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 Water New Zealand Conference & Expo 2025 at Ōtautahi Christchurch, our hosts Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond are joined by Principal Aboriginal Cultural Advisor at Beca Hunter H20, Phil Duncan. Phil’s a member of Australia’s Gomeroi Nation. Also joining the discussion is Emily Afoa, Pou Whakarae at Tektus and Kairangahau at Pūrangakura, the Māori independent research centre.
Listen to this episode of Tāwara o te Wai, as Emily and Phil discuss how the growing alignment of indigenous knowledge and western science, along with collaboration and connection, is helping reframe our relationship with water and the wider environment.
Councils have been under pressure to meet the September deadline for Water Services Delivery Plans and as part of that, finalise decisions about their future organisations – whether to form new Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) either on their own or across regional boundaries, or go it alone and continue to provide services in house.
But whatever the decision, there won’t be a business as usual option.
New requirements around financial ring fencing, transparency, regulation and service delivery mean that they will be under scrutiny to meet new rules and standards.
In this latest podcast, hosts Jon Reed and Emily Afoa discuss the impact of the Local Water Done Well reforms with Water New Zealand chief executive Gillian Blythe and Nick Davis, an economist and partner with the advisory firm MartinJenkins.
Engineers working in flood management are well-versed in the technical aspects of flooding. But what happens when you talk to distressed people who have just lived through deeply traumatic experiences?
In this episode of Tāwara o te Wai, flood assessor Tom Nikkel and Auckland Council flood risk manager Fiona Macdonald, working in the aftermath of the 2023 Auckland anniversary, reflect on the tension between the need to make robust technical decisions and supporting the many traumatised people whose homes and lives have been upended.
As our plastic addiction continues to impact all corners of the globe, microplastics – tiny particles of plastic – that escape wastewater treatment plants have been found along our coastlines, throughout our water environment and in biosolids spread on land in Aotearoa New Zealand. Yet little is known about the long term impact on our environment - oceans, crops, soil and air and consequent health outcomes.
In this Tawara o te Wai podcast, host Jon Reed is joined by three experts to discuss the impact and risk of microplastic contamination, particularly in biosolids, and some of the efforts underway to try to eliminate this particularly difficult and long-term plague.
Joining Jon as co-host in this discussion is David Romilly, an associate engineer at Aurecon and chair of the Water New Zealand biosolids subgroup of the wastewater special interest group.
Their guests are environmental scientist Helena Ruffell, who’s been investigating the impact of microplastics in productive soil and Australian-based chemical engineer Deric Dignon who’s been involved in the development of Australia’s first carbonisation facility for biosolids.
The water sector is facing global challenges – from climatechange to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water scarcity and resilience.
Finding solutions to these problems is bigger than one organisation or even one country. That’s why it’sbecoming increasingly important to share ideas and collaborate across the world.
But the big challenge is how to do this on a practicallevel, and how to ensure that multi-discipline, multi-organisational groups don’t simply become talk-fests that achieve little in real outcomes.
In our latest Tāwara o te Wai podcast, presenters Jon Reedand Hannah Edmond talk to Edinburgh-based process engineer Amanda Lake, who’s a global principal for Jacobs where she leads work on water sector decarbonisation and the circular economy.
Also joining the conversation is Chris Thurston, former headof sustainability for Watercare and currently working as a consultant.
Don’t be your organisation’s weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity, says audit manager, lawyer, director and cybersecurity enthusiast, Jennie Vickers.
In our latest Water New Zealand Tawara o te Wai podcast, Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond were joined by Jennie and the director of Mission Enablement at the National Cybersecurity Centre, Mike Jagusch.
As the pressure is on organisations to become efficient and more automated, so too does the risk of IT security breaches and even the possibility of ransom attacks on water services.
Yet despite the rapidly changing risks, most cases of cyber attack can be thwarted. But it relies on staff at all levels of an organisation understanding their role and how to play their part in staying cybersafe.
Listen to our latest podcast and find more resources on how to stay cybersafe on our website - waternz.org.nz.
Understanding the common ground between Mātauranga Māori and western engineering science is key to unlocking great partnerships between mana whenua and councils.
Hastings District Council has developed a successful co-design approach enabling mana whenua partnership around water projects. This approach has led to the award-winning Waiaroha Discovery Centre combining hi-tech water treatment and community education.
In this Tawara o te Wai podcast, Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond talk to the council's principal advisor - relationships, responsiveness and culture, Charlie Ropitini, about how this model successfully integrates Mātauranga Māori and water engineering at a project level.
Ensuring that water utilities have good understanding and management of their assets will be a key performance indicator that the Commerce Commission will focus on when it takes up its role as the new economic water regulator.
In this edition of Tāwara o te Wai Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond discuss economic regulation with Commerce Commission, general manager, infrastructure regulation, Andy Burgess.
He told them that a lot of money will need to be spent on water infrastructure and it’s important that the councils are transparent, and that customers and stakeholders have access to information including comparisons and benchmarking.
More than eighteen months after Cyclone Gabrielle caused unprecedented mayhem in Hawkes Bay, we look at the lessons learnt and how we can better plan for resilience.
In our latest Tāwara o te Wai podcast, hosts Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond look back at the events of February 2023 with Hastings District Council, Group Manager – Asset Manager, Craig Thew and Darren de Klerk, Business Director from Beca who’s leading the Silt Recovery Taskforce.
