Important information for customers following the storm

28/01/2023

Banner promoting our flood recovery page

Our flood recovery page provides the latest updates on the issues still affecting our water catchments, treatment plants, pump stations and network pipes. It also provides regular updates on our work following the record weather events of January and February 2023.

Find out more button

Image of a slip in Titirangi
The storm is having a significant impact on our water and wastewater operations. This page will be updated regularly as new information becomes available.
  • Our rolling updates sections will give you an overview of the latest progress
  • Our FAQs section aims to address customer questions quickly.

Outages and shutdowns in your area

Find out more button

For regular updates, follow us on social media

Instagram: @watercare_nz
Facebook: WatercareNZ
Twitter: @watercare_nz

water being discharged at Lower Huia

Water spilling at Lower Huia Dam

Lower Nihotupu dam after the storm

Lower Nihotupu Dam following the storm

Weather

Friday 10 Feburary

Midday

Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle continues to track towards New Zealand. We’re expecting a severe weather event with strong wind, heavy rain and possible tidal surges from midday Sunday onwards. We’ll continue to monitor forecasts over the weekend.
 
How we are preparing for Cyclone Gabrielle

  • We’ve stood up two incident teams who are ready to monitor and respond to any impact, and have a large contingent of staff on-call

  • We’ll be staffing critical water treatment plants 24/7

  • We’re sandbagging critical assets to minimise impact from flooding and tidal surges

  • We have generators stored at yards ready for deployment

  • Our maintenance staff and contractors have lined up subcontractors to support our response

Tuesday 7 February

2pm

The weather for the rest of this week is expected to be mainly fine, with sunshine and isolated showers. However, a tropical cyclone is expected to form this week in the Coral Sea, bringing with it the possibility of severe weather in New Zealand from Sunday. Weather forecasters will have a better idea of what to expect by Thursday or Friday. Cyclone paths are notoriously hard to predict, so regardless of where it looks to be tracking, we will be fully resourced to respond.

Saturday 4 February

2pm

We’re expecting the weather to be mainly fine, with only isolated showers over the long weekend.

Friday 3 February

2pm

While it’s raining now, the good news is there is now only a low risk of thunderstorms out west later today. The Coromandel and Great Barrier Island seem to have blocked most of the rain that had been anticipated last night. We expect the weekend to be mainly fine, with only normal rainfall likely on Monday.

Thursday 2 February

1.20pm

Heavy rain watches are in place for the Hūnua Ranges and the eastern parts of Auckland this afternoon and through to early tomorrow morning. There’s a low risk of thunderstorms with high-intensity rain. This should clear tomorrow morning, however we expect more rain tomorrow afternoon, particularly in the Waitākere Ranges.

Wednesday 1 February

6pm

Since the heaviest rain subsided earlier today, we’ve seen isolated thunderstorms on the west coast. There may be further pop-up thunderstorms tomorrow night, but we should have a clearer picture of what to expect tomorrow.

1.25pm

Today, the biggest downpours are over, however there is a low risk of isolated thunderstorms. There is likely to be further rain tomorrow and on Friday. The weekend will be mostly dry.

9.50am

Auckland experienced high rainfall in the early hours of this morning. Among the areas affected, the central city received 100mm. We believe the worst of the rain has passed, however we may still experience high winds. Further rain is on its way tomorrow, though not as heavy. Thankfully, last night’s storm did not have a major impact on our operations.

Tuesday 31 January

6pm

There is a red heavy rain warning in place for north of Orewa, and an orange rain warning in place for the rest of Auckland. We are expecting this to have a significant impact on our operations, as per the first storm event. Therefore, we have additional staff and contractors working through tonight and tomorrow. As we go through tonight, our first priority is ensuring personal and public safety; and our second priority is restoring service.

2pm

We've made steady progress restoring water and wastewater services, but we're warning customers to prepare for further disruption with the heavy rain expected tonight and tomorrow.

