have benefitted.

“New ideas and mindsets are imperative to improving water quality for people and the environment.”

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND PROFILE

A focus on the future Just two months into her new role as GHD’s regional general manager, Siobhan Hartwell is keen to give the company’s work a sustainability overlay, embracing new technologies, new energy, and new skillsets. By Mary Searle Bell.

A past president of Water New Zealand, and Fellow of Engineering New Zealand, Siobhan has come a long way in the past 30 years.

Born in England, she was set on an “unexpected” career path by a forwardthinking physics teacher.

“He sent me on a three-day course at Brunel University that was targeting getting women into engineering. That led me to do a degree in civil engineering at the University of Birmingham.”

She then went backpacking for a while before returning to the UK where she got a job designing bridges.

“I hated it”.

“I also still had itchy feet and picked on New Zealand as somewhere I really wanted to visit and could perhaps find work as an engineer. When I arrived, I wrote to every engineering company in the phonebook asking for work.

Barrett Fuller and Partners offered me a graduate role and, after a month, sent me on secondment to the environmental department at Golden Cross Mine in Waihi.

“I was put in charge of erosion and sediment control, which included site rehabilitation, and I loved it, even though I didn’t have much knowledge or experience in this area. I learned loads and learned to love water management.”

She moved to Auckland with the company, and when it closed, joined Woodward Clyde (which later became URS), staying with the firm for well over 20 years.

“When I was 30, I was given the chance to switch jobs with a colleague in the Denver, Colorado, office, and there I spent 18 months in the hydraulics and hydrology department.

“It was a huge opportunity, and a huge learning curve.

“My husband and I also had a lot of fun outside of work, mountain biking and skiing and enjoying the great outdoors.”

To build on the experience, she was then seconded to the Melbourne office for six months to use her new knowledge.

“I then fell pregnant, so returned to New Zealand.”

She says around this time, in the early 2000s, stormwater management was undergoing changes, and new methods and technologies were being implemented.

“It was an incredibly exciting time to be part of the introduction of low impact design approaches to stormwater in Auckland” She was asked to chair the Stormwater Special Interest Group Conference Committee, a position she held for five years, before joining the board of Water New Zealand.

Thanks to the fun we had in Denver, we chose to move to

26 www.waternz.org.nz

Christchurch after five years rather than stay in Auckland, so we could carry on adventuring in the mountains.”

Transferring within the company, Siobhan became heavily involved in supporting mine development work for Solid Energy with concept and detailed design of water infrastructure.

“After a couple of years, I was asked to manage mine development projects, not just the technical work, but field investigations, economics, and more at scale. It was quite a big step, and a challenge made more complex by having young children and having to spend a couple of days on the West Coast Siobhan Hartwell. each week.”

After the earthquakes she shifted to more local work, a key project being the Central Plains Project, a large irrigation scheme.

For three years she managed the Headrace design and she also moved up to a local group manager role within URS. In 2015, URS was bought by Aecom, and Siobhan decided to make a move, joining GHD a few months later. This led to the market lead water role that she took on in 2017.

“I had ownership of the strategy for water nationally, but no direct reports which took some adjustment.

“I kept touchpoints in some technical work, but also represented GHD in the governance team within Wellington Water.”

When the regional general manager role came up late last year, Siobhan says the timing was right.

“My children are now grown and independent, so I am able to fully commit to the role.

“The water space is so exciting right now. We have significant investment overlayed with reform. Also, there are underlying changes happening, like the increasing social importance of water, sustainability, and climate change.

“Ten years ago, we focused primarily on cost and function.

Now, we have so much more to think about when delivering projects. And our clients too are thinking about these things – we see it coming through in contract documents.

“The increased investment in infrastructure is an opportunity for us to change how we deliver on what matters to our clients, our communities and our environment.”

Sioban says the changes in the water sector are leading the way for other infrastructure disciplines.

“Fortunately, I have an amazing team behind me, which is essential as I can’t possibly be on top of everything or know everything. You need people around you that you can rely on.”

Looking after this team will be another challenge for her, especially as Covid threatens to continue to play havoc with business continuity.

“It’s creating all sorts of issues: How do we mentor and help juniors if they’re working remotely? Small questions that they would ask during the day, they won’t pick up the phone and call someone senior for.

“Simply, connections aren’t as rich.

“We initially prioritised returning staff into the office if their home set-up didn’t work or they need certain equipment, and we are now working to safely return teams in rotations to enable that important personal connection.”

The one thing GHD isn’t short on, however, is work.

“Our teams are pretty flat tack at the moment. GHD is making more use of its global teams – usually one part of the world is not busy and can help out elsewhere, but presently, everyone is busy.”

Along with ensuring GHD continues to do what it has always done, Siobhan is tasked with growing the business – not more of the same but new services to benefit clients, such as new energy, new technology, and advisory services.

“We’ll probably have computer programmers in our teams in the future.”

As these various challenges bubble around her, Siobhan says her job is to keep looking at the horizon.

RADAR LEVEL CONTROL

“I need to see where we want to go and how we’re going to get there. I can’t afford to get buried in the routine and mundane.”

To do this takes courage, but Siobhan says each step in her diverse and interesting career has taken courage.

“One thing I tell all my mentees is, ‘you have to have a bit of courage – you may not think you’re ready, but you have to back yourself ’.”

Water New Zealand mentoring programme At Water New Zealand, we offer the opportunity for younger or less experienced members to tap into the expertise and knowledge of our more experienced members.

Our three month mentoring programme links experienced water professionals with younger or less experienced members in order to help them with their careers and projects.

If you would benefit from the help and advice of someone with experience and knowledge or if you would like to share your experience and knowledge with younger or less experienced sector water professionals, we’d love to hear from you.

Please contact Mumtaz.Parker at training@waternz.org.nz

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MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

27

WATER NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE

Water conference goes virtual

By Gillian Blythe, chief executive, Water New Zealand

At the start of this year, we were so determined that we would be meeting face to face in February in Hamilton for our flagship event, the Water New Zealand Conference and Expo.

We’d already postponed three times and this time it was going to happen.

But sometimes, no matter how committed you are, things just don’t work out as planned. Covid-19 rearing its head again in the form of Omicron was a blunt reminder of that. By late January it was looking increasingly clear we would have to rethink yet again.

This time, we decided to embark on a two-part conference – the first online, so that we could ensure that many of our keynote and technical presentations could be delivered, and then again for two days in Hamilton in May, so that the rest of our programme could be continued. This will also mean our exhibitors will have an opportunity to meet delegates, business can be done, and we can see each other in person and properly celebrate achievements.

I’m pleased to say that, thanks to our fabulous events organisers and the continued support of all our partners, sponsors, presenters and delegates, part one of our re-imagined -conference was a success. And this bodes very well for part two in May.

Keynote speakers

There were so many highlights for me over the two weeks of presentations. Our keynote speakers included Local Government minister Nanaia Mahuta and Taumata Arowai chief executive Bill Bayfield who talked about progress on the reforms.

Associate professor and visual artist Huhana Smith spoke on kaupapa Māori and action-research projects and how to make complex science solutions more accessible to local communities.

And Ian Cathcart from the National Transition Unit spoke about the opportunities for the water sector to share ideas about how we can develop a world-leading approach to water management.

Technical presentations

Cutting edge research and technology is at the heart of what much of our sector is about. It was a privilege to have the opportunity to listen to and delve into some of the vitally important solutions that will help us to ensure a more resilient and sustainable future.

Pre-conference workshop

As planned, our pre-conference joint Department of Internal Affairs / Taumata Arowai Three Waters Reform workshop went ahead with an engaged online audience.

The session started with an update on the reforms so far and what’s happening next.

Following that, a panel discussion on growing and streamlining our infrastructure looked at how the reforms will provide certainty for the sector, with an infrastructure pipeline and new national standards being developed.

Staffing for the future focused on what the transition will look

28 www.waternz.org.nz

Top: A mihi whakatu to welcome delegates to the online conference.

Above: A screenshot of Water New Zealand CEO Gillian Blythe, online with (clockwise from top left) keynote speaker Huhana Smith; Three Waters Reform National Transition Unit council interface manager Ian Cathcart; Fraser Robertson from the National Transition Unit; and Bill Bayfield, CEO of Taumata Arowai.

like for staff, including transferring employment to the new water services entities, and the new career and professional development opportunities that the new entities will enable.

In the morning, Taumata Arowai chief executive Bill Bayfield was joined by Katy Te Amo, the regulatory authority’s head of strategy and insights, focusing on the strategic framework, development and planning. The head of regulatory, Ray McMillan, spoke about the organisation’s kaupapa, and the roadmap ahead for drinking water suppliers, including the public consultation underway at the moment.

Jim Graham, principal advisor drinking water delved into the detail of the proposed rules and standards.

The day finished with a strategic panel looking at the various reforms occurring in the water space – from Taumata Arowai, to DIA, to the Ministry for the Environment – and how they all will work together.

Our preconference workshops provide a great opportunity for our members and the wider sector to talk directly to Government and I’m looking forward to continuing this important kōrero at our second pre-conference workshop in Hamilton on 25 May.

Minister urges sector to share knowledge and expertise In her opening keynote address to the conference, Local Government minister Nanaia Mahuta signalled that 2022 will be another big year of reform, with the three waters transition legislation coming before Parliament and the progress on transformation ramping up.

She said the Government is committed to the reform programme and meeting the bottom line of New Zealanders’ access to safe, affordable drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services, as well as greater equity across communities.

The minister told the online audience that now is the time to be aspirational. The certainty around the reforms now means that there is an opportunity for the water sector to address issues that have been unaddressed for so long and to turn aspirations into reality.

The Government, she said, would continue to work alongide Water New Zealand and the sector.

She acknowedged the extensive amount of work ahead in order to have the four new publicly-owned entities up by 1 July 2024, but said the Government will continue to make refinements to the legislation in collaboration with communities, mana whenua, and councils.

“The Government is keen to partner with industry to help shape and transform future of industry. Sector voices, expertise and knowledge will be crucial to identfy areas we can improve and build trust in the transition across the wider infrastruture sector.”

She was looking forward to the recommendations from the working group on representation, governance and accountability, as well as the two other technical groups for rural suppliers and planning interface.

“Undertaking reform of this scale is never easy and we can only do it if you, the water experts, share your knowledge, skills and effort to making the transition to a new three waters system a success.”

She urged the sector to engage with the DIA National Transition Unit and to take every opportunity to share knowledge and expertise.

The minister iterated the need to ensure a long term financially sustainable way to invest in future-proofing growth and resilience.

“Having a secure long term pipeline of work will be a welcome change for industry, allowing innovative procurement for the estimated $120-$185 billion required over the next 30 years. This will enable long term planning throughout the supply chain and encourage investment to drive growth in the sector.

“This uplifting investment will create between 6000 and 9000 new jobs, boosting the economy by $14 -$23 billion over the next 30 years.”

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MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

29

WATER NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE

Think big

and dream a little Can we lead the world in water management? That was the big question Three Waters Reform National Transition Unit council interface manager Ian Cathcart asked when he outlined the water reform transformation plan in a keynote address to the Water Zealand Conference and Expo.

A draft transformation report has been completed and a discussion document will be ready to share with the sector in mid-March. The organisation, he said, is looking forward to feedback from the wider three waters sector.

“This is the start of a wider stakeholder engagement… a catalyst for feedback; we don’t have all the answers.”

He says this will be a chance for those in the industry to dream, to think big, and get ideas that would make a difference on the table and to start working them into an achievable plan.

In the lead up to this report, the NTU has already been talking to industry – senior people in other organisations, the health and electricity sectors, consultants as well as those at the supply chain end.

It has been asking, what can we do better and more sustainably with solutions that are longer lasting?

For instance, what are the barriers to better quality infrastructure and procurement? Why do we have 50 different manhole cover sizes along with both clockwise and anti-clockwise valves? Would more standardisation result in better procurement practices?

These are some of the many questions raised as part of looking into current challenges around service delivery solutions such as digitisation and smart water options.

The ‘inherent transition’ is the importance of ensuring a seamless transition to the new entities on Day One. But there needs to be a balanced approach between what happens on Day One and the longer term visionary transformation over several decades. Quick wins, he says, by putting people first, can happen soon.

Ideas being mooted so far include the establishment of a leadership pathway for Māori and young leaders, establishing a central water academy, cultural competency training, and so on.

The big exciting stuff, he says, is the longer term visionary transformation and this also needs to start to be put in place now.

“Imagine the future – that’s the piece of work that the National Transition Unit wants to ensure is co-developed with the industry.”

Ian says this is our big opportunity to develop a vision for the future.

“The vision is around wai – a life force that is fundamental to the health and well-being of all New Zealanders.”

He describes this new approach as a reset, not a tweak. The reset is the “primacy of water as a life force and the way Te Mana o te Wai is binding this new approach together.

“We have to think big and dream a little.”

He says those big ideas collected so far include leaving no environment footprint and ensuring carbon accounting becomes normal practice, as well as using highly treated reclaimed wastewater in a better way.

How do we push the boundaries to make these things more realistic?

Ensuring local communities are not left out by valuing local relationships for procurement and using local contractors and SMEs are also included.

The reforms, he says, open up an approach to managing water that is beyond a three year political cycle.

“This will give longevity to investments and decisionmaking and will lead to a more intergenerational guardian approach to water.”

Ian's Think big and dream tranformation timeline.

30 www.waternz.org.nz

Bill Bayfield says setting up Taumata Arowai was "akin to building a plane while in mid-flight".

New regulator heartened by industry welcome Taumata Arowai chief executive Bill Bayfield began his conference keynote address with a reminder that the key role of the newly-formed regulator is to ensure everyone is able to turn on the tap and get safe drinking water.

Though a regular speaker at the conference in recent years, this was his first since progressing from what he called a “ghost-chip” chief executive to real chief executive.

Taumata Arowai has been a fully fledged regulator for three months and Bill said its setting up was akin to building a plane while in mid-flight. The legislation to establish the regulator was still being built but the course remained the same.

The Water Services Act came into effect in November 2021. In November 2023, Taumata Arowai will assume responsibility for wastewater and stormwater networks as the water services regulator.

Again, Bill reminded the online audience that Taumata Arowai was born out of the Havelock North contamination event, and was warmly welcomed by the sector.

He said the commitment by the country’s suppliers to upgrade water supply will mean the job will largely involve helping the sector and only occasionally “demanding”.

Over the next few years, a big task for the regulator will be bringing the country’s estimated 75,000 unregistered small suppliers into the regulatory regime. These include the many farms and bore owners that supply water to other properties.

Unregistered small rural suppliers, he said, have plenty of time (up until 15 November 2025) to register, and then up to November 2028 to provide a Drinking Water Safety Plan or comply with a Drinking Water Acceptable Solution–though they still have a duty of care to provide safe water at all times.

However the biggest challenge in managing this task and working with suppliers has been the misinformation circulating and, with that, he urged small rural suppliers to ensure they get correct information from the right sources, such as the regulator itself.

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE

The problem with microplastics Beca associate environmental engineer – water, Bridget Rule, presented a paper on the problem on microplastics in the New Zealand water environment, asking should we be worried and what can we do? This is a summary of the paper written by Bridget and Garry Macdonald, business development director – water market segment at Beca.

One of the most concerning emerging contaminants in the water environment is microplastics. Plastics have created a global waste problem, prevalent in municipal and industrial waste streams, and the water environment.

A key feature and issue with plastics is that plastic products are durable and chemically resistant; however, plastics fragment under photo-oxidative and mechanical stress. This fragmentation results in a subset of plastic pollution: microplastics, characterised by plastic particles smaller than 5mm.

Microplastics represent a unique environmental threat due to exposure to hormonal disruptors and toxic additives.

Most plastics are mineral oil-based, though bio-based plastics do not solve this problem; they are not always biodegradable (for example, bio-based PET). Conversely, biodegradable plastics are not always fossil fuel-free (e.g. PBAT, PCL), and both can contain additives.

A significant proportion of macro and microplastics end up in the water environment, transported through sewerage and stormwater systems to the ocean.

Macroplastics are more visible, as well as highly buoyant. In contrast, microplastics are less visible but mobile, and therefore of more concern to global ecosystems as they are ingested by fish and other marine organisms, finding their way into the human food chain.

A US study found that microplastics size decreased between freshwater and saltwater samples, with concentration of large particles higher in less saline water and concentration of smaller particles

32 www.waternz.org.nz

increasing with higher salinity – indicating that stormwater is also a source of microplastic pollution.

What happens in WWTPs?

Influent concentrations of microplastics have been found at 16 particles/L-effluent. In the US, where 160-trillion litres of wastewater are generated per day, an estimated 256-trillion plastic particles/day are passing through WWTPs. WWTPs have been shown to be reasonably effective at removing microplastics, with removal efficiencies in the 75-100 percent range for conventional WWTPs utilising activated sludge processes and secondary clarification.

In a typical US facility, results from FTIR analysis showed 91 percent removal of total microplastic concentrations in the primary clarifier and an additional seven percent removal in secondary treatment.

