8th April 2026
Invercargill City Council is progressing work to investigate a key infrastructure project designed to boost the city’s resilience and ensure a dependable water supply during emergencies.
The Council’s Alternate Water Supply project was recently discussed at a Water Committee meeting, as part of an update on major Three Waters infrastructure initiatives in Invercargill and Bluff.
Following the meeting, committee chair and Deputy Mayor Grant Dermody says the project was focused on safeguarding the city’s long-term water security. Invercargill and Bluff currently depend on a single water source, the Ōreti River, and the city’s network can store only a few days’ supply.
“This is about making sure our community has a Plan B that works when we need it the most,” Grant says.
“Looking into establishing the infrastructure we need to be able to call upon in an emergency gives our community an extra level of security and a layer of resilience in the face of natural disasters, contamination, or unexpected disruptions to our primary water supply.
“It’s about preparedness. When something goes wrong, people expect clean water to be there still. Our responsibility is to make sure it is.”
During the meeting, senior project director Alistair Snow told the committee that plans to establish an emergency water source at Awarua had moved into the investigative stage.
A test bore and two production wells have already been installed at the site, with more production and test wells scheduled to be completed before the end of the year. Alistair says the team will collect data from pumping operations to gain a clearer understanding of the underground aquifer and assess how the surrounding environment responds when water levels are drawn down.
Engagement is underway with neighbouring landowners and businesses to secure access agreements, assess potential operational effects, and explore options such as using water discharged during pump testing. The Council is also working with mana whenua and Te Ao Mārama (TAMI) through the project’s governance group.
Preparations are also progressing for the water take consent application, environmental baseline studies, and network engineering design. The Council intends to submit its next round of resource consent applications in mid-2026.
General water-saving methods include:
• Not washing cars, or only washing the windows,
• Leaving lawns to brown off,
• Keeping grass longer by mowing the lawns with the blade lifted up a notch,
• Taking shorter showers,
• Waiting until you have a full load of clothes before using the washing machine,
• Avoiding topping up swimming pools and using a cover to minimise evaporation.
Taking small actions like this can add up to significant water savings each day.
