More than 250 visitors flock to Pukekohe Water Treatment Plant Open Day

On Saturday, more than 250 people visited the newly reopened Pukekohe Water Treatment Plant to explore and learn the role it plays in Auckland’s integrated water network.

The plant resumed operations in early December providing an additional five million litres of water per day to customers in Pukekohe and Buckland, easing the demand on the wider metropolitan water network that serves Auckland.

Southern water treatment manager Tom Wallace, who was one of the educators on the day, felt that attendees left with a better grasp of the treatment water must go through before it reaches their taps.

Photo: Visitors being shown around the treatment plant site.

“At the event, people had the opportunity to explore the site and talk directly to members of our water production team, at times throwing in the odd curly question or two.

“The event was also a great way for people to appreciate the complexities and the vastness of our network, which supplies around 440 million litres of water a day to about 1.7 million people in the Auckland region.

Photo: Children enjoyed the water based activities.

“We talked about the importance of using water wisely – particularly at the moment, given the dry weather we’re experiencing.

“Our four-minute shower timers went down well – as did the sausages and ice creams!”

Photo: Visitors enjoyed what was on offer at the BBQ.

Capital delivery general manager Suzanne Lucas says the event was a great way for the community to see the work we put in to bring the plant back into service.

“The plant was taken out of service after experiencing severe flood damage during the 2023 Auckland Anniversary floods.

“The flood destroyed essential infrastructure, including the chemical dosing system and electrical equipment.

“Instead of rebuilding immediately, the team worked with contractors to redesign the plant, relocating key components like the control room to higher ground and burying major electrical cables to reduce future flood risks.”

Photo: A youngster amongst the filtration membranes.

Construction of a new dosing system at the plant is planned to be integrated into the treatment process by mid-year.

The new dosing system that’s being installed will replace the current liquid dosing system with a new self-generating system that will use a sensor to monitor the pH level of the water and automatically adjust the chemical feed rate to maintain the desired levels.

Avocado tree planted at Hickey’s Reserve

A two-year-old avocado tree was also planted at the event in the community orchard behind Hickey’s Reserve near the Pukekohe Water Treatment Plant.

The tree, donated by resident Matthew Gouge, is his family’s way of giving back to the community they’ve called home for four years.

“When we moved to Pukekohe, I was amazed by the variety and accessibility of fruit in this orchard.

“The avocado tree originated as a self-seeded seedling in my compost heap. It is vigorous and I expect it will become a productive fruiting tree – making it the perfect addition to the orchard.”

The orchard, initiated by Stewart Bent with support from the Franklin District Council, was created to make better use of the land.

Bent says it took him and a small team about three years from around 2007 to plant around 200 trees, including citrus, peaches, plums, and apricots.

“Although many original trees are gone, it’s nice to know people still collect fruit,” says Bent, who recently picked cooking apples there.