In New Zealand, advanced plants (e.g. Christchurch) can achieve 97 percent removal. Less advanced plants do not result in reducing the level of microplastics (by number), as big pieces tend to break up as they pass through the system, especially if they go through the recycled activated sludge stream.

Though it appears that conventional treatment processes are successful at removing microplastics, given the large effluent volumes, even low concentrations of microplastics can still constitute significant discharge to the marine and freshwater environment.

So, where do they go?

While microplastic concentrations in effluent are lower than in influent, they are not digested. Where they are removed from the liquid stream, they end up in biosolids.

In New Zealand, nearly one quarter of WWTP biosolids are disposed of to open land application.

Given the high concentrations of microplastics found in biosolids – in one example, 99.7 percent of influent microplastics settled in digested sludge – disposing of biosolids through land application which are then exposed to the elements and able to re-enter the water cycle, implies that a significant part of the microplastics problem could be being temporarily diverted from the water environment rather than permanently removed.

In New Zealand, we can expect, in future, higher standards for WWTP discharges – and probably stormwater discharges – and we must be in a position to determine the optimum liquid and solid stream processes to ensure that microplastics do not become more of a problem in our aquatic and land environments.

What next?

Further work is needed on improving analytical methods to measure microplastics. This underpins the larger research goals of better understanding how sludge structure and properties affect microplastics' fate within WWTPs, the role of microplastics as microbial carriers in the environment, and how microplastics enter stormwater.

Given the prevalence of plastics in certain WWTP processes and in water and wastewater networks, and their tendency to break down over time into smaller pieces, more research is needed to understand how WWTPs may be inadvertently contributing to microplastic pollution via plastic media in secondary processes, especially those containing UV stabilisers and black colour.

Furthermore, considering that a primary vector for plastics into soils is through biosolids, more work is urgently needed on the extent of potential microplastic pollution entering topsoil via land application.

Research into microplastics in the New Zealand environment is ongoing through ESR and others.

Key takeaways

• Conventional WWTPs are good at intercepting macroplastics and (to a certain size and extent) microplastics, as long as a clarification or filtration stage is present as a tertiary stage.

• Even at low concentrations, the discharge is continuous, and therefore the total quantum of released microplastics can be significant.

• Stormwater has no controls for macro or microplastics. Episodic discharges also give rise to significant discharges.

• Biosolids are a significant accumulator of microplastics (depending how effective inlet screens are at intercepting macroplastics) and are typically the primary means of environmental release of microplastics from WWTPs. With thanks to Nicole Fahrenfeld, associate professor, civil and environmental engineering, Rutgers University, and Belinda Sturm, professor and associate vice chancellor for research, University of Kansas, for allowing us to share their research.

To read the full paper, go to www.waternz.org.nz.

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MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE

Microplastics in wastewater Helena Ruffell is a PhD student at the University of Canterbury, investigating whether microplastics affect productive soil systems. This research follows on from her MSc which investigated if wastewater treatment plants are a significant source of microplastics to the environment. At the conference she presented her paper, ‘Microplastics in wastewater in New Zealand: current data and knowledge gaps’, written with Professor Sally Gaw, University of Canterbury; Dr Olga Pantos, Institute of Environmental Science and Research; Dr Grant Northcott, Northcott Research Consultants. Here is the abstract of their paper.

Microplastics – plastic particles smaller than 5mm in diameter – are emerging contaminants of increasing concern. Microplastics have been detected in a range of remote locations, and are being shown to be ingested by a growing list of aquatic and terrestrial organisms.

International literature has shown wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to be a major source of microplastics to the environment.

Microplastics present in industrial and residential wastewater, particularly microfibres from the washing of textiles, are diverted to WWTPs which are not designed to remove microplastics during treatment. Microplastics from WWTPs are retained in the sewage sludge or are released directly to the environment through the discharge of effluent.

There is currently a lack of data available on the concentration and types of microplastics entering and exiting WWTPs in New Zealand. This study is the first to have characterised microplastics in wastewater influent and effluent of four different WWTPs in New Zealand.

Findings from this investigation will be presented along with a discussion of the wider impacts of microplastics exiting WWTPs. Little is known worldwide about the fate, behaviour and potential impacts of the microplastics that are discharged from WWTPs to the environment.

Microplastics have been shown to adsorb heavy metals and hydrophobic organic contaminants, and also act as a substrate for diverse microbial communities. These factors have been documented in a range of aquatic and terrestrial environments.

Microplastics therefore act as a vector for these adsorbed contaminants and microorganisms, which are often sheltered from degradation during WWTP processes, and are subsequently released into sensitive aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems with the discharge of treated effluent.

To address the knowledge gaps a study as part of the Aotearoa

34 www.waternz.org.nz

Impacts and Mitigation of Microplastics (AIM2) research programme is currently investigating the interactions of plastics, contaminants and microbes, and the associated risks to Aotearoa New Zealand’s environments. This is being done by deploying five different plastic types of known composition (polymer + additives), and age in the oxidation pond of a WWTP. Preliminary results of this year-long experiment (ending in June 2021) show microplastics were detected in wastewater influent and effluent at concentrations within the lower range of those detected overseas.

The concentration of microplastics at each WWTP decreased from influent to effluent at Christchurch, Kaiapoi, and Lyttelton WWTPs. This trend was not observed at Governors Bay WWTP. The retention percentages of microplastics from influent to effluent in Christchurch, Kaiapoi, and Lyttelton WWTPs were lower than those observed in international studies. Few temporal trends were identified in terms of abundance, particle morphotype and polymer type, highlighting the complex nature of wastewater.

The conclusions and recommendations from this study are that WWTPs are a significant source of microplastics through the discharge of treated effluent to the Canterbury coastline, and further work is required to understand the environmental fate and impacts of discharged microplastics.

More research into the removal of microplastics from sludge and effluent during the WWTP process is required, however employing greater levels of treatment and filtration at WWTPs are costly to implement and will not effectively remove microplastics from all mediums.

Greater understanding of the relative contributions from both commercial and personal activities to influent microplastic load is needed in order to write more effective, targeted regulatory policy to mitigate sources of plastic waste to WWTPs, and the receiving environment.

To read the full paper, go to www.waternz.org.nz.

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MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND CONFERENCE

Modelling to meet compliance A precis of conference paper, ‘Christchurch overflow consent assessment based on 15year rainfall data, and master plan optimisation using intelligent algorithms’,

by Joel Wilson, WCS Engineering; Andrew Rickert, WCS Engineering; and Tyler McMillan, Christchurch City Council.

Christchurch City Council (CCC) has a wastewater network serving approximately 373,000 people with a single wastewater treatment plant capable of treating 650 megalitres/day.

Continuous simulation of long-term rainfall data is required to assess overflow compliance in the network rather than a traditional synthetic rainfall pattern representing the target return period. Due to inherent constraints simulating longterm rainfall in a hydraulic model, CCC required an innovative approach to assessing its overflow compliance.

To complete network planning, a sufficiently representative design storm was required to be generated using statistical analysis of the 25-year rainfall continuous model simulation results.

Overflow frequencies are sometimes not well represented by rainfall events that have an equivalent return period. Antecedent rainfall conditions and hydrologic and hydraulic routing of flows unique to each collection system can help select a better design storm to simulate overflow return periods of interest.

Christchurch has two main river systems: the Avon and Heathcote. CCC holds a resource consent that allows an overflow frequency to each of these receiving environments which decreases over time to a two-year ARI, based on 15 years of long timeseries modelling.

The objective of the wet weather overflow compliance assessment was to determine wastewater overflow compliance with the consent conditions stipulated by Environment Canterbury (ECAN). This was undertaken using the calibrated hydraulic model to simulate system performance based on continuous rainfall data from the period of 1995 to 2020.

To determine whether the rainfall window could have an impact on the consent compliance results, the assessment of overflow frequency and volume was performed for four time periods: 1995-2020, 1995-2010, 2000-2015 and 2005-2020.

The compliance assessment results showed a significant level of variation in overflow response dependent on the rainfall window chosen; however, compliance outcomes were not affected.

This extensive design storm review ensured the design storm used for wastewater infrastructure planning is representative of a two-year return period based on the continuous simulation results as the previous synthetic event did not provide a good representation of actual overflows.

36 www.waternz.org.nz

The assessment was based on overflow volume, peak, and spatial distribution.

Due to a high degree of rainfall spatial variance in the historical events close to a two-year return period, the overflow statistical analysis was completed by the receiving environment rather than system-wide.

The preferred two-year design storm was a composite event made up of August 5, 1995 (northern basins) and April 17, 2014 Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 1. Comparison of optimisation scenarios.

Figure 2. Prioritised sequence of project implementation.

(southern basins). This event provided the best representation of two-year ARI overflow volumes, peaks and spatial distribution and comprised events of sufficiently short duration to be convenient for planning.

The results demonstrated a novel and improved approach to developing design storms to ensure investments made in new infrastructure and rehabilitation programmes are targeted in the relevant area of the collection system to meet compliance targets.

Optimisation of the Christchurch wastewater master plan was completed using Optimatics’ intelligent algorithm optimisation technology, Optimizer WCS, to evaluate conveyance, storage, flow control/diversion, and inflow and infiltration (I/I) reduction alternatives to eliminate overflows in the two-year ARI design storm.

Secondary objectives were performing sensitivity analyses for key assumptions such as the effectiveness of I/I reduction and to prioritise the sequence of project implementation to maximise return on investment.

Optimizer WCS links to the hydraulic model and life-cycle cost data. Cloud computing runs the model continuously to evaluate thousands of combinations of improvement alternatives against total cost and hydraulic performance, enabling the optimisation team to identify solutions that meet the planning criteria at least cost.

Optimisation runs were completed for a wide range of scenarios to demonstrate key trends and differences between planning strategies.

The preferred master plan strategy was demonstrated to be the cost-effective combination of conveyance, storage, and I/I reduction improvements to meet the design criteria for the twoyear design storm. The preferred strategy was approximately 30 percent lower in cost than a typical conveyance-only scenario as shown in Figure 1.

The optimised master plan was then used as the basis to prioritise the sequence of project implementation to achieve the maximum return on investment. Return on investment was quantified based on the most cost-effective reduction in the number and volume of constructed overflows and manhole overflows.

The prioritisation results shown in Figure 2 demonstrate the project implementation sequence that maximum return on investment, and can be categorised in three distinct groups: Group A eliminates all overflows relevant to the consent requirements within 30 percent of the total capital cost; Group B projects eliminate all overflows within 70 percent of the total capital cost; And Group C, which primarily address freeboard and overflows associated with future population growth.

To read the full paper, go to www.waternz.org.nz.

Three Waters Reform Pre-conference Workshop 25 May, 9am - 12pm

Claudelands, Hamilton Join the Department of Internal Affairs and Taumata Arowai for the latest updates on the Three Waters reforms and Te Mana o te Wai.

Part 1 From February 22 2022, Online Part 2 May 25–26 2022, Claudelands, Hamilton

Draft Industry Transformation Strategy Transforming the sector for the better for both the people who work in it, and our communities. Come and find out what ideas we’re looking at and share your own.

Three Waters legislation What’s in it, how you can have your say, and what’s still to come.

To find out more and register, visit our website www.waternzconference.org.nz

Te Mana o te Wai A fundamental concept focused on restoring and preserving the balance between wai (water), tāngata (people), and taiao (the wider environment). You’ll hear from special guests who will share their journey and how they’re striving to give effect to Te Mana o te Wai.

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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We We look look forward forward toto welcoming welcoming you you toto Claudelands Claudelands for for Part Part Two Two ofof our our Water Water New New Zealand Zealand We We look look forward forward toExpo to welcoming welcoming you you toto Claudelands Claudelands for for Part Part Two Two ofof our our Water Water New New Zealand Zealand Conference Conference and and Expo Conference Conference and and Expo Expo We We know know how how important important it it isis for for usus toto get get together together and and discuss discuss the the many many critical critical issues issues We We know know how how important important it it isis for for usus toto get get together together and and discuss discuss the the many many critical critical issues issues facing facing our our sector. sector. facing facing our our sector. sector.

This This two-day two-day face face toto face face event event will will bring bring you you up up toto date date with with the the Three Three Waters Waters reforms, reforms, latest latest This This two-day two-day face face toto face face event event will will bring bring you you up up toto date date with the the Three Three Waters Waters reforms, reforms, latest latest innovations innovations around around asset asset management, management, sustainability, sustainability, Tewith Te Ao Ao Māori Māori and and Thought Thought Leadership Leadership innovations innovations around around asset asset management, management, sustainability, sustainability, Te Te Ao Ao Māori Māori and and Thought Thought Leadership Leadership asas well well asas products products and and services. services. asas well well asas products products and and services. services.

And And ofof course course –a –a highlight highlight – the – the Downer Downer Gala Gala Dinner Dinner where where we we acknowledge acknowledge and and celebrate celebrate And And ofof course course –a –a highlight highlight – the – the Downer Downer Gala Gala Dinner Dinner where where we we acknowledge acknowledge and and celebrate celebrate outstanding outstanding contributions contributions toto our our industry. industry. outstanding outstanding contributions contributions toto our our industry. industry.

Keynote Keynote speakers include Keynote Keynotespeakers speakers speakersinclude include include Hon HonNanaia NanaiaMahuta, Mahuta,Minister MinisterofofLocal LocalGovernment Government Hon HonNanaia NanaiaMahuta, Mahuta,Minister MinisterofofLocal LocalGovernment Government

Hon Hon Nanaia Nanaia Mahuta Mahuta has has held held the the Hauraki-Waikato Hauraki-Waikato seat seat - previously - previously TeTe TaiTai HauāuruHauāurusince since 1996 1996 Hon Hon Nanaia Mahuta Mahuta has has held the the Hauraki-Waikato Hauraki-Waikato seat seat - from previously - previously Te Te TaiTai HauāuruHauāurusince since 1996 1996 with with a Nanaia strong a strong majority. majority.

Inheld In the the Helen Helen Clark Clark government government from 2005 2005 toto 2008, 2008, she she moved moved up up the the with with a strong a strong majority. majority.

In In the the Helen Helen Clark Clark government government from from 2005 2005 to to 2008, 2008, she she moved moved up up the the ranks ranks and and became became a minister a minister in in charge charge ofof customs, customs, youth youth development development and and local local government. government. ranks ranks and and became became a minister a minister in in charge charge ofof customs, customs, youth youth development development and and local local government. government.

Nanaia Nanaia Mahuta Mahuta became became a cabinet a cabinet minister minister in in the the 2017 2017 Labour Labour government, government, where where she she held held the the Nanaia Nanaia Mahuta Mahuta became became a cabinet a cabinet minister minister in in the the 2017 2017 Labour Labour government, government, where where she she held held the the local local government government and and Māori Māori development development portfolios portfolios but but also also served served asas anan associate associate minister minister for for local local government government and and Māori Māori development development portfolios portfolios but but also also served served as as an an associate associate minister minister for for trade trade and and export export growth, growth, environment environment and and housing. housing. trade trade and and export export growth, growth, environment environment and and housing. housing.

InIn 2020, 2020, she she became became the the first first woman woman toto hold hold the the Foreign Foreign Affairs Affairs portfolio portfolio while while retaining retaining her her In In 2020, 2020, she she became became the the first first woman woman toto hold hold the the Foreign Foreign Affairs Affairs portfolio portfolio while while retaining retaining her her Local Local Government, Government, and and Associate Associate Minister Minister forfor Māori Māori Development Development portfolios. portfolios.

Local Local Government, Government, and and Associate Associate Minister Minister forfor Māori Māori Development Development portfolios. portfolios.

She She is is a tribal a tribal member member ofof Waikato-Tainui, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Ngāti Maniapoto Maniapoto and and Ngāti Ngāti Manu Manu and and her her She She is is a tribal a tribal member member ofof Waikato-Tainui, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Ngāti Maniapoto Maniapoto and and Ngāti Ngāti Manu Manu and and her herofof parliamentary parliamentary experience experience has has enabled enabled her her to to contribute contribute toto the the collective collective aspirations aspirations Maori Maori and and parliamentary parliamentary experience experience has has enabled enabled her her to to contribute contribute to to the the collective collective aspirations aspirations ofof Maori Maori and and allall New New Zealanders.

Zealanders. allall New New Zealanders.

Zealanders.

Bill BillBayfield, Bayfield,Taumata TaumataArowai ArowaiChief ChiefExecutive Executive Bill BillBayfield, Bayfield,Taumata TaumataArowai ArowaiChief ChiefExecutive Executive

Bill Bill Bayfield Bayfield is is the the establishment establishment chief chief executive executive ofof Taumata Taumata Arowai, Arowai, the the new new water water services services Bill Bill Bayfield Bayfield is is the the establishment establishment chief chief executive executive of of Taumata Taumata Arowai, Arowai, the the new new water water regulator. regulator.

Prior Prior to to joining joining Taumata Taumata Arowai Arowai in in May May last last year, year, hehe was was chief chief executive executive ofservices ofservices regulator. regulator.

Prior Prior to to joining joining Taumata Taumata Arowai Arowai in in May May last year, hehe he was was chief chief executive executive Environment Environment Canterbury Canterbury Regional Regional Council Council (Ecan), (Ecan), a last position a year, position he held held from from 2011.