10am

There is a red heavy rain warning in place for north of Orewa, and an orange rain warning in place for the rest of Auckland. We have put additional resources in place to respond overnight, both on the ground and from a customer liaison perspective.


Water supply: rolling updates

Friday 10 February

Midday

  • Tap water remains safe to drink.
  • Next week, we’re planning to put in place the longer-term solution that addresses the storm damage to our watermain on Scenic Drive, and alleviates the strain on the water storage reservoir that’s currently supplying Titirangi, Konini, Oratia and parts of Glen Eden. The work is currently planned for Wednesday 15 February, however, the timing is dependent on the weather and any other issues we may face in our network. It could be brought forward at very short notice if there is severe impact to our network from Cyclone Gabrielle. As it involves changing the direction of flow in some of our larger transmission pipes, there is a high likelihood that it will stir up sediment – harmless mineral deposits like iron and manganese – in the pipes and discolour the water. Our advice is to store some water in a bottle or the kettle the night before and to avoid washing laundry if water is discoloured. We’ll be asking customers to flush their taps for five minutes when they wake up in the morning, and to email [email protected] if their water still does not run clear. We will send a crew to carry out further work in their area. Until this solution is in place, we are continuing to ask customers in Titirangi, Konini, Oratia and Glen Eden to save water. The response has been great so far – we just need to keep up the good work for a bit longer.​
  • We have identified a leak on our Waitākere raw watermain, which supplies water from Waitākere Dam to the Waitākere Water Treatment Plant. There is still enough water to supply the plant. Access to the pipe is difficult, with multiple slips. We’ll wait for Cyclone Gabrielle to pass before undertaking any remedial work. If the pipe breaks during the wild weather we’re expecting early next week, our inter-connected network means we will still be able to supply water to the high-elevation customers who normally receive water from the Waitākere Water Treatment Plant.

Tuesday 7 February

2pm

  • Tap water remains safe to drink.

  • When last Friday’s storm damaged a large section of our watermain on Scenic Drive, we made temporary changes to our network to restore water to our customers. These changes mean our Montana Reservoir is now supplying water to more customers than it normally would, and it was struggling to keep up with demand. We’re working on a more robust solution in our transmission system that will alleviate the problem.

  • Our crews were out and about finding and fixing leaks in the network which, along with efforts by the community to save water, has helped to reduce the strain on the reservoir. We’re continuing to ask customers in Titirangi, Konini, Oratia and part of Glen Eden to save water.

  • On Thursday night a slip on Scenic Drive took out two of our watermains, affecting up to 250 properties. Our crews built a 150-metre overland pipe, in challenging conditions. Water was successfully restored to all customers overnight on Saturday. Learn more here.

11am

Our water tankers are located at the following sites till 9.30pm tonight:

  • Scenic Drive (cnr Te Henga Road and Scenic Drive), Swanson

  • 1188 Scenic Drive, Swanson

Sunday 5 February

4pm

This morning, residents in Swanson who had been experiencing water supply issues since Thursday evening [2 February] woke up to discover that water was flowing through their taps once again. Click here to read about the work our crews did overnight.

2pm

Our team have carried out further testing across our network and tap water across Auckland remains safe to drink. You do not need to boil it.

11am

Our tanker locations until 9.30pm tonight are:
  • 1 Shetland Street, Glen Eden

  • Cnr Kotinga Ave and Puketitiro St, Glen Eden

  • Scenic Drive (cnr Te Henga Road and Scenic Drive), Swanson

  • 1188 Scenic Drive, Swanson

Saturday 4 February

2pm

  • Tap water remains safe to drink.

  • When last Friday’s storm damaged a large section of our watermain on Scenic Drive, we made temporary changes to our network to restore water to our customers. These changes mean our Montana Reservoir is now supplying water to more customers than it normally would, and it’s struggling to keep up with demand. We’re working on a more robust solution in our transmission system that will alleviate the problem, however, this is still a week away. We are urging customers in the impacted area to reduce their water consumption. Click here for more.

