Water distribution and treatment

Water is essential for life, health, recreation and the environment. In our district water is also essential for economic development - if new industries can not get access to water, they will not come here. This group of activities contributes to the environment and economic community outcomes.

What we do

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council allocates water from our lakes and rivers for household, commercial and industrial uses.

We currently have 14 Water take resource consents to take water from lakes, rivers, bores and other sources in the district.

We treat, store and distribute water for residential, commercial and industrial properties across the Western Bay of Plenty District.

That water is supplied continuously. We have strict requirements for our water contractors to fix any breaks quickly and cost-effectively.

Western Bay’s water supply network

Because of the District's large geographical area, Council operates the water supply network in three zones: Western, Central and Eastern.

The Western and Central zones are linked to help manage supply during peak demand times. Water is gravity fed from bore fields and reservoirs to lower lying areas and coastal communities. Major side roads have supply pipes boosted by pressure pump stations.

In the Eastern zone water can be moved around to meet demand. Several pump stations boost pressure to serve homes located higher into the hills.

In addition to the water sources, Council’s water supply network includes 10 treatment plants, 24 reservoir and tank sites, 24 booster pump stations and 660km of pipes.

Eastern water supply

The Eastern Supply Zone is made up of three raw water supplies supporting the urban areas of Te Puke, Maketu, Paengaroa and Pukehina plus and the rural areas surrounding all of these centres.

Western water supply

The Western Supply Zone is made up of three raw water supplies supporting the urban areas of Waihi Beach, Island View, Bowentown, Athenree and Katikati, and the rural areas of Aongatete and Tahawai.

Central water supply

The Central Supply Zone is made up of two raw water supplies supporting the urban area of Omokoroa and the rural areas of Te Puna, Minden and inland Omokoroa.

Water supply gradings

Quality standards for drinking water are set by the Ministry of Health (MoH), through the Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand. Each year the Ministry publishes a grading for every public water supply. Gradings are based on the drinking water standards and indicate how safe each water supply is from contamination.

The MoH grading system has two parts:

• A grading for the source of water and the treatment plant ("A1" to "E"). This relates to the measures taken to limit contamination of the water source and to remove any contamination that is present, by treatment. It is a rating of how safe the water is after treatment, but before it enters the distribution system.
• A grading for the distribution system ("a1" to "e"). This is based on the risk of water becoming contaminated within the local supply pipes, and the procedures in place to minimise the risk of unsafe water to consumers.

The grading range from completely satisfactory ("A1" or "a1") to completely unsatisfactory ("E" or "e").

Our source and treatment plant gradings are:

Eastern supply zone

Eastern water supply analytical result:
Raw water analysis eastern supply zone 2018 (PDF 477KB)

Western supply zone

The links below are for maps and water quality information

The links below are for maps and water quality information

Katikati Supply Zone (PDF 295KB)

Athenree Supply Zone (PDF 224KB)

Western water supply analytical reports:
Raw water analysis western supply zone 2018(PDF 428 KB)

Central supply zone

The links below are for maps and water quality information

Minden supply zone (PDF 308KB)

Westbay central supply zone (PDF 308KB)

Central water supply analytical reports:
Raw water analysis central supply zone 2018 (PDF 296 KB)

Each year the Ministry publishes the Register of Community Drinking-Water Supplies, which lists the water supply grading for every community in New Zealand. To check the grading for your area, click on MoH water supply grading.