2011. ofof Environment Environment Canterbury Canterbury Regional Regional Council Council (Ecan), (Ecan), a position a position hehe held held from from 2011.

2011.

Before Before then, then, Bill Bill was was chief chief executive executive atat the the Bay Bay ofof Plenty Plenty Regional Regional Council Council between between 2006 2006 – 2011.

– 2011.

Before Before then, then, Bill Bill was was chief chief executive executive at at the the Bay Bay ofthe of Plenty Plenty Regional Regional Council Council between between 2006 2006 –Council.

2011.

– 2011.

He He has has also also held held senior senior roles roles atat the the Ministry Ministry for for the Environment Environment and and Taranaki Taranaki Regional Regional Council.

HeHe has has also also held held senior senior roles roles atat the the Ministry Ministry forfor the the Environment Environment and and Taranaki Taranaki Regional Regional Council.

Council.

Bill Bill has has a deep a deep knowledge knowledge ofof drinking drinking water water and and environmental environmental regulation, regulation, and and is is anan Bill Bill has has a deep a deep knowledge knowledge ofof drinking drinking water water and and environmental environmental regulation, regulation, and and is is anan experienced experienced local local government government chief chief executive. executive. experienced experienced local local government government chief chief executive. executive.

Donna Flavell, Te Whakakitenga o Waikato Inc Chief Executive Donna DonnaFlavell, Flavell,Te TeWhakakitenga Whakakitengao oWaikato WaikatoInc IncChief ChiefExecutive Executive Donna Donna Donna Flavell, Flavell, Te Te Whakakitenga Whakakitenga Whakakitenga o oWaikato oWaikato Inc Inc Inc Chief Chief Chief Executive Executive Executive Donna isFlavell, the ChiefTe Executive of Te Whakakitenga o Waikato Waikato Inc (Waikato-Tainui).

Her impressive Donna Donna is is the the Chief Chief Executive Executive ofof Teon Te Whakakitenga Whakakitenga o Waikato o Waikato Inc Inc (Waikato-Tainui).

(Waikato-Tainui).

Her Her impressive impressive background has seen her work many iwi initiatives in the freshwater space. She managed Donna Donna Donna is is the is the Chief the Chief Chief Executive Executive Executive of of Teof Te Whakakitenga Te Whakakitenga Whakakitenga o Waikato o Waikato o Waikato Inc Inc (Waikato-Tainui).

Inc (Waikato-Tainui).

(Waikato-Tainui).

Her Her Her impressive impressive impressive background background has has seen seen her her work work on on many many iwi iwi initiatives initiatives in in the the freshwater freshwater space. space.

She She managed managed Waikato’s negotiation of the Waikato River Settlement and, following the settlement, was the background background background has has has seen seen seen her her work her work work on on many on many many iwi iwi initiatives iwi initiatives initiatives in in the in the freshwater the freshwater freshwater space. space. space.

She She She managed managed managed Waikato’s Waikato’s negotiation negotiation of of the the Waikato Waikato River River Settlement Settlement and, and, following following the the settlement, settlement, was the the General Manager of the Waikato Raupatu River Trust. During her time with Ngāi Tahuwas she Waikato’s Waikato’s Waikato’s negotiation negotiation negotiation ofthe of the of the Waikato the Waikato Waikato River River River Settlement Settlement Settlement and, and, and, following following following the the settlement, the settlement, settlement, was was was the the the General General Manager Manager of of the Waikato Waikato Raupatu Raupatu River River Trust.

Trust.

During During her her time time with with Ngāi Ngāi Tahu Tahu she she contributed to the development of the iwi’s freshwater strategy.

General General General Manager Manager Manager ofthe of the of the Waikato the Waikato Waikato Raupatu Raupatu Raupatu River River River Trust.

Trust.

Trust.

During During During her her time her time time with with with Ngāi Ngāi Ngāi Tahu Tahu Tahu she she she contributed contributed toto the development development of of the the iwi’s iwi’s freshwater freshwater strategy. strategy. contributed contributed contributed toshe to the to the the development development ofof of the of the iwi’s the iwi’s iwi’s freshwater freshwater freshwater strategy. strategy. strategy.

Currently, isdevelopment also the Chair the Iwi Advisors Group for Freshwater and a Director of Te Wai Currently, Currently, she she is is also also the the Chair Chair ofof the the IwiIwi Advisors Advisors Group Group forfor Freshwater Freshwater and and a Director a Director ofof TeTe Wai Wai Māori Trust.

Currently, Currently, Currently, she she she is is also is also also the the Chair the Chair Chair ofof the of the Iwi the Iwi Advisors Iwi Advisors Advisors Group Group Group forfor Freshwater for Freshwater Freshwater and and and a Director a Director a Director ofof Teof Te Wai Te Wai Wai Māori Māori Trust.

Trust.

Māori Māori Māori Trust.

Trust.

Trust.

Jon Lamonte, Watercare Chief Executive Jon JonLamonte, Lamonte,Watercare WatercareChief ChiefExecutive Executive Jon Jon Jon Lamonte, Lamonte, Lamonte, Watercare Watercare Watercare Chief Chief Executive Executive Executive Jon began his career in the Royal Chief Air Force, where he served for 32 years, first as a fighter pilot

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After After After leaving leaving the the RAF, RAF, hehe became became chief chief executive executive ofof Tube Tube Lines, running running the the engineering engineering and and upgrade upgrade of London’s busiest underground lines around theLines, time of the London Olympics.

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He joined Watercare as its chief executive in April 2021, becoming responsible for Auckland’s HeHe joined joined Watercare Watercare asas its its chief chief executive executive in in April April 2021, 2021, becoming becoming responsible responsible forfor Auckland’s Auckland’s water and wastewater services.

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Siouxsie Wiles, New Zealander of the Year 2021 Siouxsie SiouxsieWiles, Wiles,New NewZealander Zealanderofofthe theYear Year2021 2021 Siouxsie Siouxsie Siouxsie Wiles, Wiles, New New New Zealander Zealander Zealander the ofthe the Year Year 2021 2021 2021 With her Wiles, bright pink hair, Dr Siouxsie Wilesof isof hard toYear miss.

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In recognised 2019 she was made a member of the New Zealand Orderand of Merit, forinservices to Siouxsie Siouxsie Siouxsie has has has been been been recognised recognised recognised many many many times times times forfor her for her contributions her contributions contributions toto science to science science and and and society society society in inservices in New New Zealand.

Zealand.

In In 2019 2019 she she was was made made a member a member of of the the New New Zealand Zealand Order Order of of Merit, Merit, for for services toto microbiology and science communication.

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Prior to this, she had been honoured as a Blake Leader by the Sir Peter Blake Trust as well as Prior Prior toto this, this, she she had had been been honoured honoured asas a Blake a Blake Leader Leader byMedal by the the Sirand Sir Peter Peter Blake Trust Trust asas well well asas winning both the Royal Society Te Aparangi Callaghan theBlake Prime Minister’s Science Prior Prior Prior toto this, to this, this, she she she had had had been been been honoured honoured honoured asAparangi as a as Blake a Blake a Blake Leader Leader Leader byMedal by the by the Sir the Sir Peter Sir Peter Peter Blake Blake Blake Trust Trust Trust asas well as well well as asas winning winning both both the the Royal Royal Society Society Te Te Aparangi Callaghan Callaghan Medal and and the the Prime Prime Minister’s Minister’s Science Science Media Communication Prize. Most recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Siouxsie became one winning winning winning both both both the the Royal the Royal Royal Society Society Society TeMost Te Aparangi Te Aparangi Aparangi Callaghan Callaghan Callaghan Medal Medal Medal and and and the the Prime the Prime Prime Minister’s Minister’s Minister’s Science Science Science Media Media Communication Communication Prize.

Prize.

Most recently, recently, during during the the COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic, pandemic, Siouxsie Siouxsie became became one one of the country’s best-known communicators. Her work during this time led her to be Media Media Communication Communication Communication Prize.

Prize.

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Most Most Most recently, recently, recently, during during during the the COVID-19 the COVID-19 COVID-19 pandemic, pandemic, pandemic, Siouxsie Siouxsie Siouxsie became became became one one one ofMedia of the the country’s country’s best-known best-known communicators. communicators.

Her Her work work during during this this time time led led her her to to be be named the supreme winner of the Stuff-Westpac Women of Influence Awards 2020. ofof the of the country’s the country’s country’s best-known best-known best-known communicators. communicators. communicators.

Her Her Her work work work during during during this this this time time time led led her led her to her to be to bebe named named the the supreme supreme winner winner of of the the Stuff-Westpac Stuff-Westpac Women Women ofof Influence Influence Awards Awards 2020.

2020. named named named the the supreme the supreme supreme winner winner winner ofof the of the Stuff-Westpac the Stuff-Westpac Stuff-Westpac Women Women Women ofof Influence of Influence Influence Awards Awards Awards 2020.

2020.

2020.

Go to www.waternzconference.org.nz to register or find out more Go Gototowww.waternzconference.org.nz www.waternzconference.org.nztotoregister registerororfind findout outmore more Go Go Go totowww.waternzconference.org.nz towww.waternzconference.org.nz www.waternzconference.org.nz totoregister toregister register ororfind orfind find out out out more more more THANK YOU TO OUR PREMIER PARTNERS THANK THANK YOU YOU TO TO OUR OUR PREMIER PREMIER PARTNERS PARTNERS THANK THANK THANK YOU YOU YOU TO TO OUR TO OUR OUR PREMIER PREMIER PREMIER PARTNERS PARTNERS PARTNERS An Auckland Council Organisation An Auckland An Auckland Council Council Organisation Organisation An Auckland An Auckland An Auckland Council Council Organisation Council Organisation Organisation

WATER NEW ZEALAND WATER SUPPLY

Strengthening the supply

Wellington’s rugged landscape is testament to the seismic forces beneath the city. Consequently, buildings are built or being strengthened to mitigate the effects of earthquakes, and so too, the city’s water supply is being prepared to cope with disaster. By Mary Searle Bell 40 www.waternz.org.nz

CONTENTS WATER NEW ZEALAND

The Kaikoura earthquake and a significant leak in the main supply pipeline saw the city coming close to running out of water in January 2017.

The Wellington CBD and its southern and eastern suburbs get their water from Hutt Valley, with the CBD served by three main reservoirs, which have a combined storage capacity of around 34.3 million litres. However, Wellington Water wanted to be able to ensure that if the city’s water supply was disrupted, the city’s residents would still be able to get the water they needed. To do this, they are currently building another reservoir.

Buried in a hillside in the suburb of Mt Cook, the new Omāroro reservoir will provide critical additional bulk water storage for Wellington’s central business district area and low-lying suburbs, as well as improving operational and disaster resilience.

Laurence Edwards, Wellington Water’s chief advisor drinking water, says Omāroro will more than double the water storage for the

600m3 of concrete being poured into Stage 1 base slab.

CBD and southern and eastern suburbs, providing 48 hours’ worth of water in the event of the supply being disrupted.

“It will add 35 million litres storage and is designed to withstand a 1 in 5000-year earthquake, providing much needed resilience to our network.”

He explains that the size of the reservoir is determined by three key factors: the average daily demand, peak daily demand, and a post-disaster scenario.

“We aim to provide two days storage at levels of average daily demand, or peak daily demand in addition to an allowance for firefighting.

“Sizing in this way means we have confidence that the reservoir will not run out of water due to any temporary interruption to supply and will not run out of water in peak summer conditions.

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND WATER SUPPLY

42 www.waternz.org.nz

“The last criteria, a post-disaster scenario, relates to earthquake/post disaster resilience, as the reservoir is designed to retain drinking water following a significant earthquake and provide limited emergency supply to the community through our above ground emergency supply system.”

Laurence says the post-disaster scenario was developed as part of Wellington Water’s 80-30-80 strategy, which aims to provide 80 percent of the community with 80 percent of their water needs within 30 days of a significant earthquake.

New reservoirs also target providing 20 litres of water per person each day from the eighth to the thirtieth day following a significant earthquake. For the first seven days, residents are advised to store enough water at home for 20 litres per person per day for the initial emergency period, allowing time for the above ground emergency supply to become operational.

There are a number of other projects planned, and underway, throughout the region with the aim of reducing the total expected network outage time to 30 days.

Construction of Omāroro began in earnest in late 2020, when main contractor HEB Construction started work on site.

HEB project manager Paul Reid says the site is just within the town belt, sitting at an ideal height above the city.

“We started by removing 48,000 cubic metres of fill, which we have stockpiled on two nearby playing fields and will use to cover the reservoir once construction is complete.

“In March 2021 we began building the maintenance tunnel that will house the mechanical pipe works and valves. This sits underneath the footprint of the reservoir.

Paul says the base of the reservoir is a 70 metre diameter concrete slab. This required two massive concrete pours of over 600 cubic metres – about 120 trucks per pour, which took over 12 hours each.

The wall panels were precast on site, then stood up and stitched together around the edge of the base. Each of the 60 panels is 10.7 x 3.4 metres, 325mm thick and weighs around 30 tonnes. These, along with 45 columns will support the roof.

When Water spoke to Paul, the team was nearing completion of the large amount of scaffolding which will allow them to pour the roof slab.

“Because the pour will be at height, we’re building a deck with a special ply that will form the underside of the slab. The steel reinforcing for the roof slab is going in now.

“We’ve got two big roof pours coming up. The reservoir is 14 metres high from the base to the highest point, so we’re going to need two concrete pumps to reach that height.

“We’ll see about 10 concrete trucks per hour for each of the two pours, and around 20 concrete placers feeding the concrete, vibrating it and ensuring it has a nice finish.”

Omāroro is due to be commissioned around August this year, but HEB will remain on site for another year, backfilling the reservoir, planting the site, and generally reinstating the area.

Paul says the local residents have been fantastic about the project in their backyard.

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Opposite top: Reservoir base slab prior to the pour.

Opposite bottom: The walls and columns prior to the roof construction.

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND WATER SUPPLY

“Although we’re working in the town belt, Mt Cook is quite a residential area so we’re very conscious of our truck movements.

Fortunately, most residents can see the benefit of what we’re doing.”

Although this is a fairly straightforward project for the likes of HEB, it has had its challenges, one of which, unsurprisingly given the location, is the wind.

“The wind plays a big part in our daily operations. In northerlies, we can’t use our cranes. The large wall panels act like a sail in the wind so we really have to monitor it.”

Also unsurprisingly, Covid has also had an impact on the project.

“We’ve seen an uptick in prices and lead times across the

board. Shipping delays have meant the supplies and components we needed from overseas had to be ordered much sooner, and sometimes meant paying a premium to secure them.

“We’ve also adapted pretty well to the new protocols required to meet alert level restrictions.

“We actually had a team member test positive for Covid late last year – he was asymptomatic but didn’t pass it on. It was a good lesson for us.”

The project is set for completion in late 2023, which will include the replanting and rehabilitation of the site. Following that will be a five year period of maintenance to ensure the site is fully restored and enhanced in keeping with the community’s vision.

An aerial view of the roof being constructed that also shows the steepness of the site.

44 www.waternz.org.nz

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WATER NEW ZEALAND WASTEWATER

Golf club utilises wastewater in a

win:win partnership In 2020, the Kinloch Village Golf Club had subsurface drip irrigation installed to irrigate the fairways with treated effluent from the Kinloch Village. By Andrew Ellis, course superintendent, Kinloch Village Golf Club.

46 www.waternz.org.nz

Left: The results after four months.

Below: The fairways a few weeks after the system was turned on.

The lakeside settlement of Kinloch on the western shores of Lake Taupo has seen significant growth over the past 15 years. The fulltime population is rapidly approaching 2000 and this number swells significantly during holidays.

The Taupo District Council had anticipated this growth and the need to dispose of treated effluent in a way that would have minimal effect on Lake Taupo. So, in 2007, the council purchased a site where the treated effluent could be disposed.

In 2010, the Taupo District Council leased the land to the Kinloch Village Golf Club, which then employed me to manage it. The golf club is a 10-hole course, situated in the middle of the village and is, conveniently, about 200 metres from the sewage treatment plant.

Over the past 10 years the club has made several improvements to the course, most recently, in 2020, when a subsurface effluent irrigation system was designed and installed by Envirowater.

Prior to installation, the council installed seven wells to monitor nutrient levels around the golf course and help mitigate damage to the lake.

System design

The irrigation field covers five hectares and is designed with a maximum consent limit of 17mm/day or 850 cubic metres per day (normal daily flow rates are anticipated to be 300 cubic metres per day). The course is divided up into seven zones and is currently configured that each area can be irrigated with 4.25mm in a single dose, and this can occur up to four times a day for 365 days a year.

Because Kinloch is on a free draining pumice soil base, it was anticipated that these volumes will be achievable and the ‘water’ would easily drain into the local sandy soils.

The dripper pipes were mole ploughed into the ground at 400mm spacings at a target depth of 280mm deep and with the dripper holes spaced at 400mm apart.

There was close to 140 kilometres of dripper pipe installed.

