Editing Wellington (section)

==Infrastructure==
===Electric power===
Wellington's first public electricity supply was established in 1904, alongside the introduction of electric trams, and was originally supplied at 105&nbsp;volts 80&nbsp;hertz. The conversion to the now-standard 230/400&nbsp;volts 50&nbsp;hertz began in 1925, the same year the city was connected to the [[Mangahao Power Station|Mangahao hydroelectric scheme]]. Between 1924 and 1968, the city's supply was supplemented by a coal-fired power station at Evans Bay.<ref>{{cite web|title=Evans Bay Power Station – Engineering New Zealand|url=http://www.engineeringnz.org/our-work/heritage/heritage-records/evans-bay-power-station/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509100127/https://www.engineeringnz.org/our-work/heritage/heritage-records/evans-bay-power-station/|archive-date=9 May 2019|access-date=9 May 2019|website=engineeringnz.org}}</ref>

Today, Wellington city is supplied from four [[Transpower New Zealand Limited|Transpower]] substations: Takapu Road, Kaiwharawhara, Wilton, and Central Park (Mount Cook). [[Wellington Electricity]] owns and operates the local distribution network.

The city is home to two large wind farms, [[Project West Wind|West Wind]] and [[Mill Creek Wind Farm|Mill Creek]], which combined contribute up to 213&nbsp;MW of electricity to the city and the national grid.

While Wellington experiences regular strong winds, and only 63% of Wellington Electricity's network is underground, the city has a very reliable power supply. In the year to March 2018, Wellington Electricity disclosed the average customer spent just 55 minutes without power due to unplanned outages.<ref>{{cite web|title=EDB Information Disclosure Requirements – Wellington Electricity Lines Limited – year ended 31 March 2018|url=https://www.welectricity.co.nz/dmsdocument/156|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018122249/https://www.welectricity.co.nz/dmsdocument/156|archive-date=18 October 2018|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref>

===Natural gas===
Wellington was one of the original nine towns and cities in New Zealand to be supplied with natural gas when the [[Kapuni|Kapuni gas field]] entered production in 1970, and a {{convert|260|km|mi|adj=mid|-long}} high-pressure pipeline from the field in Taranaki to the city was completed. The high-pressure transmission pipelines supplying Wellington are now owned and operated by [[First Gas]], with [[Powerco]] owning and operating the medium- and low-pressure distribution pipelines within the urban area.<ref>{{cite web|date=December 2016|title=The New Zealand Gas Story|url=http://gasindustry.co.nz/dmsdocument/5344|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202151245/http://gasindustry.co.nz/dmsdocument/5344|archive-date=2 February 2017|access-date=13 February 2017|publisher=Gas Industry Company}}</ref>

=== The three waters ===
{{Main|Water supply and sanitation in the Wellington region}}

The "three waters" – [[drinking water]], [[stormwater]], and [[wastewater]] services for the Wellington metropolitan area are provided by five councils: Wellington City, Hutt, Upper Hutt and Porirua city councils, and the [[Wellington Region|Greater Wellington]] Regional Council. However, the water assets of these councils are managed by an [[infrastructure asset management]] company, [[Wellington Water]].

Wellington's first piped water supply came from a spring in 1867.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our water history – on tap Water supply in the Wellington region 1867–2006|url=http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Our-Environment/Water-Supply/PDFs/Our-water-history-on-tap-complete-document.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201015113/http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Our-Environment/Water-Supply/PDFs/Our-water-history-on-tap-complete-document.pdf|archive-date=1 February 2016|publisher=WRC}}</ref> [[Wellington Region|Greater Wellington Regional Council]] now supplies Lower Hutt, Porirua, Upper Hutt and Wellington with up to 220 million litres a day.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bulk water supply – live {{!}} Greater Wellington Regional Council|url=http://www.gw.govt.nz/bulk-water-supply-live/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516004711/http://www.gw.govt.nz/bulk-water-supply-live/|archive-date=16 May 2016|access-date=20 May 2016|website=gw.govt.nz}}</ref> The water comes from [[Wainuiomata River]] (since 1884), [[Hutt River (New Zealand)|Hutt River]] (1914), [[Ōrongorongo River]] (1926) and the [[Waiwhetu Aquifer|Waiwhetū Aquifer]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Watermap {{!}} Greater Wellington Regional Council|url=http://www.gw.govt.nz/live-water-supply/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531161619/http://www.gw.govt.nz/live-water-supply/|archive-date=31 May 2016|access-date=20 May 2016|website=gw.govt.nz}}</ref>

There are four wastewater treatment stations serving the Wellington metropolitan area, located at:<ref>{{cite web|title=Wastewater|url=http://www.learnz.org.nz/water172/bg-standard-f/wastewater/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414020034/http://www.learnz.org.nz/water172/bg-standard-f/wastewater/|archive-date=14 April 2020|access-date=14 April 2020|publisher=LEARNZ}}</ref>
* [[Moa Point]] (serving Wellington city)
* Seaview (serving Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt)
* Karori (serving the suburb)
* Porirua (serving northern Wellington suburbs, Tawa and Porirua city)
The Wellington metropolitan area faces challenges with ageing infrastructure for the three waters, and there have been some significant failures, particularly in wastewater systems. The water supply is vulnerable to severe disruption during a major earthquake, although a wide range of projects are planned to improve the resilience of the water supply and allow a limited water supply post-earthquake.<ref>{{cite web|date=Oct 2019|title=Wellington Lifelines Project – Regional Resilience Report|url=https://wremo.nz/assets/Uploads/Wellington-Lifelines-PBC-MAIN-Combined-20191009.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200411040711/https://wremo.nz/assets/Uploads/Wellington-Lifelines-PBC-MAIN-Combined-20191009.pdf|archive-date=11 April 2020|access-date=11 April 2020|publisher=Wellington Region Emergency Management Office}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=George|author=<!--Not stated-->|first=Damian|date=3 December 2019|title=Wellington Lifelines Group calls for 20-year investment programme to guard against major earthquake|publisher=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |location=New Zealand|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/nz-earthquake/117783826/wellington-lifelines-group-calls-for-20year-investment-programme-to-guard-against-major-earthquake|access-date=12 April 2020}}</ref>

In May 2021, the Wellington City Council approved a 10-year plan that included expenditure of $2.7{{nbsp}}billion on water pipe maintenance and upgrades in Wellington city, and an additional $147 to $208 million for plant upgrades at the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant.<ref>{{cite news|last=George|first=Damian|date=27 May 2021|title=Massive cycleways funding boost as city council signs off on record spend|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125268677/massive-cycleways-funding-boost-as-city-council-signs-off-on-record-spend|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528023534/https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125268677/massive-cycleways-funding-boost-as-city-council-signs-off-on-record-spend|archive-date=28 May 2021}}</ref> In November 2023, Wellington Water noted that on-going investment of $1 billion per annum was required to address water issues across the Greater Wellington region, but that this amount was beyond the funding capacity of councils.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Boyack|first=Nicholas|date=6 November 2023|title=Cost of fixing Wellington's water crisis – $1b a year|url=https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/nz-news/350101981/cost-fixing-wellingtons-water-crisis-1b-year|url-access=subscription|access-date=7 November 2023|website=The Post}}</ref>