Column by Porirua City Mayor, Anita Baker
The failure at the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant is one of the most serious infrastructure breakdowns our region has ever experienced.
Untreated wastewater entering the ocean, the closure of the south coast and the impact on businesses and the environment show what happens when critical systems are pushed beyond their limits. The priority now is straightforward: stabilise the plant, complete the repairs safely and reduce the environmental harm while that work is under way. That will take time.
There will also be an independent Government review. We need clear public answers about how a facility of this importance could fail so completely and what has to change to make sure it does not happen again.
For councils, the wider lesson is unavoidable. Across the country, essential infrastructure is reaching the end of its life at the same time as expectations around public health and environmental performance are increasing. The cost of renewing and upgrading these systems runs into the billions. No single council and its ratepayers can carry that on their own without very sharp increases or major cuts elsewhere.
That is the context for the new water services model that comes into effect next year.
At the moment, councils own the water assets and water costs are largely met through rates. Wellington Water manages the network on behalf of the region, but it does not own the infrastructure and it cannot borrow to fund the long term investment that is needed.
From July 1, 2026, the new regional organisation Tiaki Wai will own the pipes and treatment plants for the metropolitan councils. It will be publicly owned by those councils but will operate as a separate organisation focused solely on water.
It will also bill households directly for water services.
That is a significant change. Instead of water being part of your rates bill, you will receive a separate bill from the water organisation, alongside your council rates for everything else.
The reason for this approach is scale. A dedicated water entity can borrow and invest at a level councils cannot, and spread the cost of major upgrades over a longer period. That gives us a pathway to fixing the backlog rather than continuing to manage decline.
It is important to be clear about what this will and will not do. It will not solve decades of under investment overnight, and it will not remove the cost of replacing ageing infrastructure. What it does is create a structure that is capable of doing the work. The current model is not.
For Porirua households, the practical points are:
• your water services will continue as normal
• the infrastructure will remain in public ownership through the councils’ joint shareholding in the new entity
• you will receive a separate water bill rather than paying for water through rates
• the goal is a steady, planned programme of upgrades so we see fewer failures and a more resilient network over time
While water is the most visible example right now, it is not the only major infrastructure issue we are dealing with.
We are also consulting with the community on the future of Spicer Landfill. That site has served Porirua for decades, but it is reaching the end of its life and the cost of building a replacement landfill that meets modern environmental standards is extremely high.
We now have a genuine choice to make as a city: whether to move to a model where waste is transferred from Spicer to a landfill facility elsewhere in the region, or to close Spicer Landfill altogether.
Kerbside rubbish and recycling collections will continue whichever option is chosen, but the long term decision affects cost, environmental impact and how we manage waste as a growing city.
Consultation on these options opens on February 24 and runs until March 25. I encourage people to take the time to look at the information and have their say. This is a major, once in a generation decision and it needs to be shaped by the community.
Closer to home, the heavy rain event earlier this month showed the value of preparation and coordination. Council and contractor crews were out early clearing drains, monitoring known pressure points and responding quickly where issues arose. That work does not always make headlines, but it reduces disruption and keeps people safe.
All of these issues — Moa Point, water reform, the future of Spicer Landfill — are about the same thing. Infrastructure is not abstract. It is the systems that protect public health, the environment and the reliability of the services we use every day.
Our job is to be upfront about the scale of the challenge, support practical solutions and make sure Porirua’s interests are strongly represented in the decisions that are now being made.
That is where my focus will stay.