Every field was connected to polyethylene pipes at both ends, with a soak hole at the bottom end that can be opened periodically to drain and flush the system. Soak holes were drilled to depths of between four and 10 metres.

All mainlines to feed the fields were through 160-200mm MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND WASTEWATER

polyethylene pipe with solenoid valves at both ends of the fields.

Additionally, the council has given the club the ability to turn some fields off for short periods after heavy rain events if they get too wet.

Installation challenges

The Envirowater team did a great job of installing the system and toiled away for nine months through the cold and wet winter, although they did enjoy the mud free conditions that we have in Taupo. The team travelled back to Auckland every weekend until Auckland’s Covid lockdown in August, which meant they were stuck in Taupo for a few weeks, unable to go home.

With a project like this coming straight on the back of Covid lockdown, it caused a lot of disruption to the clubs’ income and play, with only four holes open throughout most of the project.

Fortunately, the members were very tolerant and always kept their eyes on the bigger picture.

When the contractors turned up on site, the first thing they did was to dig a trench – one metre wide and 500mm deep – across

48 www.waternz.org.nz

the fairway, right in front of the greens.

They used this trench to mole plough away from the green, so the club got a hold of a turf cutter and removed the turf and then replaced it when they had finished each hole. I was very thankful for the members who volunteered to help with this task.

The mole plough left a very uneven surface, so that called for rolling. We started with a two tonne roller, then moved up to a five tonne roller, and finished with a 15 tonne roller on full vibration which flattened them a bit.

For four months after this rolling, we mowed the fairways with a rotary mower as they were just too bumpy for our reel mower.

After all the mole ploughing and rolling the fairways were looking very battered. The mole ploughing had certainly achieved a lot of deep aeration but the top 100mm was now severely compacted. So, with the help of the council’s parks team, we cored the fairways to 75mm, which really helped relieve the compaction, and then fertilised with a NPK mix.

Luckily, we had a nice wet, warm, spring, and the fairways bounced back.

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The system was commissioned just before Christmas 2020 and we started to see the green lines of new grass appearing about three weeks later.

Turf in Taupo can become very dry because of the free draining soil, and it is not uncommon for the fairways to look like a desert. After two very dry summers, what we witnessed over the first three months of operation was mind boggling – we had incredible growth right through to the winter.

Kinloch has such a high volume of holiday homes and most of them are occupied in January. This means the volumes of treated effluent that were pumped out at this time were close to maximum, which works well with our peak irrigation time.

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Left: Golf club volunteers protected the turf by cutting and replacing it over the trench dug by contractors.

Below: Managing surface compaction.

What I found interesting was that the surface was dry but the predominately browntop fairways just went for that water, and we soon had a beautiful browntop/fescue sward.

Another positive that I can see is because the irrigation is a subsurface system, the grass roots are going deep, searching for moisture, whilst the surface remains dry, eliminating issues such as poor infiltration (through the compacted soils) and disease pressure caused by humidity in the turf.

The amount of growth we have had since the system was turned on has amazed everyone. We took drone footage at seven weeks and again at four months which illustrates the huge contrast. I estimate that we are now mowing three times more than we were.

I think we will grow a lot more thatch, but the key question will be, with those volumes of treated effluent year round, will we maintain our browntop sward or get a poa invasion through the winter months?

We have already seen a lot more weed growth since the irrigation was turned on and had to apply herbicide in autumn to get control of the weeds.

In June last year, the fairways had a very lush green look and were still growing, most unlike Taupo winter conditions, so there is clearly a nutrient release to the plant.

The whole project has been a win:win. The council has disposed of Kinloch Village treated effluent and the local Golf Club now have superb looking fairways on what was a very dry piece of ground.

50 www.waternz.org.nz

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FLOODING WATER NEW ZEALAND

Coastal flooding likely to be main driver for adaptation New research shows increasing flood risk is going to be what leads people to make changes to adapt to sea-level rise.

“Rising seas are slowly causing a trifecta of impacts along coastlines: increasingly frequent flooding, coastal erosion and even permanent inundation,” says Dr Scott Stephens, NIWA Chief Scientist for Coasts & Estuaries.

“Our research shows that it’s the first of these three impacts – increasing flood risk – that’s likely to be the main driver of adaptation efforts by coastal communities, and this tipping point is likely to be reached within two to three decades – sooner than many of us expect.”

The research was carried out in Tauranga after councils in the area commissioned coastal modelling by NIWA and Tonkin + Taylor. Scott says the findings are likely to be applicable across the country.

“There are a number of properties around Tauranga Harbour that are built high on coastal cliffs, and for these people, erosion is the number one concern.

“But far more properties are built in places that currently experience coastal flooding, or soon will. This might currently only happen once every hundred years on average, but with rising seas it could increase to at least a five-yearly event within just two to three decades.

“Many councils already have maps of one-in-100-year coastalflood zones. These maps provide two to three decades ‘lead-in’ time for an undesirably frequent ‘adaptation tipping point’ for coastal property.”

Coastal flooding is defined as flooding of the land by the sea rather than rainfall or rivers. It can occur during very high tides and is often exacerbated by storm surges – when low atmospheric pressure and strong winds drive the sea over land, resulting in very high storm tides.

“Frequent flooding is undesirable for communities.

Adaptation actions include things like building new seawalls or other protections to mitigate coastal flooding, but these may not be the best long-term solution.”

Scott says other adaptive actions such as moving away from the coast could be driven by property owners facing difficulty obtaining insurance or mortgages for properties, or by design through proactive policy rules.

This research provides a better understanding of potential climate change tipping points and highlights the need to progress adaptation planning in coastal communities.

As part of the work, the team, led by Scott, compared static and dynamic models in terms of impacts and timeframes for coastal flooding, erosion and inundation. Dynamic models use detailed hydrodynamic models to simulate the overland flow of water in a physically realistic way. In contrast static models are much simpler, and use a so-called ‘bathtub’ method, assessing whether places will flood based on their elevation alone.

The researchers found that the static model underestimated land and building exposure by up to 2.3 times compared with the dynamic model.

“This is compelling evidence for using dynamic models to support adaptation planning.”

The coastal erosion and coastal flood modelling for this research was commissioned by Tauranga City Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council. The findings are published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering. www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/9/9/1011/ htm. This article was provided by NIWA.

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND EMISSIONS REDUCTION

Low carbon concrete renaissance Concrete NZ chief executive Rob Gaimster says the sector’s recent achievements in emissions reduction are set to continue via manufacturing and delivery initiatives that will drive the industry towards net zero carbon concrete by 2050.

After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth. In many developed countries, concrete infrastructure comprises about 60 percent of the built environment.

Concrete has shaped civilizations from as far back as the Roman Empire. Today it is indispensable in the development of residential and commercial construction, as well as infrastructure development, including water management systems.

As a metaphor for strength, concrete is renowned for its whole-oflife benefits, offering significant sustainability benefits based around its inherent properties of durability, thermal mass, recyclability, CO2 uptake, resilience to extreme weather and hazards, as well as its local availability.

New Zealand concrete

We are virtually self-sufficient in concrete, and the associated materials required for its production. Along with the fact that ready mixed concrete is produced within close proximity to where it is cast, this means that concrete easily meets the sustainable development principle of products being consumed near the place of origin.

The concrete industry plays a key part in the economy, employing over 7000 people across 190 concrete plants and 22 cement manufacturing and distribution facilities throughout the country.

Record levels of quality assured concrete (4 million cubic metres annually) are currently being produced using locally sourced aggregates, recycled water and either locally manufactured or imported cement.

Emissions reduction

Committed to playing a proactive role in helping New Zealand achieve its Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019 objectives, the concrete industry is halfway towards meeting its target of at least 30 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030.

Independent sustainability consultants, thinkstep, confirm that emissions from cement have been reduced by 15 percent between 2005 and 2018.

Over the past several decades the industry has been particularly conscious of its environmental impact and has implemented initiatives to reduce CO2 emissions.

The 15 percent reduction in emissions was achieved through increased use of mineral addition and Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs) in cement, the use of alternative kiln fuels in cement manufacture and a general shift to more efficient cement manufacturing processes.

In addition to focusing on CO2 generating processes, the wider industry has also worked to enhance its environmental practices by adopting synthetic fuels for its vehicle fleet, as well as diverting/recycling waste

54 www.waternz.org.nz

streams, including returned concrete, away from landfill and into usable construction products.

Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs)

The increasing global use of low carbon SCMs to partially replace Portland cement and therefore directly reduce embodied CO2 makes sound ecological sense.

SCMs are derived from lower embodied energy, recycled materials, and can result in environmental benefits, improved concrete performance, and long-term cost advantages.

Typically they are ground granulated blast furnace slag (from steel manufacture), fly ash (from coal combustion) or microsilica. Volcanic ash (a natural pozzolan) from the North Island Volcanic Plateau is another type of SCM. To remove barriers to the increased uptake of SCMs, Concrete NZ has recently completed a Building Research Levy funded project to assess classification techniques along with the fresh and hardened performance of SCM concrete, outputs from which will feed into a review of the cement Standard.

Alternative fuels

Considerable reductions in energy use (and therefore CO2 emissions) have been realised over the past decade by improving the efficiency of the cement kiln operation.

End-to-end cement manufacturer, Golden Bay Cement, uses alternative waste fuels for a substantial part of its operations and is continually examining the practicalities of increased supplementation.

A significant proportion of fossil fuel used at its Northland facility has been substituted with wood waste (biofuel). More recently an initiative to use up to 50 percent of the 6.3 million waste tyres created in New Zealand each year will reduce coal use by 15 percent, resulting in a reduction in CO2 emissions of around 13,000 tonnes annually.

The environmental benefits of using alternative fuels in cement manufacture are not just that the need to use non-renewable fossil fuels such as coal is reduced; but also the recovery of energy from waste is maximised, methane emissions reduced, and landfill space optimised.

Carbon capture

In addition to SCMs and alternative kiln fuel, an emerging technology being adopted to help realise net carbon zero concrete is Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU).

This process, which can reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by an average of 15 kilograms per cubic metre, takes captured CO2 from local

oil refineries, purifies and transports it to the concrete plant, where it is stored in a pressurised tank.

A precise dosage of CO2 is injected into the wet concrete during mixing, which then reacts with the cement’s calcium ions to form calcium carbonate. This is embedded in the concrete, increasing its strength while eliminating the CO2.

Water and concrete

Within a broader sustainability context, there are many opportunities where concrete systems can be used to improve water control, in particular stormwater, to protect waterways from pollution and safeguard groundwater recharge and aquifer supplies.

The use of pervious concrete or permeable concrete paving can play an important role in an overarching management strategy to mitigate the environmental impacts of stormwater.

These sustainable urban drainage systems allow rainwater to filter through the paved surface in a controlled way into the ground before being released into sewers or waterways. Mimicking natural drainage regimes and improving visual and amenity forms, their applications can be as diverse as drives, paths, general landscaping or other hard surfaces.

Combined with the robustness and flexibility of traditional concrete pipes, the uptake of these new systems will see concrete-based water management solutions play a critical role in realising future infrastructure development.

PUMP STATIONS

IDEAL FOR COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS WHERE CONVENTIONAL GRAVITY SYSTEMS ARE IMPRACTICAL OR COST PROHIBITIVE.

Future goals

Under the Concrete NZ banner the concrete industry has developed a medium-term vision which states that by 2030 the concrete industry will be recognised as a sustainable, socially responsible and profitable participant in the construction sector, and have reduced its global warming potential by at least 30 percent of 2005 levels to benefit the well-being of future generations, by: • Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) • Efficient energy sources for manufacturing and delivery processes • Driving waste minimisation in manufacturing, delivery and construction • Using recycling processes to minimise the use of virgin materials • Adopting new technologies where appropriate • Being engaged with our local communities • Beyond 2030, the New Zealand concrete industry is targeting net zero carbon by 2050.

Concrete NZ is currently collaborating with its members to develop a 2050 Cement and Concrete Industry Roadmap for Net Zero Carbon Concrete to define the industry’s commitment to producing carbon neutral concrete by 2050, in line with global climate targets.

The Roadmap’s framework – Past, Present and Future actions – will set out in detail how in collaboration with built environment stakeholders and policymakers, including water concerns, the concrete industry will fully decarbonise.

0800 93 7473

hynds.co.nz

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change and natural character

By Craig Stevens, oceanographer, NIWA and professor at the University of Auckland, Rhys Girvan, registered landscape architect, landscape planner and senior principal, Boffa Miskell, and Hannah Wilson, landscape architect, Boffa Miskell.

At the same time as there are clear and continuing changes to our environment, both locally and globally, there is a growing sophistication as to how society views and values the environment.

This is especially relevant somewhere like New Zealand which, being islands, is fundamentally connected to our coastal environments.

Furthermore, being one of the most recently occupied land masses on the planet, the perspective on ‘natural character’ is heightened compared to the global norm.

The purpose of this think piece is to explore the implications of our understanding of climate change impacts on the assessment of coastal natural character assessment here.

Statutory context

The New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS) Policy 13 directs matters of national importance under Section 6 of the Resource Management Act 1991 and requires persons exercising functions and powers under the Act to “…preserve the natural character of the coastal environment and to protect it from inappropriate subdivision, use, and development…”.

Levels of natural character within the coastal environment are assessed based on determining the extent of modification to existing natural elements, patterns, and processes that may occur across different contexts.

Such assessments consider both biophysical and some experiential landscape attributes, which can include coastal ocean temperatures, currents, climate, geology, geomorphology and ecological aspects alongside perceptions of how such biophysical dimensions have undergone or avoided modification.

In essence, natural character reflects the condition of biophysical aspects present and related experiential aspects, including wildness, remoteness, and the darkness of the night sky.

It is also important that an assessment of natural character excludes consideration of associative and some perceptual and aesthetic landscape attributes, a crucial difference between landscape and natural character assessment as directed by the NZCPS. Within our coastal environments, climate change is already having an impact on relevant natural character attributes, including those within areas assessed as having ‘high’ and ‘outstanding’ natural character.

Understanding the effects of climate change within the coastal environment is therefore relevant to recognising how such modification

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Rhys Girvan

Hannah Wilson

may influence levels of natural character and how such relevant attributes are assessed and managed into the future.

With improved awareness of climate change impacts comes the question of how we can continue to seek to preserve natural character within environments subject to increasing change.

Climate change impacts on natural character

The changing climate is already impacting on the biophysical condition of New Zealand’s coastal environment. The seas around the country are warming at a rate well in excess of the global average.

The northern half of the nation especially will be subject to more and more marine heatwaves – a condition where the surface ocean is persistently warmer than normal for that time and place. Behrens et al.

(2022) used a high-emission climate scenario to demonstrate that by the end of the century, marine heatwave intensities will nearly double and likely become the permanent condition.

Over the same time sea level rise impacts will become increasingly apparent. It is not so much the steady rise in sea level but how it exacerbates extreme events so that a tropical cyclone, arriving on a high tide, with another few decades of sea level rise will have significantly greater damaging effects than the same storm now.

Taite et al (2021) have shown how these largely physical impacts will feed through to biophysical changes to the coastal environment.

There will be a greater influence and presence of subtropical species, decline in ocean pH impacting phytoplankton biodiversity and foodwebs, expansion of low nutrient waters, decrease in carbon sequestration abilities, regional variation of fish species and coral present due to warming.

Through such consequences, human induced climate change impacts will become increasingly more apparent.

Perceived nature vs biophysical condition

While the biophysical condition of our coastal environment is changing due to human induced climate change, a tension remains between assessing biophysical condition and considering what people continue to perceive as natural.

While our coastal environment will exhibit increasing indications of human induced modification, many of these areas may still be regarded as retaining high experiential or perceived natural character values.

This is amplified when the driver of the departure from natural

The changing climate is already impacting on the biophysical condition of New Zealand’s coastal environment.

character is external to the region being assessed.

It is one thing to look at a coastal zone and say “yes this has been impacted by the installation of a seawall in 1965” – this encapsulates what, when, and who. It is another to identify how a relatively slow change in conditions, such as global ocean temperatures, are affecting natural character.

The relationship between biophysical and experiential attributes therefore presents increasing challenges for the identification of high and outstanding natural character.

While biophysical condition may become increasingly more modified due to human induced climate change (amongst other pressures) the experience of such modification within the coastal environment will change over different timeframes and may not change so drastically, at least initially. This view may change if it becomes more accepted that increased frequency of damaging events is climate-driven.

For now, it is typically not until there is a clear presence of human modification such as revetment, settlements, or marine farms, that the perception of ‘natural’, and consequential impacts on high and outstanding natural character may become apparent.

Therefore, we may increasingly face situations where the level of perceived naturalness remains high, or outstanding until necessary responses to actual modification become evident.

Future management

With increasing tensions between preserving perceived nature versus actual biophysical changes that result from climate change, our understanding of the natural character of the coastal environment can essentially be assessed and managed in two divergent ways.

One approach favours a more perceptually driven measure of natural character despite actual modification, and the other a biophysically driven measure.

It is accepted that New Zealand’s pre-human state is not a realistic benchmark to use when assessing natural character. While there is greater opportunity to be aware of the country’s pre-human state given

the relatively recent human history, we simply can’t go back in time.

