Published 14/09/2026
Community meeting for South Coast hears from Tiaki Wai and Wellington City on Moa Pt fix
Upwards of fifty locals – and some from further afield – turned out at Lyall Bay surf club on Thursday night to hear from Tiaki Wai officials and Wellington’s Mayor on the Moa Pt Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The Crown Review into February’s plant failure was released last week.
Regular meetings have been ongoing for community members on the South Coast since the February event and will continue as the plant fix advances, with Tiaki Wai officials fronting to talk to residents every month.
“We’ve made great progress on the plant fix and we’re expecting to be treating wastewater again from November, with full functionality by February 2027,” said Will Peet, Tiaki Wai Board Chair.
The community heard from Mr Peet, along with Tiaki Wai Chief Executive Mike Brewster and Chief Operating Officer Charles Barker, who is known to many in the community already. They were joined by Mayor Andrew Little.
The group stood taking questions direct from the community for more than an hour and a half, allowing people time to work through a range of issues. There were no formal presentations about the Review or the plant mechanics and operations – the meeting was deliberately designed for maximum access and community direction.
“What’s important to us about a process like this is that it provides genuine proximity to the executives who are accountable for the fix, including some people who have been at this since it happened,” said Will. “We know that this community has felt the impact of the plant failure deeply and we have a responsibility to them, and to the people of Wellington more broadly to be available for this kind of event.”
“We want to extend our thanks to the Mayor and the people in his office, too, for supporting us and being available once again to stand in front of this community and answer their questions.”
More specific technical detail about the repair, the biological processes required in order to meet operational requirements and a fresh round of more extensive wastewater testing in the Bay will be available at the next regular community meeting on 29 September at 6pm, downstairs at Maranui.
“Even for those who turned out last night to hear from Tiaki Wai and the Mayor, those regular meetings are worth coming along to. We have a smaller group of passionate residents and business people who attend every single one of them, to hear from Charles and his engineers, and it’s a great opportunity to stay plugged in as we get this plant back up and running.”
Operational updates about Moa Pt can be found on the Tiaki Wai website, including our Road to Recovery timeline.
Editor notes
Tiaki Wai is the water services provider delivering safe, reliable, and sustainable drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services to around 155,000 homes and businesses across Wellington, Porirua, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt.
We are responsible for over 6,800 km of pipelines, four drinking water treatment plants, four wastewater treatment plants, 140 drinking water storage reservoirs, and 354 pump stations across the region we serve.
Tiaki Wai took over from local councils on 1 July 2026 as the region-wide, publicly owned water services provider.
We are jointly owned by Wellington City Council, Porirua City Council, Hutt City Council, Upper Hutt City Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council as our shareholding councils, with mana whenua partners Ngāti Toa Rangatira and Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika.
We are governed by a Board of Directors and accountable to our community through the Tiaki Wai Partners Committee of representatives from our shareholding councils and Mana Whenua Partners.