KAPITI WATER SUPPLY: GETTING IT RIGHT Phillip Stroud (Kapiti Coast District Council), Andrew Watson & Nathan Baker (CH2M Beca Ltd)

Abstract number of setbacks since Council’s application to augment the supply from the Otaki River Over the last five years the water supply for was declined in 2001. The consequence of that Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Raumati on the application being declined was that Council Kapiti Coast has gone from being a locally developed a groundwater supply in the contentious issue, to now having a clear way Waikanae area for augmentation, but the water forward. quality of that source (hardness and saltiness) was disliked by the community. This paper describes how Kapiti Coast District Council, in resolving to commit to a well- As the population of the community continued resourced project and a robust process for to grow through the 2000s, the capacity of the addressing its water supply issues, has supply was once again under pressure, and reached a position where it now has a definitive planning commenced on the search for a water supply plan for the next 100 years. publicly acceptable long term sustainable solution. Because of the high level of interest in Key Words water supply by the community, and the contentious history, in 2008 Council committed water supply; Kapiti; innovation; sweating to a well-resourced project that would bring the assets; community engagement; iwi community on board and deliver a 50 year partnership; resource consent. water supply solution.

Planning, Setting Up, and Resourcing

In its 2008 resolution to address the long term issues of the WPR water supply, Council Introduction committed a budget of $23 million for the project in its 2009 LTCCP. As part of the After more than 20 years of struggling to get a setting up of the project, Council appointed a water supply that meets the needs of its dedicated in-house Project Manager who held growing community, Kapiti Coast District this role until 2013. Council (Council) now has a clear way forward. This paper describes Council’s journey from a Council decided to procure the necessary position where historically it was grappling with technical resources for delivering the project. A the future of its water supply, to having a carefully staged process was used for the definitive water supply plan for the next 100 selection of the lead consultant: years.  Expression of interest (EoI) using Tenderlink The outcomes of this project demonstrate the (11 submissions were received) benefits of local government taking a broad  Evaluation of the EoIs and shortlisting to and holistic approach to asset planning, as this four can result in new ways to sweat existing assets  Request for Proposal from the four that are prudent in both financial and resilience terms. shortlisted consultants  Evaluation of proposals and further Background to Project shortlisting to two  Formal presentation by, and Interviewing of, Water supply on the Kapiti Coast for the the two shortlisted consultants communities of Waikanae, Paraparaumu and  Selection of preferred consultant Raumati (WPR) has been a locally contentious  Agreement of commercial terms and setting issue for over 20 years. The supply has had a of project budgets