A more valid benchmark for today reflects the best possible condition that the coastal environment can now occur. In other words, for an area to be classified as having higher levels of natural character, natural elements, patterns, and processes must reflect more limited modification, including for example, all expected representative species remaining present.

From this, the ultimate outcome for management lies in how such natural character can be preserved given the collective impacts humans are having on our coastal environments. Consequentially, climate Craig Stevens change may mean high natural character is no longer apparent for future generations or, the benchmark slides to maintain and identify areas of high natural character which would not previously have met today’s standard.

There is a parallel discussion to natural character baselines in the scientific literature on marine heatwaves and how, and if, the goalposts should be shifted.

The perspective is, if by the end of the century we are in a permanent state of marine heatwave, is it still a marine heatwave?

On the one hand, shifting the baseline defeats the purpose, if the impacts are associated with long-term slowly varying equilibria.

Alternately, if the aspect in question settles into some kind of stable condition rapidly then this may be appropriate. This has an equivalence in the natural character discussion whereby natural character reflects the best possible condition that can exist today.

Both of these scenarios have consequences for the assessment of natural character. As with all landscapes, the coastal environment is inherently dynamic and complex. Key areas cannot simply be ringfenced and set aside to be preserved regardless of ongoing human induced influences. Within this system, human-induced climate change will increasingly influence how coastal elements, patterns and processes occur.

If the benchmark was to lower and allow for areas which would not equate to high natural character today to qualify as high in the MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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WATER NEW ZEALAND CLIMATE CHANGE

future, there is the risk areas which contain our least modified and representative ecosystems are actually declining, akin to reinforcing a false dogma that climate change does not impact natural character.

Conversely if the benchmark remains as it is today where representative ecosystems and intact elements, patterns and processes may still exist, there is a risk there will eventually be no areas of high natural character remaining.

The latter appears the most logical and honest from a management perspective, however, suggests the current requirement to simply define and preserve the status quo may no longer be acceptable.

Therefore, our response to managing natural character must increasingly look to NZCPS Policy 14, to restore.

Policy 14a of the NZCPS refers to “identifying areas and opportunities for restoration and rehabilitation” to promote the restoration or rehabilitation of the natural character of the coastal environment. While it is impossible to restore our coastal

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environment to a “pre-human” state, nor prevent impacts of climate change which are already ‘locked in’, it is possible to acknowledge change which will increasingly occur, alongside the indirect cause and effect through which global climate change impacts on our regions.

With this comes opportunities for restoration and seeking to inform how we can rehabilitate and improve the underlying biophysical condition and representative state of our coastal environments which will be increasingly subjected to change.

The implications of human induced climate change are inevitable, but the key to maintaining a future where ‘high’ natural character can still exist will be how these areas and our collective expectations are managed.

Such outcomes are derived from the same necessity to protect those key aspects of our most valued landscapes and ecosystems so future generations can appreciate natural character in the way we can today.

WATER NEW ZEALAND COMMENT

Climate Emergency: Water sector needs to be part of the solution

By Gillian Blythe, Water New Zealand chief executive Tackling climate change emissions needs to be a cornerstone of the Government’s Three Waters Reforms. The reforms provide a much-needed opportunity to pave the way for real action to reduce emissions from the water sector.

However, the Government’s exposure drafts released late last year appear to miss the opportunity for the sector to be an active participant in emissions reduction, focusing instead on the need for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Emissions reduction needs to be a critical part of the future.

The proposed Three Waters reforms may be the biggest shake up in a generation, but whatever the outcome, they are dwarfed by the challenge of climate change. No other sector or industry in the country is more involved or at risk of climate than water.

Our best-case scenario still on the table at the recent COP26 meeting in Glasgow is that we keep global warming to a close as possible to 1.5 degrees. Unfortunately, that’s not the most likely outcome, given that we’ve already seen a global temperature rise of 1.2˚C above pre-industrial times.

But even if we can keep global warming to this level, it will still mean a sea level rise of 400mm. A 1.5˚C rise also means an annual loss of 1.5 million tonnes of marine fisheries and a decline of between 70 and 90 percent of coral reefs. The UN is currently predicting a 40 percent shortfall in freshwater resources by 2030.

At a recent launch of Water NZ’s low emissions guide, Navigating to Net Zero, Aotearoa’s water sector low carbon journey, water industry leaders agreed the outlook was “scary”.

Here, the threat climate change poses to drinking water has been rated number one in our national climate risk assessment.

This recognises that increased drought and flooding will badly affect our source water. It will mean water shortages and increased contamination.

This will have a massive effect on agriculture as well as many towns and communities. Source water risks are one of many in a long list of climate risks which include asset inundation, increased asset deterioration, and supply chain interruptions.

The Three Waters Reforms are driven by the need to find an affordable way to meet future demand and growth, upgrade ageing infrastructure, and at the same time improve water quality.

With a whopping $120 billion to $185 billion capital investment needed in the next 30 years to address decades of under-investment and support housing and population growth, it’s vital that this new infrastructure boom not only increases our capacity, but at the same time, reduces and offsets emissions from the sector.

How we reduce emissions and tackle climate change has huge consequences for all of us.

Currently, the water sector is a net greenhouse gas emitter. Energy

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and chemicals are consumed in the treatment and conveyance of water and there’s considerable inbuilt carbon dioxide created in building new infrastructure. Our wastewater treatment plant processes also release methane and nitrous oxide from their processes, both potent greenhouse gases.

The opportunities are there not only to reduce emissions but to start acting as carbon sinks.

But that’s where we get to one of the roadblocks. We need better understanding of wastewater emissions and their causes.

Nitrogen removal is a core goal of wastewater treatment plants: it prevents eutrophication of our waterways. Without this treatment, nutrient overload in waterways leads to algal blooms, choking our rivers and disrupting aquatic food webs.

What is not well understood is what this means for greenhouse gas emissions.

During treatment, nitrogen is converted into the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. What is not yet understood are the exact volumes or drivers of nitrous oxide during their processes. Do we have to trade off our waterways for our atmosphere? Science does not yet have the answers.

We do know that the emissions differ across processes, across time, and even within wastewater treatment plants. So, we need to get the right solutions. But direct measurement of greenhouse gases is expensive. Consequently, we’re left estimating emissions instead of measuring.

Only once we understand our emissions can we be confident about solutions – many of which will involve highly technical innovations and, as with most infrastructure, planning needs to happen today if it is to be implemented tomorrow.

The Three Waters Reforms could provide an opportunity to embed the drivers and structure to drive real action. Mandatory climaterelated disclosures are being seen by many as a catalyst for climate action in the finance industry.

In the same way bringing transparency to water sector greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks lays the foundation for targets and processes to drive down emissions and adapt to change.

Opportunities to reduce emissions fall into three broad categories.

Driving down operational emissions through more energy efficient blowers and pumps is one example. Other examples include reducing embodied carbon in new assets by repurposing old assets and adopting new materials such as low carbon concrete.

Finally, the exciting stuff. Recapturing the many by-products of wastewater and repurposing these as part of a circular economy.

Internationally this work is already well underway, with many wastewater treatment plants around the world being increasingly viewed as resource recovery facilities.

Already, in New Zealand, we have 16 of our wastewater treatment plants producing biogas. Introducing other organic waste can help divert organic wastes from landfill and increase biogas production.

Biogas is but one of many fuel sources that innovative wastewater treatment plants are producing. In Australia researchers are working at scale to develop technologies to produce hydrogen fuel from wastewater.

Closer to home, the solid fraction of wastewater known as biosolids is being run through vermi-composting, large scale industrial worm farms, to produce soil conditioner. These are a rich source of carbon and nutrients and a natural alternative to imported fossil fuels.

The Government has committed to a net emissions reduction of all greenhouse gases (except biogenic methane) to zero by 2050.

A less ambitious biogenic methane emissions target – 10 percent by 2030 and somewhere between 24-47 percent below 2017 levels by 2050, have yet to be reconciled with New Zealand signing on to an international agreement to reduce methane by 30 percent in the same time frame.

Right now, reducing carbon, lowering energy consumption, and adapting to climate change need to be front of mind.

Despite the lack of overall policy framework, some of our water utilities have taken up the challenge and set their own carbon reduction targets.

Watercare and Auckland Council aim to achieve net zero by 2050 with an earlier target of 50 percent reduction by 2030, while Christchurch City Council has a net zero by 2045.

In Watercare’s case, its journey to zero emissions has already begun – getting runs on the board through reducing electricity usage and switching to solar where possible, changing vehicle fleet to EV and working out where and how to reduce built-in carbon by using low-carbon concrete. But Watercare admits the next stages will get more difficult.

This will involve a combination of continued public education and more technology and planning. By looking at ways of reducing water usage, biosolid re-use and more nature-based stormwater solutions, it is possible to turn the water sector from a net emitter of carbon to one which recaptures carbon.

There is also the opportunity to reduce emissions from infrastructure and wastewater by-products that can generate energy and reduce reliance on imported fertilisers.

Achieving New Zealand’s emissions targets is going to be a huge undertaking. Water is a critical enabler for renewable energy supplies, agricultural systems, and climate friendly cities.

Keeping water services factored into climate change emission reduction will unlock a broad range of opportunities to help achieve our carbon reduction goals.

This article was originally published in Newsroom.

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WATER NEW ZEALAND COMMENT

Preparing and responding to drinking water incidents and emergencies Matt Carey, lead advisor response management at Taumata Arowai talks about establishing an incident and emergency management function at the new water services regulator. He explains who does what in the case of an emergency and emphasises the importance of being prepared.

“It can be difficult, and some large operations We only need to look at the recent severe weather might only have one qualified person operating events or the Covid-19 pandemic to see how critical a supply to over 5000 consumers. It’s one of the it is to be prepared for an emergency. biggest risks for suppliers, particularly in this Lead advisor response management for Taumata Covid-19 environment or in the event of a disaster.”

Arowai, Matt Carey has been travelling around the He encourages suppliers to consider their country to meet with drinking water suppliers. operations as critical infrastructure.

He’s been trying to understand their issues and “Natural disasters have a devastating impact on concerns and how they plan to make sure they can infrastructure. Think about how you will sustain keep providing safe drinking water in the event of your operation through disasters such as drought, an incident or emergency.

Matt Carey, Taumata Arowai. earthquake, and flooding.

Matt is no newcomer to the field of emergency “Take a broader view and look at the dependencies of your operation and response management. He’s spent 18 years serving in the New like power and communications. Multiple water supplies may be Zealand Army with most of his time working in bomb disposal. His affected, and water carriers may not be available to fill the gap.” three deployments took him to the Middle East and Afghanistan where he worked on clearing landmines and counter terrorism among other duties.

In the case of a drinking water incident Back home he’s been involved in the emergency responses to some of In the past, some suppliers have relied on drinking water assessors our biggest tragedies – the March 15 terrorist attack in Christchurch and to inform, approve, and sometimes lead a response to an incident or the Whaakari/White Island eruption. emergency. The drinking water assessor role no longer exists and Taumata Arowai has different expectations.

“In the case of an incident, it’s the suppliers’ responsibility to ensure The role of Taumata Arowai in an emergency public health is protected, consumers are informed and to rectify the When it comes to large disasters and civil defence emergencies, Taumata problem.

Arowai will support and contribute to the drinking water component “They also need to notify Taumata Arowai. We’d like to see recovery of the broader emergency response. While suppliers need to provide a from incidents and enduring steps put in place to prevent them from level of service to the community in these events, Taumata Arowai will happening again.” support suppliers to return their operation to business as usual.

Between 2019 and 2020 more than 490,000 New Zealanders were Matt explains the role of Taumata Arowai is twofold. advised to boil their water because it was not safe to drink. There were “One part is to provide coordinating information about the sector.

26 permanent and 51 temporary boil water notices in place.

This means acting in support of the National Emergency Management “We are hoping, with better planning and preparedness, that we Agency (NEMA) or other emergency controllers providing liaison and will see a reduction in the need to issue boil water notices following situational awareness of the sector and their level of service delivery to predictable or expected natural events, such as heavy rain.” the community in an emergency.

“The other part is to provide direction and support to the water services sector, advocating for resources to enable them to respond, Planning and being prepared recover and continue their service delivery. This is a role that has been Matt reckons that a number of suppliers are doing well in engaging with filled by Water New Zealand in the absence of other central coordination regional partners and planning for broader disasters. and is a role that I’m keen to collaborate with them on.”

“Establishing relationships with key groups and people in your Matt believes suppliers are best placed to respond to incidents as they community is important. This may include whānau, hapū and iwi, have the capability and understanding of their water supply systems Lifelines coordinators, local Civil Defence controllers (based within and operation. One of the common challenges he often hears about is councils), and Civil Defence Emergency Management groups (CDEM).” attracting qualified people into the utilities industry.

Drinking water safety planning helps suppliers to be prepared. It’s a

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continuous risk management process focusing on identifying, assessing, and managing the risks across the whole drinking water supply system – from where the water is sourced to the point of supply to consumers.

A requirement of the Water Services Act 2021 (the Act) is for suppliers to prepare and submit a Drinking Water Safety Plan to Taumata Arowai (or alternatively comply with an Acceptable Solution, which will be available to particular supply types and circumstances). Suppliers must identify in their plans how they will respond to events and emergencies.

Another key objective and requirement of the Act is for Taumata Arowai to give effect to Te Mana o te Wai, to the extent it applies to our functions and duties. This obligation also applies to all suppliers who operate under the Act. Te Mana o te Wai is a fundamental concept focused on restoring and preserving the balance between wai (water), taiao (the wider environment), and tāngata (people), now and in the future.

The impact of giving effect to Te Mana o te Wai is something Tauamta Arowai is working through as we implement the Act. Matt encourages all suppliers to turn their minds to what Te Mana o te Wai means for them, particularly how this impacts their response planning.

Taumata Arowai prepares for an emergency

As a new water services regulator, Taumata Arowai has been testing its incident management systems and processes in preparation for a drinking water emergency.

The first exercise involved a scenario of insufficient supply due to chronic drought becoming an acute crisis. This was tested with Far North District Council and a range of central and regional stakeholders. Another exercise was held with Wellington Water, the Regional Public Health and the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) focusing on a pressure drop scenario resulting in a backflow incident.

Matt shares some of the key learnings from these exercises.

“It’s important to have access to forecasting data and scientific advice, to have established relationships and open lines of communications with stakeholders, and clear decision points.

For example, deciding on the threshold or level before changing the plan or initiating action.”

Taumata Arowai is planning more exercises including a major disaster scenario later in the year. If there are a number of suppliers in a particular region interested in participating in this exercise, get in touch at info@taumataarowai.govt.nz.

The reality is incidents and emergencies can happen at any time.

They can have a major impact on our water supply, infrastructure, people and environment. It’s important drinking water suppliers are well prepared and plan for these events.

For more information

• Visit taumataarowai.govt.nz • 24 March 2022: Join Taumata Arowai at a Water New Zealand webinar on Drinking Water Safety and Source Water Risk Management Planning.

• 25 May 2022: Join Taumata Arowai and the Department of Internal Affairs in part two of the Water New Zealand preconference workshop at Claudelands in Hamilton.

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25/01/2022 9:36 AM

WATER NEW ZEALAND COMMENT

Planning for an uncertain future

By Justine Bennett, technical director water and environment, GHD The clock is ticking. Traditional water planning approaches are quickly becoming outdated against a backdrop of diverse and complex external factors.

Decisions that are made now must continue to perform technically and economically in the future, while accounting for and adapting to influences we know will create challenges – population growth, policy changes, technology, climate change, politics, regulations, and societal perspectives.

Our traditional approach tends to result in relatively short-term planning cycles of 10 years or less, partnered with a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure. This approach pushes assets to the edge of their capacity and capability as they age and respond to growth pressures.

To build resilience into our planning, we need a system that can cope with not only predictable changes but also sudden shocks. From demographic change to earthquakes and extreme weather patterns – rainfall, flooding, and one-in-100-year droughts.

If we are to respond to the constant change and uncertainty facing communities, our thinking needs to be open to a wider range of technical and water servicing options. This means diverse thinking, Integrated Water Management (IWM) approaches, and increased collaboration between stakeholders and industry partners.

This is beginning to sound a lot like the water sector transformation envisaged under the Three Waters reforms, so how might we achieve such a pivotal shift?

Adaptive Pathways Planning (elsewhere known or referred to as Dynamic Adaptive Pathway Planning (DAPP)) is an established approach that enables asset owners to explore the possible outcomes of differing future scenarios and develop a flexible but clear roadmap in response to a range of future uncertainties.

The UK Government first adopted Adaptive Pathways Planning in 2012 with the Thames Estuary 2100 Flood Management Plan, closely followed by the Dutch Delta Programme for Fresh Water Supply and Flood Management in the Netherlands.

Since then, Adaptive Pathways Planning has been applied and developed in multiple regions and contexts, strengthening its viability.

Closer to home, the tool has informed flood risk management for the Hutt River.

The beauty of this approach is the flexibility of application. It can be used on any type of project – at a programme level or to form part of an organisation’s strategic planning, providing a long-term vision and framework for all decision making. This enables service providers to move from a tactical, static, and somewhat reactive perspective to strategic and proactive long-term planning.