  • On Thursday night a slip on Scenic Drive took out two of our watermains. The road was closed and work to restore water began yesterday morning. Our crews are building a 150-metre overland pipe, in challenging conditions. Last night, we managed to restore a low-pressure supply to a number of residents below the slip. We hope to have full service restored by the end of the day. We have two water tankers where affected residents can collect water from.

  • The water in our dams in the Waitākere Ranges has been affected by landslides. The level of turbidity (dirtiness) makes it harder for the local treatment plants to process. However, all water entering supply continues to meet drinking water standards. Yesterday, Lower Huia Dam was returned to service, which means we now have two of the four dams that normally feed into the Huia Water Treatment Plant supplying water again.

Midday

The water tanker locations until 9.30pm are as follows:

  • 1 Shetland Street, Glen Eden

  • Cnr Kotinga Ave and Puketitiro St, Glen Eden

  • Scenic Drive (cnr Te Henga Road and Scenic Drive), Swanson

  • 1188 Scenic Drive, Swanson

Friday 3 February

6pm

Map of Titirangi, Glen Eden and Konini. These customers are being asked to reduce their water use immediately.
This evening we are urging customers in Titirangi, Konini, Oratia and parts of Glen Eden to reduce their water consumption from now and for the next week. When last Friday’s storm damaged a large section of our watermain on Scenic Drive, we made temporary changes to our network to restore water to our customers. These changes mean our Montana Reservoir is now supplying water to more customers than it normally would, and it’s struggling to keep up with demand. We’re working on a more robust solution in our transmission system that will alleviate the problem, however this is still a week away. To read our press release and get water saving tips, click here.

2pm

Last night a slip on Scenic Drive took out two of our watermains. The road was closed and, repair work began this morning. Our crews are building a 150-metre overland pipe, in challenging conditions, and hope to restore service to all impacted customers by tomorrow morning. However, with the ground still unstable, there is a chance of further disruption. We have two water tankers where affected residents can collect water from.

11.20am

Here are today's water tanker locations. They will be on site until 9.30pm.

  • 1 Shetland St, Glen Eden 
  • 3 Kotinga Ave (Cnr Kotinga Ave and Puketitiro St, Glen Eden) 
  • Scenic Drive, close to 1012 
  • 1188 Scenic Drive

Thursday 2 February

9.30pm

A slip has taken out two watermains on Scenic Drive. For those without water, a water tanker is stationed at 1191 Scenic Drive where you can fill up containers for free until water is restored.

1.20pm

We still have tankers in west Auckland providing emergency water to homes without water. As the main water issues following last Friday’s storm are now resolved, we intend to reduce this to one tanker tomorrow.

11am

Here are the water tanker locations for today. They'll be on site until 7pm.

  • 717 South Titirangi Rd
  • 7 Tawini Rd
  • 1 Shetland St, Glen Eden
  • 66 Avonleigh Rd, Green Bay
  • Ceremco Park, Glen Eden Scout Group on Glendale Rd, Glendale Rd
  • 3 Kotinga Ave (cnr Kotinga Ave & Puketitiro St)
  • 73 Withers Rd (cnr Withers Rd & Paewai Rd)
  • 891 Scenic Dr

Wednesday 1 February 

6pm

  • Tap water remains safe to drink.
  • We still have tankers in West Auckland providing emergency water to homes without water. Their locations until 9pm this evening are:
    • End of Tawini Road
    • Shetland Street, Glen Eden
    • Ceramco Park, Glen Eden
    • 3 Kotinga Avenue, Glen Eden
    • 891 Scenic Drive
    • Kay Road, Swanson
  • ​We’re aware of an ongoing issue affecting some customers in Oratia and will be sending crews to investigate.