1 50 year planning horizon). Headroom has also The procurement process worked well for been included to account for uncertainty in the Council, and the interview in particular was population and demand forecasts – this found to be a useful test of the consultants’ equates to about 6,000 m³/day. proposed teams. A very similar process was used in 2014 for another major Council project. The 50 year planning horizon forecasted a demand of 32,300m3/day, about 40% more Engineering Details than the existing consents for both the abstraction from the Waikanae River and the Current Waikanae, Paraparaumu & Raumati borefield (23,000 m3/day). (WPR) Water Supply Selection of River Recharge Option The current WPR water supply is based on a run-of-river system on the Waikanae River. The The first stage of the project involved reviewing abstracted river water is treated at the and consolidating over 150 reports that had Waikanae Water Treatment Plant (WTP) been prepared over the previous 25 years, and before being distributed to the community. In developing a long-list of 41 options. The long- dry summer periods, when the river is in low list was reviewed for high level fatal flaws and flow (nearing 750 L/s), the minimum flow reduced down to 32 options. The second stage requirements of the river mean that the river involved extensive community and stakeholder abstraction has to be reduced and at times consultation to establish local values, as well cease. The run-of-river source then needs to as criteria and weightings against which those be supplemented by, or entirely replaced by, values could be measured. The criteria groundwater from the borefield in Waikanae. included: affordability, reliability of supply, The groundwater is piped via dedicated water quality (including taste), technical, pipelines to the Waikanae WTP. environmental and social. Water quality was assigned the highest weighting of all of the Water from the borefield is criticised by criteria. consumers for its taste and hardness, and causing scaling problems with electrical Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) was used to appliances. shortlist down from the 32 options to eight options (three dam options, two storage pond Forecast Demands options, and three groundwater options). Those eight options were carried forward into the third Water demands were forecasted for the WPR stage. community out to 2060. Future gross peak day demand for the WPR water supply has been The third stage, which commenced in April set at 490 L/person/day for forecasting, which 2010, involved a wide range of investigations; assumes that demand management, water further consultation, preliminary statutory conservation measures and loss reduction planning, and concept design and cost work will achieve savings to reduce the current estimating. Stage 3 was completed in peak demands to 490 L/person/day or less. September 2010 with Council selecting River After the local body elections in 2010 the new Recharge with Groundwater (RRwGW) as its Council took a fresh look at universal metering, preferred solution. The subsequent stages and resolved to introduce it to help manage involved groundwater and ecological demand and better understand water losses. investigations, groundwater modelling, concept Council anticipates that it will take two years design, assessment of environmental effects, from the first water meter bill (being issued July cultural impact assessment and consenting. 2014) for peak demand to reduce from current The consents for the project were granted in levels (being around 590L/person/day) to the September 2013. target 490L/person/day. Stage 3 of the project investigated three dam This per capita demand target was applied to options, two storage pond options, and three Council’s population projection data to derive a groundwater options from within the WPR peak daily demand for WPR. Council’s policy is catchment. In addition, two options to take from to allow for a medium population growth the Otaki River were added into this stage, to scenario in its forecasting (26,000 people in the ensure that Council had sufficient information 2 in front of it to make the best decision possible Description of RRwGW (the Otaki River had previously been ruled out as a source as it was not consistent with The underlying concept of RRwGW is that Council’s Water Strategy preference for in- rather than putting the groundwater into the catchment sources). The key output from the water supply for community consumption, the Stage 3 work was the ranking of the options water piped to the treatment plant will be following a detailed evaluation on the basis of discharged to the Waikanae River, immediately risk-based cost estimates and a range of other downstream of the water supply intake. The values determined from the consultation groundwater discharge will bolster river flows (engineering, water quality, yield/security, immediately downstream of the intake and thus environmental impacts, and social enable more water to be taken from the river impacts/community acceptance). while maintaining the minimum flow. Figure 1 shows the basic concept of RRwGW. RRwGW was the top ranked, followed by a 2 million m3 dam on the Maungakotukutuku Stream (a tributary of the Waikanae River). RRwGW came out on top because it made prudent use of the infrastructure of the existing borefield and could be efficiently staged over time to meet increasing demand, therefore being more economically viable than the immediate high upfront cost of building a dam. RRwGW had no identified fatal flaws, and achieved the highest ranking in terms of the environmental, social, cultural and technical values.

