Water gushes out from Thorndon Quay cycleway

Wednesday, 22 January 2025

A leak on Thorndon Quay briefly engulfed the road’s new cycleway on Wednesday morning.

About 9am most of the cycleway was submerged with water spilling onto the nearby pavement. Contractors turned the water off in half an hour.

The Post reported last May of a 2022 Wellington Water memo that warned of $5.2 million of “must do” and another $4m of “should do” work on pipework beneath new bus lanes and cycleways on Thorndon Quay.

Although Paul Robinson, the executive director of the nearby Woolstore, told Wellington city councillors that pipe replacements and new roading projects should be completed at the same time, the former was never completed.

Tim Chai, the owner of nearby business Bedpost, said on Wednesday the pipe works needed to be completed in one go instead of running multiple patch jobs.

“I’m all for infrastructure, I don’t mind it,” he said. “It’s the length of time it’s taken for it to be done.”

Wellington Water said on Wednesday leaks in the region this month hit a four-year low, dropping from 1720 leaks on January 1, 2024 to 399 leaks on January 6, 2025.

Customer operations group general manager Charles Barker called it a major milestone. “Reducing the backlog also means that lower priority leaks are repaired faster, and we can get to those smaller long-term leaks that have been a source of frustration for the public.”

However, he also warned leak fixes were a “band-aid”. “It’s vital that they are balanced with increased replacement and renewal of pipes to reduce the risk for years to come.”