9.50am

We have returned to full service and we believe there are fewer than 100 properties in west Auckland without water this morning. If there are further watermain breaks today, our crews will be expected to restore service to affected customers within five hours.

9am

Tanker locations for today are:

  •  716 South Titirangi Rd
  •  End of Tawini Rd
  •  1 Cochran Rd, Oratia
  •  Shetland Street, Glen Eden
  •  66 Avonleigh Rd, Green Bay
  •  Ceramco Park, Glen Eden
  •  Cnr Kotinga Avenue & Puketitiro Street, Glen Eden
  •  Cnr Withers Road & Paewai Road, Glen Eden
They will be on-site until midday.

Tuesday 31 January

6pm

  • Tap water remains safe to drink. We have increased sampling in the network and the results are compliant with drinking water standards.
  • We have filled our water storage reservoirs (tanks) across Auckland ahead of tonight’s storm. This gives us a level of resilience should there be an issue with our larger transmission watermains.
  • We have made strong progress in terms of resolving the water supply issues in Titirangi and Glen Eden. To ensure we have a clear understanding of the remaining issues from the first storm event, we will survey customers in affected areas this evening. We may re-survey them tomorrow or Thursday to understand how their situation has changed because of tonight’s weather event.
  • The water in our dams in the Waitakere Ranges has been affected by landslides. The level of turbidity (dirtiness) is rising which makes it harder for the local treatment plants to process. Lower Nihotupu and Upper Nihotupu Dams have been taken out of service for this reason.

2pm

  • We’re encouraging customers living in the wider Titirangi area to be prepared for intermittent water supply issues over the coming days, as we expect to find more damage to our networks caused by slips, and more rain could exacerbate the situation.
  • Yesterday our dams team released some of the dirtiest water using the ‘free discharge valves’ at the bottom of Lower Nihotupu and Lower Huia dams to try to reduce turbidity. While this has got rid of some of the dirtiest water, dirt is still constantly being washed into these lakes.
  • Our Ardmore and Waikato water treatment plants are coping well and we can produce enough water for Auckland if the Huia plant shuts down – so long as people use it wisely.

10am

  • Addressing water supply issues is our highest priority.
  • Tap water remains safe to drink. We have increased sampling in the network and the results are compliant with drinking water standards.
  • We have made a lot of progress yesterday resolving water supply issues in west Auckland. We encourage customers living in the wider Titirangi area to be prepared for intermittent water supply issues over the coming days. This is because we are likely to find more damage to our networks caused by slips. We can only locate these leaks as the water starts to flow through the pipes. Our crews will need to turn off the water supply for short periods of time in localised areas as they fix the damage.
  • Yesterday, we found a large break in Orewa, on a pipe that supplies the reservoir. This has been fixed.
  • We are not anticipating issues at our two largest water treatment plants: Ardmore and Waikato.

8.30am

Please find below the water tanker locations for today. Tankers will be on-site till 9/9.30pm.

  • 716 South Titirangi Road, Titirangi
  • End of Tawini Road, Titirangi
  • 1 Cochran Road, Oratia
  • Shetland Street, Glen Eden - self service
  • 66 Avonleigh Road, Green Bay - Metlife Care Retirement Village - 24 hour service
  • Ceramco Park, Glen Eden - a self service trailer located in the car park at the Scout Group site on Glendale Road
  • Corner Kotinga Avenue and Puketitiro Street, Glen Eden
  • Corner Withers Road and Paewai Road, Glen Eden

Monday 30 January

6.30pm

  • We've made good progress today resolving water supply issues in west Auckland. Many customers in Glen Eden and Titirangi South had water restored. We do, however, encourage customers living in the wider Titirangi area to be prepared for intermittent water supply issues over the coming days as we are likely to find more damage to our networks caused by slips. Our crews will need to turn off the water supply for short periods of time in localised areas as they fix the damage.
  • Tap water remains safe to drink. We have increased sampling in the network and the results are compliant with drinking water standards.
  • We have found a large break in Orewa, on a pipe that supplies the reservoir. We have been able to isolate the pipe, without causing any customer impact. A crew is onsite fixing the break.

