Bell Road Reservoir Rezoning Project
If you have any questions about this work, please contact:
Wellington Water, 04 912 4400
Investigation and concept development phase
From late August, the project team will be working on a concept design for the rezoning works. This will involve a trial shutdown and a planned shutdown of the drinking water network in Aro Valley and Mount Cook.
To undertake this work, we will be operating network valves and inspecting fire hydrants to assess the performance of the drinking water supply system.
The Bell Road Reservoir was constructed in 1911 and is the oldest in-service drinking water reservoir within the Wellington region, serving approximately 1,300 properties in the Mount Cook area.
This reservoir and its pipework and valves are in very poor condition and at a high risk of failure.
Due to the lack of funding available to replace the reservoir earlier and the uncertainty of reservoir replacement, work to rezone properties connected to the reservoir into adjacent zones (Aro Valley, Newtown West and CBD East) is proposed to mitigate the risk of the asset to fail.
This work will also allow the reservoir to be decommissioned if/when required.
The rezoning project is expected to take place between July and October 2027. The physical works to replace the reservoir will be a separate project and are expected to commence in the early 2030s.