Editing Wellington (section)

=== 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>