Pukekohe Water Treatment Plant rehabilitation

Project overview

The Auckland Anniversary flood event of 2023 caused severe localised flooding, measured at 48m above sea level which is comparative to the expectations of a 1 in 100-year flood event. As a result, a large portion of the Pukekohe water treatment plant site was flooded, impacting several key operational assets which took the plant out of service. This project is both the rehabilitation of the plant and to improve its resilience against future flood events.

Flooding impacted the water treatment plant

What are we doing?

We are relocating operational parts of the treatment plant that are prone to flooding. A new purpose-built structure will be placed at the Dublin Road bore site to facilitate chemical dosing. The remainder of flood prone systems will be relocated within the current treatment plant site. The old building will be retained for non-operational purposes.

The power cable to the Crisp Avenue bore site was also damaged and requires installation of new cable ducts using a technique called thrusting. For thrusting cable ducts through from the treatment plant to Crisp Avenue, we will excavate at four points across the site. Thrusting involves pushing small cable ducts into place without the need of trenching or boring. This is likely to have very minimal long-term impact on the reserve.

Most of the works required for rehabilitation will take place on Watercare owned land.

How does the work affect you?

• Working hours are between 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday. Saturday will only be used if necessary.

• Construction work will be within the current Watercare designated site and within Hickeys Recreation Reserve.
• There will be no disruption to traffic, but there will be some small exclusion zones established within the reserve.

• The work may generate some noise and vibration, however, we aim to keep this to a minimum and within Auckland Council consent conditions.