The Maungakotukutuku Dam (the second ranked option) was the culmination of Fig. 1 Basic Concept of River Recharge extensive investigations of all possible dam sites in the area. KCDC realised that this site represented a way of further future-proofing the WPR water supply. So, although the project’s To increase the yield from the borefield, the planning horizon was 50 years, this realisation design of RRwGW allowed for the addition of allowed a 100-year vision to be locked in by four new wells, the decommissioning of one Council resolving to purchase the land and well with poor water quality, and a number of signal its intention to develop a dam on the site other changes to ultimately have eleven wells in about 50 years’ time in the District Plan. The for the 50 year planning horizon. New land purchase involved negotiating with five interconnecting pipelines from the new wells landowners, removal and biodiversity offsetting are also required. of a covenant, and the development of a three way land management agreement between Community, Iwi and Stakeholder DOC, a private landowner and Council. The Engagement three stages of work culminated in Council unanimously adopting RRwGW as its preferred The engagement process as part of the solution for the WPR water supply. assessment of alternative water supply options for the community was comprehensive and far- It is important to emphasis the breadth and reaching. The project benefitted from extensive depth of the work undertaken during the three stakeholder consultation, a partnership stages of the project leading to the selection of approach with iwi, and independent scrutiny RRwGW. Council sought to ensure that every from the Technical Advisory Group (TAG). possible option was considered, the community was brought on board and carried forward with The TAG was an important foundation to the the project, and that the information used to success of this project. This group was made inform the decision-making processes at each up of well-respected residents of the district, stage was robust. who volunteered their time to provide a range of independent expertise in engineering, 3 environmental, economic and other technical 35-year resource consent - the maximum fields. Using the TAG as a local sounding allowed under the Resource Management Act. board provided a local endorsement of the technical merits at each milestone in the The application was publicly notified and for project, particularly when the innovative River such a high profile project received relatively Recharge proposal was under consideration. few submissions (a total of 23, with 18 The TAG’s involvement helped prevent the opposed, 3 in support and 2 neutral). Once project becoming politicised, and gave approved, there were no appeals to the Councillors in particular comfort that the Environment Court. various options that were being proposed were technically sound. This was a testament to the comprehensive options assessment process, the supporting Council and Te Āti Awa ki Whakarongotai investigations and technical analysis, and the worked together and an iwi-representative community engagement undertaken for this Water Working Group (WWG) was established. project. This partnership was then formalised through a specific Memorandum of Understanding in There were several important lessons learnt Relation to Water. The WWG worked with the through the consent application and hearing project team through the assessment of process however. options and in developing a Cultural Impact Assessment at the time of resource consent The first was that Council committed to a 50- application. year water supply solution and to support that time horizon the project team based the One outcome of the WWG’s involvement was assessment of environmental effects on a the accommodation of the WWG’s desire for conservative extreme scenario of a 1 in 50 year the groundwater to have contact with the land low flow and projected water demand (with before it was discharged into the river. This headroom) of 32,300 m3/day in the year 2060. was achieved by creating a meandering channel with extensive planting (known as “the This period fell well outside the maximum RMA tuna”) into which the groundwater will be consent duration of 35 years. In reality, within discharged before it enters the river. the 35-year consenting period, some years will not need river recharge at all, whilst in other The project also benefited from an extensive years recharge will be at lower flow rates and engagement process, including specific for only short periods of time. Presenting a 50- stakeholder groups; Fish and Game, Forest year worst-case scenario under an RMA and Bird, Department of Conservation, and the consenting process proved challenging. The Greater Wellington Regional Council at key consenting issue was to determine “what will project milestones. the effects of the project be within the first few years and within the duration of up to 35 years The inclusion of the dam as the second consentable under the RMA”. preferred option in the wider story of Kapiti’s water management was partly in response to Because of Council’s desire to have a 50 year iwi’s preference for a dam. This led to the solution, the technical work to support this securing of the dam site. Thinking outside of meant that the 50-year worst-case scenario the box, and not simply only consenting a became the starting point for environmental preferred option, but also future-proofing the effects assessments, rather than a more dam site by purchasing it, showed the Council distant future possibility. This issue was was both listening to the community and also satisfactorily worked through during the hearing thinking strategically. process.