One of the biggest tourist attractions in Turkey’s Istanbul is, believe it or not, a water reservoir from the 6th century. The Basilica Cistern is a moody beautiful place with Byzantine pillars and modern Turkish sculptures.
In this Water New Zealand Tawara o te Wai podcast, we go back nearly 2,000 years – to the Byzantine world and a time when Rome moved its capital to Constantinople, now Istanbul.
Byzantine enthusiast, Chris Harrington goes on this journey with Jim Crow, the emeritus Professor of Roman and Byzantine Archaeology at Edinburgh University. Jim explains why the Byzantines needed one of the most sophisticated water infrastructure builds in the ancient world and what we can learn from this almost 2000 years later.
He also discusses the construction techniques, the cultural significance, and the ways in which these ancient structures continue to captivate and inform us about the past.
Whether you're a history enthusiast or just curious about Istanbul’s underground world, Jim shares light on this past and water.
Could we ever reach the point of zero leakage from pipes?
Losing water due to leaking pipes is becoming increasingly unacceptable as climate change and water scarcity start to impact not only in Aotearoa New Zealand but also around the world.
The UK is facing a predicted water shortfall of almost 5,000 megalitres a day by 2050. This has dramatically changed the economics and social licence around what is an acceptable level of leakage from water networks.
In this edition of Water New Zealand's Tāwara o te Wai podcast series, Jon Reed and Dan Johnson discuss how technology and innovation will play an increasingly vital role in reducing leakage from water networks.
They’re joined by Jeremy Heath, Innovation Manager of SES Water based in the UK and Emma Milburn, acting GM of research, innovation and commercialisation at South East Water in Melbourne where new water sensing technology is playing an increasingly big part in a sustainable water future.
The Government and Auckland Council recently announced that Watercare will be the first water service provider to become a new council-owned utility under the Local Water Done Well policy.
Under the new arrangement, the council retains ownership and control over Watercare, but Watercare is provided with financial independence to access increased borrowing for investment in water services.
So what are the implications of this and how might this work for other councils? In this edition of Tāwara o te Wai, Jon and Hannah are joined by Watercare CEO Dave Chambers and Water New Zealand CEO Gillian Blythe to discuss how this model of ownership and service delivery could be adopted in other regions.
Tāwara o te Wai - Water New Zealand's podcast series
In this episode Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond, is joined by Melbourne based, Dinesh Kumareswaran (Frontier Economics) to discuss the highly relevant topic of affordability and what water asset owners need to do to support funding applications.
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.
Ensuring a sustainable and affordable water future and the need to attract new young people to the water sector are two key challenges the industry faces on both sides of the Tasman.
In the first Tāwara o te Wai podcast for 2024, Water New Zealand members Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond discuss these issues with Water New Zealand President Lorraine Kendrick and Australian Water Association President Peter Dennis.
Don't under-estimate COP28 progress despite the failure to agree to a fossil fuel phase out and the rapidly closing timeframe to avert a climate crisis.
This was the view of two Aotearoa New Zealand water sector leaders who attended the summit.
In our latest Tāwara o te Wai podcast, Water New Zealand climate change group members, Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond talk to Beca chief executive Amelia Linzey and Green Climate Fund water sector lead, Bapon Fakhruddin.
Water is at the centre of climate change and how we manage future water challenges was reflected during the summit discussions.
Water will be one of the key discussions at the COP28 meeting currently underway Dubai.
Around 200 countries will be meeting at the UN climate meeting in the hope of limiting global warming.
This year, in recognition of the impact of climate change on water, there will be a water pavilion which is being seen as particularly relevant to us here in Aotearoa New Zealand as we navigate the changes needed to manage and integrate our water resources.
Water New Zealand’s climate change group members Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond spoke to two water leaders, Beca CEO Amelia Linzey and Bupon Fakhruddin who’s the water sector lead at the Green Climate fund, as they headed off to COP28.
Navigating to net zero –Episode 4. Yarra Valley Water plans to generate all its own energy and be carbon neutral by 2025. But it’s not stopping there. With the support of its customers, the large Melbourne-based water retailer has ambitions to become a fully regenerative business aimed at leaving the environment in a better state.
Water New Zealand Climate Change Group members Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond continue their four-part series looking at the water sector’s journey to net zero. In this edition they spoke to Yarra Valley Water’s environment and community resilience manager Lisa Ehrenfried and head of energy and emissions, Simon Prunster.
Climate Change is arguably the biggest challenge facing the water sector here and internationally. That's why there was a huge emphasis on climate change mitigation and adaptation at the recent Water New Zealand Conference and Expo 2023. Water New Zealand Climate Change Group members Jon Reed and Andrew Springer spoke to three young water professionals who attended the conference and asked them for their thoughts on the many papers presented and the direction that we, as a sector, need to be taking.
Anglian Water is a world leader in reducing carbon emissions. As an early starter, the big UK water utility embarked on its carbon zero journey in 2006 and is now on track to generate 45 percent of energy from its own renewable resources by 2025 and become a full net zero carbon business by 2030.
In this podcast Jon Reed and Hannah Edmond from the Water New Zealand climate change group talk to Anglian Water’s head of carbon neutrality, David Riley about the water utility’s bold approach to tackling climate change and the carbon reduction lens covering all aspects of its operation.
Listen to episode three of Navigating to Net Zero – Aotearoa’s water sector low carbon journey – a four-part series focusing on how we can reduce our carbon emissions in the water sector.