Rather than replacing our current methodology, Adaptive Pathways Planning is an expansion of current planning practices, accounting for numerous risks and future scenarios, rather than a single predicted future with a fixed timeframe. It begins with a definition of the problem and outcomes sought, considering factors such as time horizon, predictable risks, and sudden shocks, quality of information available, the extent of analysis required, and the level of uncertainty.

The methodology is broken down into four key steps: 1. Structuring the problem 2. Exploring solutions 3. Evaluation 4. Implementation

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The process begins with a robust understanding of the current system and the issues at play, tailoring the adaptive planning approach to the agreed areas of focus. Relevant programmes of work or individual projects are then identified.

Following this, scenario planning is used to explore a range of solutions to shape up an agile, resilient response to the risks and future scenarios faced.

Through a multidisciplinary and collaborative process, an adaptive pathways road map for a range of scenarios is developed.

Thresholds are used to guide the process, indicating at what point the current system will no longer be viable and when an alternative or amended course of action is required. For example, an asset becomes inundated due to sea level rise, or a treatment plant can no longer meet community demand due to growth.

Trigger points are set prior to the threshold being met to stimulate planning and decision making, as well as to determine if a management pathway should continue along its current trajectory or shift to an alternate approach. These proposed approaches are evaluated, and a preferred solution is recommended.

Ultimately, the process loop is closed through implementation review and continuous improvement/adaptation of the initial plan.

As more organisations begin to embed this approach into their way of working, we expect this methodology to become commonplace.

Across the Tasman, Melbourne Water has developed and implemented an Adaptive Planning Guideline. The Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) is advocating for a wide range of options to be considered and managed in an integrated manner in response to growing water demand and water scarcity. These options include water conservation and efficiency, rainwater harvesting, groundwater resources, water sharing between regions, non-potable reuse of wastewater effluents, purified and recycled water for drinking and desalination.

Perhaps not all of these would be considered pertinent in New Zealand in the short term, but some are others are likely to become increasingly attractive in response to over allocation of surface water sources and the reduced rainfall due to climate change in some regions.

Here, Whangārei District Council has recently lodged a resource consent application for the Whangārei Wastewater Treatment Plant for a maximum 35-year consent term. It is based on an adaptive, long term management approach which reaches and plans beyond the 35-year horizon.

The application seeks to address and respond to triggers such as population growth, water quality and odour management. It also acknowledges stringent discharge standards and biosolids management, two other key areas of risk.

Watercare is applying DAPP, developed by Deltares, to its water and wastewater infrastructure planning in response to drought, sea-level rise and flood risk. This facilitates the implementation of flexible engineering, over short-term solutions.

At the Helensville Wastewater Treatment Plant for example, rework and over-investment has been avoided through a robust monitoring regime and evidence base, enabling more robust planning and decision making.

In this pivotal moment for our industry as we prepare for the upcoming water reforms, approaches such as Adaptive Planning Pathways will become critical to realisation of core themes from Te Mana o te Wai and sustainability, to the digitalisation of water networks, strong partnerships, leadership, and governance.

To begin adopting them now will secure their position in the strategic planning frameworks of current and future water entities, ensuring a smoother transition and transformation of the water sector.

Meet Ryan.

He works closely with his clients and community to solve some of the most pressing challenges in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty Regions.

Are you ready to make an impact?

Join us: GHD.com/change-maker

MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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COMMENT WATER NEW ZEALAND

Building trusting relationships As the Government’s Three Waters Reform programme gathers pace, the Three Waters National Transition Unit’s interim director Marlon Bridge writes that his team is focussed on active engagement with the sector and building the relationships and trust that will underpin success.

This year is significant year for all of us working in the water sector, with the Government committed to passing legislation required for reform of our Three Waters sector and the considerable work that flows from that.

Work has begun in earnest. It’s my privilege and great responsibility to lead the work to transition the water services operated by councils and CCOs across the motu into four regional water services entities. I’m in this role on secondment from my job as deputy chief executive of Auckland’s Watercare.

My experience in the water industry began with the establishment of a new water entity – Manukau Water – a councilcontrolled organisation set up in 2006. From there I had a lead role in the integration of six council water services operations into what we now know as Watercare.

Working with councils to stand up four large new water entities across the country in the next 28 months is a sizeable but logical and positive stride forward for the water sector and the communities we serve.

I’m passionate about what we’re working to do here and committed to making it a success.

I’m pleased with the progress we made last year to establish the National Transition Unit (NTU) and further develop detailed delivery plans for the work ahead of us. The first three months of this year have seen important first steps in the implementation of those plans.

We are now opening up the flow of information between us here in the NTU and our colleagues currently working for councils and in the wider sector.

For the NTU, it’s about active engagement.

A key focus of that is building relationships. I have a favourite quote from one of my colleagues on the team, that trust equals speed. That’s the premise that we’re building this upon.

Those relationships are across the sector, from councils through to iwi/Mana Whenua and suppliers.

On the council engagement side, we’ve started with the chief executives and senior water personnel. As of mid-February, the transition team has conducted more than 30 of these discussions.

These interactions have been generally well received, with some key themes emerging.

Through the establishment of working groups, the Government is refining the final policy questions in areas such as governance and accountability, rural supplies, and the planning interface.

Legislation will be introduced this year and work its way through the Parliamentary process, where the public – including those Marlon Bridge working in the sector and your professional organisations and employers – will be able to have their say, and I encourage you to do so.

We’ve heard concerns from council chief executives about how they and their staff can balance the demands of business as usual while supporting and engaging with the transition.

To address these concerns, we will continue to be open and engage with councils, sharing the most up-to-date work plans and coordinating our requests for involvement with other central government agencies where possible. We also expect to make funding available to support councils who allow their staff to contribute substantially (such as through secondments) to the work of the NTU. So that the people who will staff the new water services entities can start work on 1 July 2024 already used to working with each other, we’re actively encouraging councils to work together, particularly at the water manager or officer level. Our local transition teams and transition working groups will help to enable this.

Our objective is to get the four new water services entities stood up with the best possible chance of success from day one.

To do this, we’re setting up a range of reference and working groups across the different areas of work the transition covers. We encourage you to talk to your employers about how you can get involved and share your expertise.

We’re also using the opportunity of reform to develop shared national design standards, to simplify construction and make infrastructure more affordable.

For example, Watercare has 87 different pump station designs, processing the same volumes of water. We believe reform can MARCH/APRIL 2022 WATER NEW ZEALAND

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simplify that to the point where we’re using standard designs across the country.

Other working groups will support the creation of capital expenditure prioritisation frameworks, look at how we consider climate change, and create zero-harm frameworks so that we can build assets without hurting people.

Different working and reference groups will provide for different levels of involvement – whether you can give one hour a week, or be seconded fulltime.

Of course, this just one strand of the range of co-operative work we’re progressing with the sector.

We’re also meeting with other key stakeholders. We have now had initial discussions with the major water sector unions. My sense is that they are very positive about Three Waters reform and see great opportunities for their members.

Water New Zealand has been supportive, and we appreciate the opportunities they have provided for us to brief suppliers, present at their conference, and reach their members through their existing platforms. We look forward to continuing to engage with Water NZ members throughout the transition and to work alongside Water NZ to keep you all informed.

Outside of the sector itself, one of our key partners right now is Treasury. One of the key projects we’re progressing with them is the development of a sound, realistic business case for the ICT systems we’ll need, specifically the systems of record which are effectively the core systems from day one.

For example, Entity B will combine the water operations of 23 councils. You don’t want to be using 23 different billing systems, or different asset management systems, to try and figure out the most optimal way to operate on day one. The status quo just isn’t an option.

We are mindful of the importance of this project and the need to get started as soon as possible. We have just 28 months until day one, and any IT system that needs to be delivered for four entities is a significant undertaking.

Turning once again to the most important assets of all, we recently approached councils in our first request for information, and it’s about people.

Our priority is to get an understanding of capacity and expertise in the water industry. Whether that’s in part or full time, and across all functions - finance, IT, technical planning, engineers, and capex delivery.

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Marlon Bridge at the Watercare Pukekohe plant opening 20 Nov 2020.

This information will inform the work we need to do to provide comfort to those that will ultimately end up in these new entities.

We need to be aware of who they are, understand the pathway to get them to their new role and be able to provide whatever training or skills capability assessments are required to ensure they’re successful from day one in their new roles.

I would point out that this piece of discovery is the first in a series of waves. We’ve chosen this staged approach after hearing council feedback on the Request for Information project run by the Department of Internal Affairs in late 2020 and early 2021.

We heard that the scale and range of information requested all at once was challenging for councils and their staff to manage.

While we are determined to progress Three Waters transition swiftly, we know that has to be balanced with realism and recognition of the additional workload this imposes on the sector.

We will continue to seek your feedback on our approach.

We have begun a long journey not a sprint, and we’re trying to create a culture where everything’s well planned and executed. Providing visibility of our plans to councils and other key stakeholders means they’ll be able to better work with us when we need information.

Very soon we’ll be following our first wave focused on people, with the second wave focused on asset management.

We intend creating greater transparency with this process. We’re not expecting to solve every problem, but we are genuinely trying to seek information from all stakeholders to inform us collectively on the best way forward in what we’re trying to achieve.

While my NTU colleagues and I know many of you working in the Three Waters sector already, we’re looking forward to building on those relationships and forging many more during the discussions to come over the next 28 months.

We have a great deal of trust in those working in the water industry and their commitment to ensuring New Zealanders have the best, safest, most efficient and sustainable water services possible for generations to come.

Underpinning the success of our project is the extent to which that trust is reciprocated and strengthened in the weeks, months and years to come.

You can be assured that building this trust as a platform for our success, is an overriding priority for me and the entire National Transition Unit team.

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Better investment decision-making:

Getting the best from three waters asset data

By Greg Preston, manager, Building Innovation Partnership

It has been known for some time that three waters infrastructure is under immense pressure. This has been the impetus for the Government’s Three Waters Reform Programme. However, regardless of the final structure of these reforms, there are some fundamental concepts that can be harnessed to optimise the vast amount of investment that is going to be needed over the coming years.

One of the most important of these is making the best use of data.

To this end the Building Innovation Partnership (BIP) is working with a large number of councils to help standardise asset data, assess and improve data quality, and develop frameworks and tools to help three waters professionals to make optimised decisions based on those data.

What is the Building Innovation Partnership (BIP)?

BIP is an eight-year research programme funded by industry and supported by MBIE’s Science Partnership Scheme. Every $6 invested by councils can be leveraged by $4 from MBIE. The programme is based at the University of Canterbury’s Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering. Theme 1 of the programme, Better Investment Decision-making, focuses on asset management in three waters and is led by Dr Theuns Henning from the University of Auckland.

Getting value from data

In the modern world, data is almost as valuable as the physical infrastructure that it describes. Yet, too often, we are not treating the data with the care that it needs. By managing data effectively we can begin to realise great value for our communities.

Data can be compared to the ‘magic’ of compound interest in many respects. The work in getting the data right at the beginning pays off as more and more uses for the data become apparent. And, unlike other assets, data does not depreciate with age or use, rather its value increases exponentially.

The FAIR principles

The FAIR principles state that data should be: • Findable • Accessible • Interoperable • Reusable (see: www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/) By adhering to the FAIR principles, an organisation will begin to see the benefits that sharing common three waters data can bring.

Even within an organisation there are several different views that are need on asset data including asset managers, finance, operations and maintenance, insurance, planning, design, civil defence, and more.

Externally, and on regional, national and international levels, common

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data formats enable integrated and efficient supply chains, spatial, environmental and social planning, audit and accountability, and emergency planning and response.

Standard data, diverse solutions

Taking a data first approach is the basis of unlocking the value of data.

Standardisation is key. Adhering to data standards is the most important step to maximising data value. However, data standardisation takes effort and collaboration. Therefore the default option is often to reach for the technology that will provide the quickest solution.

This is often a mistake that ‘bakes in’ inherent problems and leaves an organisation trying to make a technology solution that fits a number of scenarios for which it was not designed.

By standardising data, and collecting and maintaining those data and the metadata that describe them, it opens up a world of opportunity to develop diverse and resilient systems. These meet not just the internal needs of an organisation but also many external ones as well.

It is this type of approach that will be needed to truly transform the three waters sector.

How BIP’s research programme is helping

The Building Innovation Partnership programme for three waters has several research strands which are linked to a broader strategy of developing data driven insights into infrastructure, leading to better investment in, and use of infrastructure assets. The broader strategy incorporates the use of Digital Engineering (DE) to improve outcome quality whilst managing cost and risk.

The research strands include: • Development and implementation of Three Waters Asset Metadata Standards (the Code of Practice or CoP) • Implementing the Data Quality Assessment Tool • Building the National Pipe Data Portal (NPDP) as a component of a National Digital Infrastructure Model (NDIM) • Implementing the Asset Information Specification (AIS) tool • Analysing Residual Life of Pipes • Further developing the Holistic Decision-making Framework for Three Waters • Developing an Urban Flood Digital Twin • The Code of Practice (CoP) Derived initially from the New Zealand Asset Metadata Standard, considerable work has been done to develop workable and tested national metadata standard to describe inventory data for pipes, valves and chambers.

The CoP describes a minimal viable standard for the collection of as-built data. It is available in a range formats to enable any user or

software provider to incorporate the CoP into their system, either fully or partially as required. For example, the CoP has been taken up by local company 12d NZ and it has been encoded into its survey software to enable automated validation of as-built data.

BIP is also collaborating with Waka Kotahi on its Asset Management Data Standard (AMDS). The AMDS team have recently released the Drainage System Data Schema (available at www.nzta.govt.nz/roadsand-rail/asset-management-data-standard/). This schema has been developed with significant input from the CoP development team to ensure that three waters and road data schemas are consistent and interoperable.

The development of the CoP is ongoing and the current focus is on extending it to include a nationally consistent condition schema.

The CoP is available at www.bipnz.org.nz/3-waters-asset-datastandards/

Data Quality Assessment Tool

The Data Quality Assessment Tool has been developed in conjunction with the Waikato’s Regional Asset Technical Accord (RATA).

Working with nine of RATA’s water authorities, BIP has developed a data quality framework and metrics that allow councils to compare their asset data quality and highlight where there are opportunities for data improvement. The metrics and associated tool is based on the CoP. The tool has been successfully applied to a number of other councils around the country. A shared cost model with the additional leverage of the MBIE funds has allowed this work to be done at minimal cost to any individual council.

National Pipe Data Portal

The NPDP is based upon the CoP. Currently 30 councils’ data have been mapped to a common format which can be viewed geospatially, shared and analysed by council or as a single dataset. The NPDP also allows the data quality information to be visualised.

The NPDP is a first step in integrating all infrastructure data into a single National Digital Infrastructure Model. The NDIM will allow a completely different way of planning and managing our national infrastructure with major benefits for our well-being, economy and environment.

Asset Information Specification (AIS) tool

The Asset Information Specification tool has been created to bring together a several components of ISO 19650-1:2018 – Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM).

The AIS tool assists asset managers, designers, and contractors to define the asset data needs in a standard format and supports the management of those data throught the life of an asset, from planning and design, through construction, handover, ongoing management and eventually renewal or retirement.

The tool supports the Code of Practice as well as IFC (Industry Foundation Classes - a global standard used to describe, share and exchange construction and facilities management information) and the Uniclass classification system. Further development will allow mapping to a range of other data standards and classification systems as required.

Analytics on Residual Life of Pipes

This is a three-year project which aims to improve the models for estimating the useful life of waste water pipes.

Current models are limited in their predictive capabilities with high levels of uncertainties some as large as 30 years. This means that asset management renewal or replacement decisions carry a very high degree of uncertainty which costs millions of dollars in sub-optimal investment.

By harnessing the power of larger data sets, this project will refine these models to provide significant cost savings and risk reduction.

Holistic Decision-making Framework for Three Waters Infrastructure owners face many challenges in addressing today’s issues and accommodating future needs and, at times, decision-making only considers technical and economic principles. Modern decision-making for infrastructure investment needs to consider the wider community wellbeing outcomes including natural, human, social and financial/ physical capital.

This four year research programme aims to develop a holistic framework that integrates long-term Māori decision making principles and Treasury’s Living Standards Framework and enables decision-makers to understand risk, resiliency, and capture long term infrastructure management and development for three waters.

This research will provide a framework to transform investment decision-making, forecast future investment needs and performance outcomes considering a wider range of non-asset variables for three waters.

Working with RATA and data from the Waikato Regional Council as well as national data sets from Stats NZ and LINZ, the ultimate aim is to build a framework and digital model that will allow the investment scenarios to be tested and optimised at a regional level, leading better community and environmental outcomes.

Urban Flood Digital Twin

New Zealand is prone to very high rainfall events which can have significant impact on infrastructure. This project aims to develop a ‘digital twin’ to automate that process of modelling pluvial and fluvial flood events in a small urban setting and assess the impact on critical infrastructure.

Working in conjunction wth a much large NIWA project ‘Reducing flood inundation hazard and risk across Aotearoa/New Zealand’, the project focuses on simulating and validating flood scenarios in Kaiapoi, just north of Christchurch.