Consenting Secondly, there was considerable debate around the groundwater modelling. Different RRwGW was approved by independent models were in play between the project team commissioners in September 2013. and the consenting authority. This demonstrated the critical need to have Greater Wellington Regional Council gave the consistency and agreement for the model River Recharge with Groundwater application a being used. There appears good reason to 4 work towards an agreed national groundwater harness community endorsement. Work in modelling framework rather than reinventing partnership with iwi and engage early. the framework for each project.  Back the process and understand it may take years rather than months for major Thirdly, inherent to any project of this nature community resource management projects. and scale, there is a degree of uncertainty around the actual effects of RRwGW over time.  Engage with the wider community early and While the extensive investigations undertaken work with them to establish their values, significantly narrowed that uncertainty, some which can then be used as the basis for remained. multi-criteria analysis of options.  Look for new ways to sweat existing assets. The challenge at the consenting stage was to The innovative River Recharge scheme demonstrate that uncertainty was occurring ‘at largely uses existing infrastructure in a the fringes’ of either natural effects or within different way from what was originally minor effects as provided for under the RMA. intended, but the outcome is prudent in both financial and resilience terms. To solve the concern around uncertainty,  Think outside the box. In this case Council significant effort was required to develop a not only sought consent for the preferred monitoring framework ‘up front’ for the hearing scheme, but also moved to future-proof a that explained how the effects of this project dam site to present to the community a could be distinguished from natural events of comprehensive 100-year water supply summer dry periods and low flows and solution. drawdown of aquifers. A range of baseline monitoring plans were developed during the  Develop long-term solutions, but pick a hearing, and ongoing monitoring plans are suitable environmental scenario for the required as part of the consent conditions to basis of obtaining consents under the RMA. protect the environment. Relate effects assessment to 35 year maximum and be prepared to determine Developing the monitoring framework and the potential effects over shorter timeframes environmental triggers for alert-action-cease with likely consent durations in mind. responses demonstrated that there is still  There is a need for national consistency in significant work to be done in New Zealand to ground water modelling and environmental define a nationally consistent framework for monitoring for water resource management monitoring. A range of methods and differing projects. expert advice on monitoring, all adds to the  Uncertainty for resource management uncertainty around environmental effects projects of this nature is inherent and should assessment. Significantly, it also adds to the be expected. When that uncertainty is more uncertainty for Council asset managers, unclear on the level of monitoring and related to whether project effects can be associated costs that can be expected for detectable over natural effects, rather than major infrastructure projects of this nature. whether effects will be minor or more than minor, then adaptive management through Overall, the resource consent application and monitoring is an acceptable approach. evidence at the hearing demonstrated that the  35-year consents are achievable for adaptive management approach proposed by municipal water supply projects, and given Council was precautionary and consistent with the push for long-term planning for local sustainable resource management. government infrastructure, they should be the norm. Lessons Learned Conclusion Through the project set-up, option assessment, concept development, and consenting Council and the wider project team are very processes the following lessons were learnt: proud of the outcome achieved for the Kapiti Coast community.  Right at the start, take the time to set up a project correctly. Use local knowledge in the The River Recharge project will enable people form of TAGs or reference groups to and communities to provide for their social, 5 economic, and cultural well-being and for their Planner of the Kapiti Water Supply project from health and safety. 2011 through to its consenting.

It will secure a reliable and sustainable water supply for the WPR area that best meets community expectations for quality of its drinking water.

It also provides additional resilience by using two sources of water, the Waikanae River and the Waikanae Borefield.

RRwGW is readily stage-able and can therefore be implemented in steps over time to match the actual increases in population, providing a cost-effective solution that best meets the community’s changing water supply needs.

The importance of RRwGW as a reliable and cost-effective water supply solution should not be understated. The additional achievement of securing a dam site for a combined 100-year water supply solution proves Council’s journey over the past few years has been a great success.

Author biographies

Phillip Stroud

Phillip Stroud was Council’s Project Manager for the project from its inception through to its consenting. Phillip is a project manager with over 20 years’ experience in three local authorities and an engineering consulting practice.

Andrew Watson

Andrew Watson is CH2M Beca’s Technical Director – Water Supply and is based in Wellington. His 30 years of experience includes water treatment and supply projects in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore. He was the Project Director of the CH2M Beca team for the Kapiti Water Supply project.

Nathan Baker

Nathan is the Manager of the Beca Wellington Planning and Urban Design Team with 14 years of planning experience. He was CH2M Beca’s Project Manager and Lead

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