Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Wellington councils and the region's water company have been told to set out a plan for avoiding water shortages next summer.
Taumata Arowai, the water watchdog set up in 2021, says it doesn't have confidence another "acute water shortage risk" will be avoided.
Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua have had restrictions in place for the past few months as well as warnings that tighter limits may be needed.
In a letter from Taumata Arowai's chief executive, local councils and Wellington Water were asked to set out how they could avoid a repeat of this situation next year.
"While the situation is changing as new decisions are taken, on the information currently available to Taumata Arowai we are not confident that WWL's [Wellington Water's] operational plans or broader council investment decisions will be adequate to prevent the current acute water shortage risk from happening again next summer," the letter said.
By last month the risk of the capital moving to a ban on outdoor water use had receded but residents were urged to keep conserving water. Meanwhile Wellington Water said crews had been receiving verbal abuse while fixing leaks and appealed to residents not to take out their frustration on workers.
"What we are particularly interested in is being in a situation next year where not faced with this looming risk of severe water restrictions," Taumata Arowai regulatory head Steve Taylor said.
"They've got until Friday to provide that plan" - Taumata Arowai regulatory head Steve Taylor
"We've seen many of Wellington region's residents are concerned around acute water restrictions, around the potential declaration of a drinking water emergency which simply means there's not enough drinking water to go around."
Taylor said councils were already looking at options including tackling leaks in metropolitan urban areas and increasing investment in water treatment, but Taumata Arowai wanted to see a strategy.
"All the conversation to date has been floating these ideas around .... we'd like to see a plan that presents these in a staged logical way," he told Morning Report.
"We've requested the assurance through a plan from the councils. They've got until Friday to provide that plan."
Asked whether regions had been allocating enough money to the water network, Taylor said it it was "really apparent that that work isn't occurring to the level that it should, then there's the option of directing to ensure that it does occur".