Kaikohe water treatment upgrade prompts conserve water message for March

The upgrade of Kaikohe’s water treatment plant has reached a milestone – completing the foundation of the new 1.5 million litre storage reservoir.

Construction of the new stainless steel tank can now start, which will enable increased water storage for Kaikohe. The next step will be to drain the existing dam so that piping already installed to create a new outlet, can be connected through the dam wall and the intake screen upgraded. When completed, the work will increase the capacity that can be taken from the dam.

Raw water from the Wairoro Stream is currently pumped up to the dam for storage, before it is fed into the water treatment plant.

Draining the dam, and associated works, will take a month to complete with work scheduled for March. During that time, Kaikohe residents and businesses are asked to conserve water. The upgrade will permanently remedy the limitation of water storage at the plant and the call to conserve water in March is not the result of water shortage issues.

The long-term gains for locals will be significant – an upgraded water treatment process, greater reservoir capacity to store treated water, and a town that is more resilient to future droughts. The project to upgrade the facility will also future-proof the network for growth, improve the reliability of the water supply, and support firefighting capacity.

Work at the Taraire Hills Water Treatment Plant started at the end of July 2025 and will take a year to complete.

The water treatment plant work is separate from upgrades to the town’s water and wastewater network, however both workstreams are supported by multimillion-dollar investments from the Infrastructure Acceleration Fund.

The government’s Infrastructure Acceleration Fund (IAF) is managed by National Infrastructure Funding and Financing (NIFF) and supports the delivery of critical infrastructure needed to enable new housing in high-growth areas.

Go to the Kaikohe water and wastewater upgrades webpage to find out more.

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Main image - the concrete foundations of the new 1.5 million litre storage reservoir.