Water Restriction Level 2
Find out about our commitment to water quality, what you can do to help, and the fluoride in your water.
Our water quality services and standards
We work to provide advice and education to industry and the community to help prevent pollution, as well as a water testing and response service.
What we're doing
- providing a 24-hour pollution response service
- doing weekly beach water quality testing at popular harbour swimming beaches within the city during the summer months (December-February)
- posting appropriate warning signs at any beach or waterway where there may be pollution issues
- if there’s a major risk posed by pollution, we will provide you with information through the media as well as posting warning signs.
- if there’s a pollution incident which seriously threatens health, safety or the environment, we’ll respond to it within an hour.
Water quality testing service
Wellington Water is responsible for making sure that the water supplied to Lower Hutt, Porirua, Upper Hutt, Wellington and South Wairarapa is clean and safe to drink.
Water from our rivers and aquifers (natural underground reservoirs) can contain microbiological material and a variety of naturally occurring chemical elements, some of which can cause health problems.
Wellington Water monitors the water supply to make sure that there are no bacteria, viruses or protozoa (such as cryptosporidium and giardia) present following our treatment processes, as they can cause water-borne disease. We also monitor the concentrations of a range of chemicals in our water, to ensure that there are no metals or other chemicals at levels that are considered unsafe.
Fluoride in our water
We add fluoride to most water supplies in the Hutt Valley. The most recent New Zealand oral health survey (2009) showed that children and adolescents living in areas with fluoridated water have 40 percent less tooth decay than those living in areas without.
Water fluoridation has been used in many regions in New Zealand for over 60 years. New Zealand and international studies show that water fluoridation provides benefits over and above brushing twice daily with fluoride toothpaste and eating a healthy diet.
Countries similar to New Zealand also support water fluoridation, including Australia, the United Kingdom, the USA and Canada.