Water New Zealand27 Mar 2024

Water resilience - dealing with the big dry

Tawara o te Wai – Water New Zealand’s podcast series

Drought – what happens when water demand exceeds the ability of suppliers to meet the needs of communities? How do we ensure people get access to safe drinking water while not depleting water from our rivers and the wider environment?

Wellington’s real risk of water shortages this summer has brought home the need to prepare for more extreme weather and build better long-term water resilience.

The blame for the capital’s water woes has been on the city’s aging leaking infrastructure. But the impact of climate change also played a big role in Wellington’s water shortages these past months.

It’s now recognised that the longer drier months and extreme rainfall events will become the new norm into the future. That’s why planning for extreme weather and drought is now a key challenge for water utilities both here and overseas.

In our latest Tawara o te Wai podcast, hosts Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond spoke to Wellington Water’s chief executive Tonia Haskell and Meyrick Gough, the technical director of South East Water in the UK – a utility that supplies drinking water to 2.3 million people in the southeast of England.

There, the climate in recent years has been affected by longer, dryer spells and recent droughts That’s sparked the development of detailed resilience planning focusing on the impact of more extreme weather scenarios.

Meyrick explains the work underway and we also talk about how vital it is that communities are brought into the picture.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(38)

Climate change and water infrastructure - shifting from discussion to action

Water infrastructure has been identified as the single most significant climate risk in Aotearoa New Zealand, according to the latest Climate Change Commission National Climate Change Risk Assessment ...

29 Jul 28min

Reshaping how communities understand and prepare for flooding

For many New Zealanders, flooding has shifted from a distant risk to a lived reality. In Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland the severe floods of 2023 helped spark a transformation around the understanding of fl...

28 Mai 30min

Making every dollar count – smarter investment in water infrastructure

As we ramp up investment in much needed water infrastructure, it’s vital that we get good return and that the investment prioritises economic opportunity, environmental impact and social wellbeing.In ...

21 Apr 24min

Courage and collegiality – what’s needed to ensure the success of the new water organisations

New water entities are being set up across the country. Faced with challenges around affordability and the need to address the long term infrastructure deficit, it’s been said that the success of the ...

25 Mar 36min

The transparency shift reshaping our water sector

Information disclosure will play a central role in improving the performance, accountability and long-term sustainability of Aotearoa New Zealand’s water services.In this edition of Water New Zealand'...

18 Mar 25min

The people behind water - what inspires our winners

Attracting people to the water industry is becoming a key challenge - with thousands of extra skilled staff needed to fill job vacancies over the next 30 years.In this Water New Zealand Tāwara o te Wa...

17 Des 202521min

Building back better for a resilient South Dunedin community

How do you grapple with issues facing a community that will be below sea level by the turn of the century?It’s clear that something has to change.Jonathan Rowe, from the South Dunedin Future programme...

17 Nov 202533min

Growing our relationship with water through indigenous values

Indigenous values and knowledge are increasingly embedded in our relationship with water both in Aotearoa New Zealand and across the Tasman.Ahead of Māori Language Week and the 10th IWA-ASPIRE and Wat...

10 Sep 202533min