1pm

Two additional water tankers are available at the following locations:

  • Corner Kotinga Avenue and Puketitiro Street, Glen Eden
  • Corner Withers Road and Paewai Road, Glen Eden

The complete list of tanker locations for today is as follows:

On-site till around 9pm

  • 716 South Titirangi Road, Titirangi
  • End of Tawini Road, Titirangi
  • 1 Cochran Road, Oratia
  • Shetland Street, Glen Eden - self service
  • 66 Avonleigh Road, Green Bay - Metlife Care Retirement Village - 24 hour service
  • Ceramco Park, Glen Eden - a self service trailer located in the car park at the Scout Group site on Glendale Road
On-site till 9.30pm
  • Corner Kotinga Avenue and Puketitiro Street, Glen Eden
  • Corner Withers Road and Paewai Road, Glen Eden

10.30am

Waiatarua customers, For safety reasons our team had to leave the work site overnight. Work is continuing this morning and we are working to getting your water restored as soon as we can. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

9am

Titirangi customers, here is the confirmed list of water tanker locations for today:

  • 716 South Titirangi Road, Titirangi
  • End of Tawini Road, Titirangi
  • 1 Cochran Road, Oratia
  • Shetland Street, Glen Eden - self service
  • 66 Avonleigh Road, Green Bay - Metlife Care Retirement Village - 24 hour service
  • Ceramco Park, Glen Eden - a self service trailer located in the car park at the Scout Group site on Glendale Road
We are aware clusters of houses in South Titirangi, Glen Eden, Green Bay and Waiatarua where customers are reporting low water pressure, no water or discoloured water. Our team is looking into the issue. If you are in these locations and don't have water, please report a fault by clicking here. That helps our team keep track of the streets and neighbourhoods without water.
Photo of a slip in Titirangi

Storm damage in Titirangi

Slip in Titirangi

A slip on Scenic Drive in Titirangi has impacted our water supply

Water supply: rolling updates continued

Sunday 29 January

6pm

Waiatarua customers without water, we hope to have service restored by tomorrow morning.

5.30pm

Titirangi customers, here is the confirmed list of water tankers on-site this evening:

  • 717 South Titirangi Road, Titirangi
  • Bottom of Tawini Road, Titirangi
  • 1 Cochran Road, Oratia
  • Shetland Street, Glen Eden
  • 66 Avonleigh Road, Green Bay - Metlife Care
  • Glendale Road, Glen Eden - Scout Group
  • Corner of Kotinga and Puketitiro Street, Glen Eden
  • Corner of Withers and Paewai Rd, Glen Eden
Please note, the tanker on the corner of Taupo Road and Golf Street in New Lynn has moved to help with our operations. 

1pm

  • Titirangi and surrounding suburbs: We have reconfigured the network to supply customers, after a 30-metre-long section of pipe was washed away on Scenic Drive. Customers will experience intermittent low water pressure, no water or discoloured water throughout the day though. Water tankers are in the area.
  • Glen Eden customers without water: We have been able to identify two clusters of houses with water supply issues. This means our field crews, who are on-site, can focus on these areas.
  • Waiatarua customers without water: A road slip has caused a pipe break to interrupt supply from the Bush Road reservoir. You may experience no water or low pressure until the fault is fixed. We expect the repair to take a further 12 hours.
  • Dams: We are continuing to monitor the level of turbidity in the western dams. We have staff inspecting the impact of the storm on our catchments and lakes.