The project is a two-year research collaboration between the Building Innovation Partnership (BIP) and the Geospatial Research Institute (GRI). This two-year project is funded by BIP and FrontierSI with inkind support from LINZ and NIWA.

Getting involved

The purpose of BIP is to deliver research for the three waters sector which is led and funded by the sector. To this effect, BIP is continually looking for partners to collaborate and help fund these local, regional and national intiatives.

BIP can bring together researchers, asset owners, suppliers, consultants, contractors and other industry organisations to design and create research and development opportunities that serve our industry and our communities.

If you would like to get involved in any of the projects in this article, or would like to develop other related research activity, contact Greg Preston, BIP manager, greg.preston@canterbury.ac.nz or Dr Theuns Henning, t.henning@auckland.ac.nz.

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Transforming our water system, for everyone Aurecon has identified a set of guiding principles which would underpin a successful Three Waters reform system change. By Alexandra Hare, director, Infrastructure Advisory team; Abel Immaraj, director, environment and planning team; and Kevin Werksman, managing director – water for Australia & New Zealand, Aurecon.

The water sector is managed by thousands of individuals who play an integral role in how the future of water is regulated, funded, managed, used, respected, and conserved.

The planned water changes present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the safety, quality, resilience, accessibility, and performance of our three waters services, in a way that is efficient and affordable for future generations.

Our heritage, process of investment, structures of accountability and decision making, community values, and our need to do better at upholding, aligning, and embedding the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and Te Mana o te Wai, are globally unique and, in many respects, globally leading.

Leaders in our rural and urban communities, iwi, asset managers, policy makers, regulators, elected councillors, business owners and industry advisors are regularly tasked with navigating the complexity of technical information in a way that is digestible and meaningful to each community.

This is complex to navigate as often each leader is tasked with a role as conduit between central government and local government complexity, to provide credible, clear, and well-considered answers to the community.

So, where are we now, where are we going and how are we going to get there? Just as importantly, what does this change mean for my whānau and my community?

Water literacy is key to successful system change

We believe that a critical enabler of successful change are the levels of current knowledge around water and water literacy in the public arena. How many people know that one in five Kiwis are supplied with drinking water that does not meet drinking water standards; that 35,000 New Zealanders contract gastrointestinal illnesses each year; and that there were over 2000 wastewater spills that overflowed into our environment in 2020?

Building community understanding of what our current levels of service are and gaining alignment on what we want to achieve, is key to building trust for the change journey we want to go on. Furthermore, being prepared with the right knowledge and understanding of proposed changes, and drawing on lessons from around the globe, will enable better communication with communities around design elements, potential impacts, opportunities, and trade-offs.

Water, and the change to the system of water are deeply personal, drawn from our unique historical evolution, disenfranchisement, and differing levels of underinvestment.

Communities and leaders also face immense pressures such as climate adaptation, population growth, and historical infrastructure deficits.

While one size does not fit all, we are in a unique position to draw on and learn from international experiences and tailor lessons to our unique context, to achieve a world-class water sector and better outcomes for all.

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Bringing together the current complexity of change with a series of international case studies as a resource to help our leaders navigate this change, Aurecon has identified some inter-dependent fundamental factors in water reforms, that when implemented well, lead to better outcomes for customers, community, and the environment.

These are customer centricity, transparency, and trust, bound by water literacy of our communities.

Of course, these fundamentals are not unique to water reforms, and regulators and governments are consistently grappling with the tensions and trade-offs amongst competing interests. Water literacy provides a common language, increases understanding, enables dialogue, and creates a shared vision.

How could our communities ultimately recognise these?

Customer centricity

This is about putting the health of people and health of water at the heart of everything we do. Customer centricity is Te Mana o te Wai – and fundamentally embedding the concepts that if the water is healthy, the land is healthy, and the people are healthy, in all design elements of our system. Customer centricity has local communities at its heart, and needs to achieve the right balance of local, catchment wide and national economic, social, and environmental aspirations.

In a customer-centric reform and regulatory environment, the consumer voice must be present, and the consumer must be able to hold the government to account if things aren’t working well.

Where a customer-centric approach is lacking, there is risk of investment in the wrong places at the wrong time, leading to stranded assets, new assets that don’t deal with the problem, and solutions that are unaffordable or too complex for the community to easily adopt, operate, and maintain.

Transparency

High transparency for consumers means having the information to understand the outcomes we’re seeking to achieve from water reform, why we’re trying to achieve them and the changes to our water and wastewater level of services needed.

Information provided should include greater clarity on the water quality we experience and aspire to, investment required to achieve improved outcomes, and the pricing and charges over time to pay for this investment. It should also include information on who owns what and where decisions are made on price, accountability, and safety.

For information to be transparent it requires completeness of information, accessibility of information, consistency, and most importantly clarity (the ability to easily understand the information).

With effective investment in transparency, consumers can understand water systems, the business of water supply and wastewater services, have

accurate information, understand cost and quality that influence the household water bill.

Trust

Trust that water reform is needed and fit-for-purpose requires evidence that reform is necessary, and that subsequent outcomes for the communities will be met.

For government policy makers and regulators, trust means the water industry is responsive in a crisis, understands community needs, and that consumers understand what’s happening now and next.

High trust for asset owners depends on strong competency in their core role of delivering services, understanding who they interact with, and what’s needed to be done to increase performance.

Trust is enhanced when water entities and regulators know and understand their lane; people know and understand service entities and regulators’ roles; and there is a clear pathway to increased performance of the system, protection and enhancement of health, safety and the environment.

The transforming water system – the journey of change How do we ensure we are contributing to growing the strength of these key principles through the reform process and beyond?

This requires an integrated programme of cultural transformation, comprehensive strategies, and diligent implementation. We can enable this through early engagement with all stakeholders,

respectful consultation, and willing participation to develop and implement the reforms.

Leaders, armed with digestible knowledge to enable thoughtful communication with communities around potential impacts, opportunities, and trade-offs, will be crucial in determining how strong the guiding principles of trust, transparency and customer centricity are evidenced throughout implementation of the changes to the water sector.

Over the coming years of reform design and implementation, there will be several pathways through the journey of change: pathways for the consumer, the assets, price, technology, our people, our profession, and ultimately the pathway of water itself.

Each pathway will go through a stage of transitioning, mobilisation, and transformation, and the maturity, capacity and capability of our community and sector are critical to determine the extent and pace of change across each pathway.

This journey will also require individuals in our sector with strengths from lived experiences in mātauranga Māori knowledge, scientific and engineering knowledge, economic and operational conditions to build our collective water literacy.

In doing so this will only strengthen the outcomes for future generations and ensure that customer centricity, trust and transparency equally bind us as we navigate through the journey of change with our most precious natural resource.

This article was authored prior to the Working Group on Accountability, Governance and Representation report on ways to strengthen the approach to the governance framework for the WSE.

SUPER

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Coastal Marine Area lessons In this article we look at two High Court decisions concerning the Coastal Marine Area (CMA). The first is in relation to the treatment of wetlands in the CMA under new freshwater regulations. The other case is another determination on a MACA claim – applications under the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 for Customary Marine Title. These are beginning to trickle in as the Court continues the lengthy undertaking of reviewing each claim over coastal land, almost all of which overlap with other claims.

By Helen Atkins, director and Tom Gray, solicitor, Atkins Holm Majurey.

Minister of Conservation v Mangawhai Harbour Restoration Society Incorporated [2021] NZHC 3113 This High Court decision concerned appeals on the Proposed Northland Regional Plan regarding mangrove removal. At issue was whether the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Freshwater) Regulations 2020 (Freshwater Standards) apply to wetlands in the Coastal Marine Area.

The matter on appeal was the Environment Court declaration finding that the Freshwater Standards only apply to the CMA to the extent that they cover the area of CMA upstream of the “river mouth” as defined in the RMA, and do not apply to the general CMA, open oceans, estuaries, bays and other areas not falling within the definition of “river or connected area”.

Under the Freshwater Standards, “natural wetland” is defined by the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPS-FM), which uses the definition of “wetland” in the RMA that wetland “includes permanently or intermittently wet areas, shallow water, and land water margins that support a natural ecosystem of plants and animals that are adapted to wet conditions”.

The High Court summarised that a wetland includes areas that are wet (permanently or intermittently) from seawater, shallow seawater, and land seawater margins (if they support a natural

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ecosystem of plants and animals that are adapted to wet conditions).

It was then provided that any such wetland on the seaward side of the line of mean high water springs (or the appropriate river alternative) is within the CMA. The Court confirmed that a wetland includes a wetland in the CMA, noting that if the drafters of the Freshwater Standards had wished to exclude from “natural wetland” any wetland located in the CMA, the Freshwater Policy Statement had just the term for the job: “natural inland wetland means a natural wetland that is not in the coastal marine area”.

The Court then observed that while a NES may implement policies and objectives in a NPS, there is nothing in the Freshwater Standards to indicate that they were implementing only the NPS and they could also be implementing the much broader New Zealand Costal policy Statement.

The Court concluded that the Environment Court’s finding that the Freshwater Standards use “river or connected area” as a clear and convenient demarcation point for their application was therefore an error.

The High Court quashed the declarations made by the Environment Court and made a declaration that the Freshwater Standards apply to natural wetlands in the coastal marine area.

Re Reeder, Ngā Pōtiki – Stage 1 – Te Tāhuna o Rangataua [2021] NZHC 2726 The High Court has also recently granted a Customary Marine Title (CMT) to Ngā Pōtiki ā Tamapāhore, Ngā Tukairangi, Ngāti Tapū, Ngāti Hē and Ngāti Pūkenga. The CMT was granted over the common marine area known as Te Tāhuna o Rangataua (Tauranga Harbour, inland of the Muangatapu Bridge) though the exact mapping of the CMT is subject to survey.

CMT is similar to ownership but with some significant conditions.

It stems from a common law concept which recognises property

rights of indigenous people that have continued since or before Crown sovereignty to the present day. The key condition is that CMT is inalienable – the land cannot be sold or converted to freehold title. Instead, it recognises the relationship that existed, and that will continue to exist between iwi and hapū and the marine and coastal area.

To be granted a CMT over an area the applicant group must first prove that the group hold the specified area in accordance with tikanga. Then it must be shown that the group have exclusively used and occupied the specified area, without substantial interruption, either from 1840 to the present day, or from the time of a customary transfer until the present day.

The High Court here first rejected arguments in relation to the first limb of the test that applicants must hold the subject area in a “proprietary” manner and instead accepted the approach in Re Edwards in relation to holding an area in accordance with tikanga before adopting the formulation used in John da Silva v Aotea Māori Committee and Hauraki Māori Trust Board (1998) 25 Tai Tokerau MB 212, finding that the term “held” reflected the continuity of customary relationship with the land and did not mean “owned”.

On “exclusive use and occupation”, the High Court made conclusions that the requirement for exclusive use and occupation set out in the Act does not sit easily with the rest of the MACA Act and when properly reconciled with the rest clearly sets a much lower threshold than the plain meaning of the words themselves. It was ultimately held that “what is required is evidence of authority giving rise to an ability or intention to exclude others, noting that tikanga may not in fact require the actual exclusion of third parties at any point”.

The High Court held that the evidence for the successful groups on their holding of the area covered by the CMT was unequivocal, although the Court left open on the evidence a possible claim by Ngāi te Ahi for a Protected Customary Rights application in respect of mahinga kai.

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Water Services Act 2021 has critical implications for wastewater

By Simon Pilkinton, partner, and Kirsty Dibley, senior solicitor, environment, planning and resource management lawyers at Russell McVeagh Simon Pilkinton

In 2021, there were significant developments in the Government’s programme to comprehensively reform the drinking water regulatory system, with the Water Services Act 2021 coming into force on 15 November 2021. As part of this, Taumata Arowai commenced its role and powers as the new independent water services regulator for Aotearoa.

While Taumata Arowai is empowered to deal with wastewater and stormwater networks, the Water Services Bill, as initially introduced to Parliament, focused squarely on the establishment of a new regulatory regime for the supply of drinking water.

The scheme of the Bill suggested that, like the regime under the Health Act 1956, the focus was on those who source and supply drinking water. However, as the Bill evolved, provisions were added which seek to improve the regulation and performance of wastewater and stormwater networks.

The most significant provisions relating to wastewater networks were inserted into the Water Services Bill through a Supplementary Order Paper released on 3 September 2021. The amendments expanded the role and powers of Taumata Arowai to include: • the setting of wastewater environmental performance standards; and • the review of wastewater risk management plans that will now be required for every wastewater network.

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Kirsty Dibley

Given the late insertion of provisions relating to wastewater and stormwater networks, it is not surprising that much of the focus to date has been on the implications for those who source and supply drinking water.

Without detracting from the significance of these implications, we consider that the Water Services Act will also have critical implications for wastewater networks. Particularly when it comes to seeking consent for new or existing infrastructure under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).

Wastewater environmental performance standards The Water Services Act provides Taumata Arowai with the power to make wastewater environmental performance standards. It also provides Taumata Arowai with the power to set measures and targets to improve the performance of drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater networks in areas that require long-term focus.

Taumata Arowai can only set wastewater environmental performance standards following consultation with wastewater network operators, regional councils and any other person Taumata Arowai considers appropriate. Wastewater environmental performance standards can relate to: • discharges to air, water or land; • biosolids and any other by products from wastewater;

• energy use; and • waste that is introduced by a third party into a wastewater network (i.e. trade waste).

In accordance with the Water Services Act, wastewater environmental performance standards may include (but are not limited to) requirements, limits, conditions, or prohibitions. They may apply to all wastewater networks and their operators, or to classes of wastewater networks and their operators.

Influence of regional councils to be pared back?

Relevant to Taumata Arowai’s power to set national wastewater environmental performance standards, the Water Services Act makes corresponding amendments to the RMA which effectively mean that non-compliance with a wastewater environmental performance standard is prohibited.

This is because the Water Services Act amends section 104 RMA so, that when considering a resource consent application that relates to a wastewater network, a consent authority cannot grant the consent contrary to a wastewater environmental performance standard made under section 138 of the Water Services Act. The consent authority must also include as a condition of granting the consent, requirements that are no less restrictive than is necessary to give effect to the wastewater environmental performance standard.

In our view, and consistent with the overall intent of the Three Waters reforms, the overall effect of this will be to discourage Regional Councils from setting their own technical or environmental limits through RMA plans and consents on wastewater discharges, at least to the extent that these may seek to differ from corresponding wastewater environmental performance standards established by Taumata Arowai at the national level.

This will further pare back the regulatory oversight and control that regional councils will have over wastewater infrastructure under the new, much more centralised regulatory framework.

Implications for consenting wastewater infrastructure In our view, the development of wastewater environmental performance standards at a national level will go a long way towards the Government’s goal of improving the overall performance of wastewater networks.

However, it almost goes without saying, but the setting of clear, workable, and fit for purpose wastewater environmental performance standards will already be essential to ensure wastewater networks can obtain consent under the RMA. As part of this, it will be critical that existing wastewater network operators fully engage in any consultation on the development of wastewater environmental performance standards to ensure that compliance can be fully achieved.

Unachievable wastewater environmental performance standards will essentially make consent impossible to obtain for wastewater infrastructure, at least without prohibitively expensive upgrades to treatment plants etc.

We see a real risk that ambitious absolute environmental limits imposed by wastewater environmental performance standards may cause substantial issues for the delivery of essential wastewater infrastructure services, particularly for smaller authorities and treatment facilities where economies of scale to

fund upgrades may be harder to achieve.

The Government’s broader Three Waters reform programme, if enacted as currently envisaged, would likely alleviate this concern (at least to a substantial degree).

From an RMA standpoint, the power for Taumata Arowai to make wastewater environmental performance standards also raises the potential scenario of Taumata Arowai as the maker of the performance standards, participating as a submitter on wastewater consent applications.

This is particularly likely in circumstances where: • There is potential debate or ambiguity about compliance with a wastewater environmental performance standard; or • There is ambiguity around the interplay between any resource consent conditions imposed by regional councils and corresponding national wastewater environmental performance standards set by Taumata Arowai.

The latter circumstance has the potential to be particularly fraught, given regional councils will be required through the corresponding RMA changes to only impose conditions on wastewater consents “that are no less restrictive than is necessary to give effect to the wastewater environmental performance standard” – there will potentially be considerable scope to argue whether a proposed consent condition is more or less restrictive than is necessary to achieve one of Taumata Arowai’s national standards.

As set out above, this is another reason why the provision of clear, workable and fit for purpose wastewater environmental performance standards that can easily be translated into corresponding resource consent conditions will be essential.

Interim implications With Taumata Arowai’s oversight role in relation to wastewater and stormwater not commencing until late 2023, we do not expect to see the release of draft wastewater environmental performance standards for consultation this year.

However, we consider that the impending release of national wastewater environmental performance standards may have indirect implications for existing wastewater consents which require re-consenting in the next few years.

We anticipate that consent authorities may be hesitant to grant longer term consents for existing wastewater treatment facilities' consents ahead of the release of any wastewater environmental performance standards. This is to avoid locking in treatment standards for the long-term, where facilities may be contrary to any future performance standards set by Taumata Arowai.

