Adopted in March 2022, the Auckland Water Strategy sets a vision for Auckland’s waters and provides direction for investment and action across the council group to 2050.
The strategy was developed recognising that many of Auckland Council Group’s current approaches needed to change to achieve meaningful improvement to the health of water across the region.
Councillor Richard Hills, Chair of the Policy and Planning Committee emphasises the importance of having a guiding vision for water and acknowledges the progress made in the last 12 months.
“We have many areas across the council group – including CCOs like Watercare – that work to improve our relationship with water in Tāmaki Makaurau. The water strategy identifies the required changes, outlines the implementation approach, and sets a 30-year timeline to achieve transformational change,” says Cr Hills.
“It’s great to hear that progress has been made. We’re ahead of schedule on recycled water. Auckland has already met its 2030 target of 20 million litres/day of recycled water for beneficial use, reaching 22 million litres/day in 2024/25. However, it’s just as important to understand what areas are not moving as quickly and what can be done to ensure we move forward.”
Progress made but more to be done
Tangible progress is being made towards the aims set out in the eight strategic shifts of the water strategy. However, the progress is incremental and there is a long way to go to achieve the aims of the strategy.
Of the 58 actions in the strategy: six are complete; 12 are progressing on time; 21 are overdue and/or progressing with challenges; seven are not progressing and are overdue; and 12 are not planned to start until a later date.
“While some actions are not being achieved within the original timeline, overall progress should be seen as positive in the context of the ten-year implementation horizon and the longer term aims in each of the strategic shifts,” says Dave Allen, Auckland Council Manager, Natural Environment Strategy.
Alongside successes in hitting our targets for recycled water for beneficial use, our regional water efficiency is improving. Daily water use is now 257 litres per person, a decrease on previous years and within the 2025 target allowance (which is +/- 5 litres).
A key finding of the review was the need to update the population figures used in Watercare’s calculation of daily water consumption per person. The water consumption figure in the 2025 report reflects this update and the target will be reviewed again in 2027.
Case study: Water efficiency work programme
The Water Efficiency Programme run by the council’s Parks and Community Facilities department seeks to increase water efficiency of council assets like sports fields and aquatic centres.
The programme contributes towards Auckland Water Strategy Action 5.10, which directs the organisation to monitor investments to meet the strategy’s water consumption reduction targets and reduce per capita potable water demand by 20 per cent over the next three decades.
“The council, as a significant water user, can also directly contribute towards the strategy’s water consumption reduction targets, by decreasing dependence on the reticulated network. We’ve seen this successfully implemented in the Water Efficiency Programme with great progress made already,” says Taryn Crewe, Auckland Council General Manager, Parks and Community Facilities.
The Water Efficiency Work Programme is being progressed via a mixed approach of investment, innovative technology, engagement, and collaboration with a particular focus on reducing water usage and diversifying water sources, as well as embedding water efficient practices into our day-to-day work.
Some examples of the work achieved through this programme include:
- Leak management: Follow-up procedures on suspected water leaks have become more effective. Watercare uses smart meters and loggers to track water use and notifies Auckland Council when a potential leak is detected. This allows the council to work more efficiently with the relevant team to track follow-up procedures like generating work orders for maintenance contractors to investigate and repair or informing facility managers in urgent cases.
- Targeted engagement: Developing strategies for sustainable water use with staff responsible for high water-usage facilities (such as sports fields, aquatic centres, and cemeteries).
- Irrigation efficiency: An improved irrigation database has enabled council staff to quickly identify sites of low water efficiency, investigate potential causes, and take action to resolve the issues.
- Diversifying sources: Work with Watercare to transition from town-supplied potable water to bore water for a sports park’s irrigation.
- Pilot project: Testing methods to increase the efficiency of sports field irrigation (without compromising turf quality). This pilot will begin in late 2025 and includes ‘smart irrigation’ software that processes data from soil sensors, weather stations, and sets irrigation thresholds to determine when to water. The system also enables the council to audit the maintenance contractors responsible for irrigation in conducting water-efficient irrigation practices.