11am

Titirangi customers, Our apologies that our water tankers weren't on-site at 7am as planned. They are now located at the following sites for today:

  • 717 South Titirangi Road, Titirangi
  • Bottom of Tawini Road, Titirangi
  • 1 Cochran Road, Oratia
  • 4 Shetland Street, Glen Eden
  • 66 Avonleigh Road, Green Bay - Metlife Care
  • Corner of Taupo Road and Golf Street, New Lynn

Saturday 28 January

6.50pm

Glen Eden customers, If you've seen a watermain break in your community, please report it via our chatbot or online form. We're aware of customers without water, and we'd like to get the issue resolved as soon as possible. To do that we need to track down exactly where a break has occurred. Your help would be much appreciated, so we can get your water supply restored. Click the link to make a report.

6.45pm

This afternoon, an update was emailed to Titirangi customers to let them know that thanks to our highly integrated network, when a watermain breaks we can often reconfigure the network to limit the impact on customers. That's exactly what our team has been working on today. Since this morning, we have been able to refill Nihotupu Reservoir. Our team is now recharging the network, which should take a few hours. Over the next 24 hours, Titirangi customers should have their water supply restored. Until water is restored, customers are encouraged to pop down to one of the following water tanker sites and fill up containers for free.

  • Bottom of Tawini Road, Titirangi
  • 716 South Titirangi Road, Titirangi
  • 108 Takahe Road, Titirangi

5pm

Glen Eden customers are still without water. Our technicians are continuing to actively investigate the issue. Water tankers are located in the nearby suburb of Titirangi. Until the fault is repaired, customers are encouraged to pop down to one of the following sites and fill up containers for free.

  • Bottom of Tawini Road, Titirangi
  • 716 South Titirangi Road, Titirangi
  • 108 Takahe Road, Titirangi

2.30pm

  • Tap water across Auckland is safe to drink and you do not need to boil it.
  • Water treatment plants that are currently offline are in Pukekohe, Muriwai and Wellsford. Customers living in these areas still have safe drinking water. We have operators heading to Muriwai and Wellsford now and expect to have the plants up and running by the end of the day.
  • Residents living in Titirangi, Woodlands Park, Oratia, Greenbay, Waima and elevated sections of Scenic Drive are likely to have no water or low water pressure at the moment. We are reconfiguring the network to try to minimise the number of customers impacted.

1.15pm

There is no truth to the rumour that North Shore residents need to boil their water. Tap water across Auckland is safe to drink and you do not need to boil it.

1pm

You might be experiencing a bit of discoloured water when you turn the tap on. It's caused by issues in the network. In a nutshell, changes in the rate at which water is flowing is stirring up sediment. It doesn't look pretty, but the water is still safe to drink.

Midday

For customers located in and around Titirangi who don't have water, tankers are now located at the following locations.

  • Bottom of Tawini Road, Titirangi
  • 716 South Titirangi Road, Titirangi
  • 108 Takahe Road, Titirangi
  • 1 Cochran Road, Oratia

A tanker has been Metlife Care (48-72 Avonleigh Road) and will possibly be on-site within the hour.

10.40am

For customers located in and around Titirangi who don't have water, our first water tanker has arrived and is located at the bottom of Tawini Road in Titirangi. If you don't have water, please grab some empty containers and pop down to fill up for free.

10am

Residents living in Glen Eden may have low water pressure or no water at the moment. We are aware of the situation, so there is no need to make a fault report.

7am

Residents living in Titirangi, Woodlands Park, Oratia, Greenbay, Waima and elevated sections of Scenic Drive are likely to have no water or low water pressure for at least the next 48 hours. A 30-metre-long section of water pipe that ran along Scenic Drive in Titirangi was washed away with the road due to a landslide. It will be challenging to repair due to the extent of the damage and access to the site.


We are sending water tankers to the area. Customers will be able to fill up their water bottles from the tankers. We will publish the locations soon - check the above rolling update list for the locations as they come to hand.

General

Our water treatment plants are operating and your water is safe to drink.