This is unlikely to be well-received by infrastructure providers, given the need for long-term investment certainty.

While it is too soon to tell how this will play out in practice, applicants may need to be open to shorter duration consents in the interim, or otherwise more detailed review conditions that would appropriately enable future performance standards to be integrated into longer-term consents at a later point.

Similarly, the lead up planning and preparation of consent applications for wastewater infrastructure can take months, if not years.

Applicants preparing applications ahead of the release of the wastewater environmental standards may need to be flexible and respond accordingly once the standards are released.

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WATER NEW ZEALAND AUSTRALIA

Purifying water with a simple powder Researchers have found a material that quickly kills bacteria in drinking water, creating a safe and cheaper alternative to chlorine. By Dr Peter Sherrell, University of Melbourne Bacteria in water is a huge problem.

Over two million people die every year from diseases that can be directly linked to poor water sanitation. And this is only going to get worse as fresh, safe drinking water becomes increasingly scarce amid global warming.

The World Wildlife Fund estimates that by 2025, more than two thirds of people globally will face some type of water shortages, leading many with no choice but to consume bacterially contaminated water.

The way we currently kill bacteria in water is to add chlorine, which is highly effective, but not without its problems.

Recent studies show that chlorine can promote what’s called gene-exchange between bacteria – a process that can speed up mutations and pass along traits like antibiotic resistance.

It also produces super toxic by-products in the water – like trihalomethanes – although these are less common and usually manageable.

While chlorine remains a safe method of water disinfection, it is also relatively expensive and can be difficult to transport to remote areas. Chlorine is typically added to drinking water either as an industrially produced gas or as a very corrosive hypochlorite compound, making transport challenging.

A bacteria-killing mineral

The combination of emerging gene-exchange, trihalomethanes and transportation challenges means that finding alternative ways to kill bacteria and purify water is important for the future.

Working with my colleague, Dr Andris Sutka from Riga Technical University in Latvia, we have found a new material that’s nearly as effective as chlorine when it comes to killing bacteria – without promoting bacterial gene exchange or creating toxic by-products.

Our research, recently published in Advanced Sustainable Systems, uses a mineral that is abundant in ore deposits across Europe, first identified inside the Bellerberg volcano in Germany in 1964, called brownmillerite.

When we added a powdered form of brownmillerite into bacterially contaminated water in the lab, only one bacteria from every 10,000,000 survived after 30 minutes.

We then tested the powder on some sewage sludge from the Daugavgrīva water treatment station in Riga. We found that, even in the dirtiest water, the brownmillerite still killed 9998 out of every 10,000 bacteria in 30 minutes.

78 www.waternz.org.nz

The brownmillerite we used is exceptionally safe, consisting of only three different elements – calcium, iron and oxygen.

These break down into components that are both safe for human consumption and don’t harm the environment.

While other minerals and compounds have been tested as alternatives to chlorine for water disinfection, our research shows brownmillerite is the safest and quickest material found so far.

We were, however, puzzled by why brownmillerite was so good at killing bacteria. It has been known for some time that minerals containing oxygen can release so-called ‘advanced oxidation products’ that can ‘clean’ wastewater – but not enough to explain the results here.

Changing shape in water

When we examined what was going on we found that when the brownmillerite powder hits the water it undergoes a structural transformation – the calcium dissolves out of the crystals.

This produces a massive amount of advanced oxidation products – far more than we expected. In fact, it made over one hundred times more advanced oxidation products than the bestknown materials at making them.

These advanced oxidation products are phenomenal at killing bacteria, and kill them so quickly that there is no chance for gene exchange to occur.

This structural transformation also causes the powder to change from a sponge-like shape to a structure with lots of sharp flat blades. These sharp blades rip up and kill any bacteria that lands on them.

The combination of these two mechanisms means that in the future it may be possible to be anywhere in the world, tip some of this cheap powder into your water and be confident that it won’t make you sick.

So far, we have only used lab-produce brownmillerite, the manufacture of which would be expensive and difficult to scale up. We therefore need to test whether naturally-occurring brownmillerite (found in limestone) is similarly effective.

Next steps

If so, then this water disinfection tool could be made widely available, relatively cheaply. In fact, brownmillerite is created in a phase of cement production.

There is a lot more in water apart from bacteria that needs removing before you can safely drink it – like dirt, microplastics

Brownmillerite is surprisingly effective at killing bacteria in water.

and fertiliser. You certainly wouldn’t drink sewage sludge, even if you were confident it contained no bacteria or microbes.

This is why we are also looking at whether we can combine the brownmillerite powder with a material that sticks all of this ‘other stuff ’ together, called a coagulant, to produce a one-stop material that can simply be added to water and make it safe to drink.

There is still a way to go, but we are getting closer to having tools to cheaply and easily purify water – no matter where you are in the world.

This article was first published on the University of Melbourne website Pursuit: pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/

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WATER NEW ZEALAND CASE STUDY

Leak noise loggers deliver immediate return on investment Article by Logan City Council with Andrew Clark, director, Hydrographic Technologies.

Until recently, a permanently installed leak detection system was little more than a pipe dream. While leak noise correlating loggers have been in use at Logan City, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, for over five years, permanent installations have been held back by the high cost of manual data collection, or additional communication infrastructure that was also expensive and complicated to install.

With the advent of fourth-generation cellular networks, such as NB-IoT, smart devices capable of low-cost automatic communication have risen in prominence, and correlating leak noise loggers are now included in this group.

In May 2021, Logan City Council implemented a 300 point NBIoT correlating noise logger system. Within three to four months, this system had completely paid for itself.

Logan City had previously considered a radio to GPRS option for its installation, but this required a complicated and time-consuming planning process. The need for external radio repeaters and data collectors required an extensive amount of time to plan for their locations, and to contact asset owners to seek approval.

Logan City Council chose NB-IoT (leak noise correlating) loggers as installation of them was a quick, easy, and low-cost task.

As NB-IoT loggers can communicate with the network directly from the chamber, the high cost and time-consuming task of installing external radio repeaters and data collectors was avoided.

Water technicians were instead able to easily deploy the loggers to valves, scanning the serial number of each logger with an Android device, and automatically mapping their positions via an app.

Loggers were able to transmit data from the day of installation, and 50 to 60 loggers were able to be installed each day.

Throughout the fiscal year 2019-2020 (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020), The City of Logan found and repaired a total of 154 water main leaks, breaks, and bursts throughout its 2293 kilometre water system – a result of 145 leak detection surveys with Lift & Shift correlating noise loggers.

In May of 2021, following its success with correlating noise loggers, the City of Logan decided to implement a 300 point NB-IoT correlating noise logger system. The new system was a success.

After only a few months, Logan Water found 13 service/main leaks and 10 customer-side leaks, amounting to roughly 490 KL of actual non-revenue water (NRW) loss.

Totalled, the stoppage of these leaks prevented an estimated AUD $355,000 in NRW over a 12 month period.

The following case study details two non-surfacing leaks identified

by Logan’s NB-IoT system in July, 2021. These two leaks alone were estimated to incur losses of AUD $250,000 in NRW annually.

80 www.waternz.org.nz

Case Study: Logan City, Australia

In July 2021, two leaks were identified in Whitley Street. The first leak found was estimated to cost the utility around AUD $48,000 in non-revenue water annually.

The leak report provided by the cloud-based leak system shows the logger positions, leak position, leak noise correlation graph and the leak position on Google street view. The highest peak on the cross-correlation graph shows the point with the loudest consistent noise, (the leak position).

As Steve Young, water project supervisor at Logan Water, says the leak identified in DMA 018-13 Whitey Street, as seen in the screenshot on page 81, is a “perfect example of what they can identify.”

When Steve arrived on site, there were no signs of surfacing water, but after further inspection with a ground microphone, leak noise was detected on a connected 20mm poly service line.

Steve Young and Mario Bandic of Logan Water demonstrate their purpose-built chambers for NB-IoT loggers.

Using a flow meter, operators found that the leak was dispelling water at a rate of 22.15 litres per minute. From notification of the leak, to leak repair, the total runtime of the leak was 51.15 hours.

Taking into account the leak’s current flow rate, Steve was able to calculate the total water loss between the identification of the leak and its subsequent repair, as well as the estimated losses from non-revenue water had the leak gone unnoticed.

As Howard Witten, manager water service at Logan Water, says, “traditionally, if the leaks didn’t come to surface, it could be a year between active leak detection sweeps. So this leak had the potential to cost us about $48k.”

Two weeks later, another leak was captured in ‘DMA 007’.

The crew investigated the site and discovered the leak source: A 20mm poly road conduit. The line was repaired temporarily until a new conduit could be installed.

This second leak had a total non-revenue water loss annually of around A$202,000.

For security reasons, Logan City Council decided not to use fire hydrants. Instead it opted to use valve chambers and to create leak monitoring points in its network where valves were too far apart.

These leak detection monitoring points are a simple low-cost design, installed through a 150mm diameter vacuum excavation to the pipe. A saddle tightly grips the pipe underground and feeds into a shallow plastic chamber with a lockable lid at ground- level. The NB-IoT logger is attached magnetically to the top of the saddle, thereby allowing the logger to listen to the pipe while resting mere inches below the surface.

This design is more secure than using hydrants, and the plastic chamber lids allow the loggers to communicate with less power consumption than communication through steel lids.

Logan City Council also changed the chamber lids on itsexisting valves to a composite material to improve efficiency of itsloggers.

Whitey Street Leak Position. The NB-IoT Logger positions are shown with an “N” and the leak is shown with a yellow fuzzy dot.

Had the City of Logan relied on its annual pro-active leak detection sweeps, the leaks in this case study had the potential to go unnoticed for an entire year. However, with their NB-IoT correlating logger system and daily leak notification software, water operators were able to locate and stop the leaks just days after they appeared.

Assuming the average water leak costs around AUD $35,000 annually, the system could have paid for itself over the course of its first year and continued to monitor for another five to 10 years with a very small maintenance cost. However, large and costly leaks caught early have provided a near full return on investment in the span of only three to four months.

Based on the near-immediate success of its programme, Logan City Council will investigate the expansion of its NB-IoT correlating leak noise logger systems over the next 12 months.

By utilising a holistic approach to leak detection, the City of Logan is set to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in nonrevenue water in the coming years by pro-actively localising, locating, and pinpointing leaks.

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PACIFIC WATER NEW ZEALAND

Responding to disaster In January, one of the largest volcanic eruptions in a thousand years cut Tonga off from the world. People described the sound of the eruption like the loudest thunder they’d ever heard.

There were reports that it was heard around the world, including here in New Zealand.

Tragically, a tsunami ensued, devastating the Kingdom of Tonga.

The world could only see satellite images of the damage and waited for a tense few days to hear how the people had fared.

Many Tongans live near the shore, so there was a very real concern for their safety. When news finally came from the Tongan government, it said the country was OK, but was covered in ash and clean water was an urgent priority.

When Oxfam Aotearoa managed to contact one of its long-time partners, the Tongan National Youth Congress, it was relieved to hear that they had leapt into action and used the desalination units that Oxfam provided after Cyclone Ian in 2014.

The Tonga National Youth Congress (TNYC) was founded in 1991 in Tonga and is an initiative from church leaders, government and communities. One of the roles the Tonga National Youth Congress plays in a time of crisis is working with Oxfam to get clean water out to the community.

With the Oxfam desalination units to hand, and knowing how

to use them, TNYC got straight to work purifying salty water and seawater, turning it into drinking water for the community.

Desalination units have the capacity to purify 240 litres of saltwater per hour. But with more than 80,000 people affected, TNYC says that it needs more.

While water is the immediate concern for Tonga, there are thousands of families who have lost their livelihoods.

Oxfam says it doesn’t have the full details but, initial reports estimate that some 12,000 households have been affected. In particular, Tonga’s agricultural sector has been devastated. Over 80 percent of the population of Tonga are active in agriculture or fishing. This is a critical source of income to the Tongan community.

Families that rely on crops, livestock, farms, and fisheries have all suffered substantially. Ash has blanketed crops, massive waves have soaked fertile land with salt water, and the potential for acid rain is still high.

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WATER NEW ZEALAND PACIFIC

At one point, the main island of Tongatapu was covered with up to 10 centimetres of ashfall.

Oxfam Aotearoa humanitarian lead Carlos Calderon says Oxfam was able to respond immediately and send another water desalination unit over to Tonga to begin purifying water right away.

“Our local partners are working hard to get clean water to everyone who needs it, but the crisis is not over yet. So much of the population has been affected by the ashfall and tsunami.”

As Tonga is a low-lying archipelago, fresh water sources are easily compromised after natural disaster events because these can be easily inundated with seawater and, in the case of volcanic eruptions, covered with ash.

After Tropical Cyclone Ian hit the country in 2014, sourcing fresh water quickly became challenging, and the only solution that could meet the need for drinkable water was to desalinate seawater into fresh water.

The concept of using desalination units for disaster response is not new. However, building portable, robust units takes time, and shipping to remote islands in the Pacific meant that it takes at least three months before they could reach the affected communities.

The urgency of the need compelled Oxfam Aotearoa to think of new ways to source desalination units. The team thought of using one that is similar to the ones produced by boats and yachts.

It reached out to a Kiwi watermaker company Open Oceans, based in Paihia, Bay of Islands, to build something that could withstand tough conditions, is able to make hundreds of litres of fresh water continuously, and is relatively easy to operate.

84 www.waternz.org.nz

Just five days after the order was placed, Open Oceans produced three sturdy desalination units, created an operational manual and video to explain how they work, then shipped them to Tonga.

When TNYC received the units, they organised water distribution points in every village affected by the cyclone.

Instead of operating the unit themselves, they taught community members how, and left it to their care for a week so they could stockpile litres of fresh water enough for the whole village. At the end of each week, the team went back to the village, picked up the unit, and moved to the next village.

They did this for the three units given to them, and were able to reach all affected communities in no time.

Even though TNYC had expected Oxfam to be physically present to do humanitarian relief work, Oxfam had the confidence that TNYC had the essential skills to respond to their communities’ needs, even without them on the ground.

This enabled Oxfam to effectively respond without being there, and proves that localisation works when done properly from the beginning.

The partnership between Oxfam and the Tonga National Youth Congress started as a typical development cooperation between a local and international NGO. More than a decade later, it proved that building a robust foundation from the beginning is the key to effectively saving lives, especially in critical times of sudden-onset disasters like an underwater volcanic eruption.

Oxfam is currently running an appeal for Tonga. To learn more, please go to oxfam.org.nz/appeals.

Article supplied by Oxfam Aotearoa.

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WATER NEW ZEALAND ADVERTISER'S INDEX

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CLASSIFIEDS

Deeco Services Ltd ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 51

Australasia Moulding Ltd ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 84

Environment Products Int Ltd ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������21, 35

Backflow Prevention ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 84

Filtec ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 13

Corrosion Control Engineering (CCE) ��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85

Geofabrics ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 58

CIWEM ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85

GHD ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 65

Conhur ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85

HEB ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 43

Detection Solutions ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85

Hydrograph Technologies ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 81

Ecological Technologies ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85

Hydrovac Environmental Support ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 13

Huerner Welding Technology Ltd ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85

Hynds ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 55

Hydra-Care ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85

ifm Electronics ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 27

Jonassen Industrial Projects Ltd ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 86

Itron Metering Systems Singapore �������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 35

Pacific Technologies (NZ) Limited ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 86

Kliptank ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������11

The Mighty Gripper Company Ltd �������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 86

Aeration, Mixing Mixing,, SBRs, Dewatering  Aeration Blowers  Aeration Diffusers  High Efficiency Mixers  Sludge Conditioning

 SBR Process Systems  Thickening Systems  Dewatering Systems  Consultancy

JONASSEN INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS LIMITED

Process, Design & Environmental Engineers

P: 09 479 3952

E: info@jipl.co.nz

www.jipl.co.nz

YOUR AD HERE FOR JUST

240

$

plus GST

CONTACT Debbie Laing M: +64 27 455 0223 Email: advertising@waternz.org.nz

86 www.waternz.org.nz

HIGH RELIABILITY

LOW MAINTENANCE

WTW IQ Sensor Net digital monitoring system for water and wastewater combines many innovative features to provide you flexibility, reliability and durability in continuous monitoring. It is designed and built to last, providing you with many benefits and guaranteeing the quality you choose today will remain long into the future.

Our innovative digital Plug & Play system is suitable for installations of all sizes, making connecting and hot-swapping a breeze. What’s more, the network flexibility of our modular system means you will save on equipment, cable, and installation costs.

The IQ Sensor Net is available with controllers suitable for one, all the way up to 20 sensors, and is easy to install, operate and maintain. Providing a wide range of measuring parameters for both water and wastewater, the IQ Sensor Net offers multiple output options including 4-20mA, Modbus, Profibus, and EthernetIP - as well as an optional built-in web-server for remote access.

Rugged, reliable, and requiring low maintenance, the WTW IQ Sensor Net is the perfect solution to your water quality measuring needs.

0800 33 19 14 | xylem.com/nz