Our Water Story

Horowhenua is one of the fastest-growing districts in the country. Our population of 37,500 is forecast to grow to over 66,000 by 2054.

We need to provide drinking water, wastewater and stormwater to all our residents and businesses. But at the same time as our population is growing, much of our infrastructure is aging and needs to be refurbished or replaced.

Previous councils deferred some of this work in order to reduce the burden on ratepayers, but this has led to increased maintenance costs, more frequent breakdowns, and environmental impacts.

We are a low socio-economic area and home to many retirees on limited incomes, which makes careful stewardship of ratepayers’ money all the more important as we weather difficult economic times.

In our Long Term Plan 2024-44 we have committed to spending more than $550m on repairing and replacing our pipes, treatment plants and other infrastructure.

You can learn more about what we're doing in the pages below.

Levin Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrades

The Levin Wastewater Treatment Plant (LWWTP) is now more than 70 years old, is deteriorating, and needs repairs and upgrades to ensure it meets current needs and is able to accommodate future growth in the region.

Poads Road Water Storage Reservoir

We are planning to build a new reservoir to increase our reserves of drinking water.

Water main and sewer pipe renewal, MacArthur Street, Levin

New sewer and water pipes will be installed on MacArthur Street from January to October 2025. There will be some traffic management and lane closures.