Infrastructure update

Tuesday 7 February

2pm

Late on Saturday, we opened a section of Atkinson Rd by Kaurilands School, and put a diversion in place along Woodfern Crescent. This will help alleviate some traffic woes in the area due to the floods. We have increased our resources on the project and the intention is to get all Atkinson Road works completed by the end of February  - two months ahead of schedule.


Wastewater network: rolling updates

Friday 10 February

Midday

  • All of our wastewater treatment plants are stable.
  • All of our major wastewater pump stations are up and running again. Albany pump station though has just one pump in service. We hope to be able to refurbish the second one.

Tuesday 7 February

2pm

  • All of our wastewater treatment plants are stable.

  • All of our wastewater pump stations are up and running again, however, Albany pump station has just one pump in service. We hope to be able to refurbish the second one.

  • We encourage people to stay away from beaches and waterways, as there is the potential for wastewater contamination, and there may be other flood-related hazards. The SafeSwim website will continue to show black water quality pins until at least Tuesday. This is a precautionary action due to the scale of the storm event and the continuing rainfall. Auckland Council has erected signs on North Shore beaches, warning of pollution.

Saturday 4 February

2pm

  • We are aware of customers who have reported wastewater overflows on their properties around the Balmoral, Kingsland and Mt Eden area, where the underlying aquifer has filled to the point that it’s reached ground level in many areas. Given the unprecedented level of ground saturation in the area at the moment, the level of inflow and infiltration into our wastewater network is far greater than normal – even though the rain has stopped, groundwater is continuing to enter our wastewater network. Our crews have been busy cleaning up private properties where our customers have reported overflows. We are urging all customers who see an overflow in our network or experience one at their properties to click here and report the fault. Please note, residents around Eden Park may see water being pumped from their grounds. This is going into a separate stormwater system and has no impact on our wastewater network. Click here for more.

  • Today, our maintenance team is installing a new pump at our Wairau Pump Station, which was severely flooded during the storm. We managed to refurbish two of our pumps, but the third pump arrived from the South Island today. This will mean the pump station is operating at its full capacity again.

  • Our crews are starting to clean up beaches and public spaces affected by wastewater overflows during the storm. This will take several weeks, due to the scale and spread of the event.

Thursday 2 February

1.20pm

Today, our crews are starting to clean up beaches and public spaces affected by wastewater overflows during the storm. This will take several weeks, due to the scale and spread of the event. We have already made good progress cleaning up private properties where wastewater overflows have occurred.

Wednesday 1 February

6pm

  • Our wastewater networks and treatment plants were overwhelmed by floodwater, causing numerous overflows across Auckland. Our crews have begun the clean-up, but with the volume of overflows, it may be a couple of days before we can get through all of them. We are sending texts to customers who have reported overflows that we haven’t yet attended, so they know we’ll be there when we can.

  • ​We attend and clean-up after all known wastewater overflows from our manholes. For people needing to clean up their properties after flooding, we recommend checking out Emergency Management’s flood cleaning tips. Please remember to treat all floodwater as contaminated.

  • Currently, all our treatment plants and pump stations are operating. We expect to have our Wairau pump station operating at full capacity again tomorrow.

  • We encourage people to stay away from beaches and waterways, as there is the potential for wastewater contamination. The Safeswim website will continue to show black water quality pins until at least Tuesday. This is a precautionary action due to the scale of the storm event and the continuing rainfall. Auckland Council has erected signs on North Shore beaches, warning of pollution. 

1.25pm

The SafeSwim website will continue to show black water quality pins until at least Tuesday. This is a precautionary action due to the scale of the storm event and the continuing rainfall.

9.50am

Currently, all our treatment plants and pump stations are operating.

Tuesday 31 January

6pm

  • We encourage people to stay away from beaches and waterways, as there is the potential for wastewater contamination. The SafeSwim website has information about beach water quality – we have overridden the model to ensure all urban beaches remain black flagged. Auckland Council has erected signs on North Shore beaches, warning of pollution.
  • We have started cleaning up following the storm but this work will be hampered by tonight’s heavy rain.  Most of the clean-up activity will need to occur when the rain stops, as this is when the overflows will stop flowing.

10am

We have around 800 wastewater pump stations across Auckland. Of these, ten were severely flooded. Five of these are operating again. In terms of the others, we anticipate:
  • Wairau Road, North Shore: one pump should be operating again today. There is the potential the pump station will cause odours in the area temporarily when it starts up again.
  • Alma Road, North Shore: this should be operating in the next few days
  • Black Bridge, Mangere: this should be operating again by tomorrow
  • Edgar Road, Westmere: this should be operating again by mid-week
  • Kitchener Road, Waiuku: we are tankering wastewater from this pump station to the wastewater treatment plant

Monday 30 January

6.30pm

  • We encourage people to stay away from beaches and waterways, as there is the potential for wastewater contamination. The SafeSwim website has information about beach water quality – we are in the process of overriding the model to ensure all urban beaches remain black flagged. Auckland Council has erected signs on North Shore beaches, warning of pollution.

9am

  • Ten wastewater pump stations have been flooded. Six of these are up and running again. Those that are not operating are on the North Shore (Wairau Road and Alma Road), in Westmere (Edgars Road) and in Mangere (Black Bridge, near Hinau Road).
  • We are prioritising overflows that are damaging private property. Most of the clean-up activity will need to occur when the rain stops, as this is when the overflows will stop flowing.

Sunday 29 January

6pm

Auckland Council is erecting signs on North Shore beaches, warning of pollution.

1pm

  • The most significant issue we’re currently facing is on the North Shore. We are working to restore service to several pump stations, including Wairau, Alma and Blackrock. This is challenging due to the damage that was done to the electrical circuits and pumps.
  • We encourage people to stay away from beaches and waterways, as there is the potential for wastewater contamination. The SafeSwim website has information about beach water quality.
  • We are prioritising overflows that are damaging private property. Most of the clean-up activity will need to occur when the rain stops, as this is when the overflows will stop flowing.

Saturday 28 January

2pm

  • The most significant wastewater issue we’re currently facing is on the North Shore. Two wastewater pump stations (Wairau Road and Albany) were flooded. This means the pump stations are overflowing. At Wairau Road, we have removed several of the pumps in order to dry them out. We expect a partial return to service by the end of the day. At Albany, we hope to have a generator on-site soon, which will mean the pump station will be operational again. In the meantime, we encourage customers living on the North Shore to continue to reduce their water use, which will reduce the volume of wastewater leaving their properties.
  • On our Central Interceptor project, the main tunnel and branch tunnel did not experience flooding and is unaffected. Shafts at two associated construction sites were flooded and are being inspected

7am

Residents on the North Shore are asked to reduce their water use. Please keep your showers short and do not use your washing machines. This is to reduce the volume of wastewater leaving your properties.

A wastewater pump station on Wairau Road that serves several suburbs on the North Shore has been flooded, destroying the control systems. This means the pump station is overflowing into a nearby waterway.

General

Our wastewater networks and treatment plants have been overwhelmed by stormwater, causing numerous overflows across Auckland.

We are prioritising overflows that are damaging private property. Most of the clean-up activity will need to occur when the rain stops, as this is when the overflows will stop flowing.
 

FAQs section

Last updated: Wednesday 7 February

Do I need to boil my tap water?
Is discoloured water safe to drink?
When it comes to fault repairs, what jobs are your crews prioritising?
How should I go about reporting a water or wastewater fault?
Who do I contact if I have private property damage?
Who do I contact about a stormwater or rainwater overflow/flooding?
If I have a wastewater overflow on my property, can I use my toilet?
Should I stay away from stormwater/rainwater overflows and the beach?
Will discoloured water affect my hot water cylinder?