Horowhenua water
Levin and Ōhau take their drinking water from the Ōhau River. Shannon and Mangaore are supplied by a water take from Mangaore Stream, supplemented by a bore, and Tokomaru drinking water comes from the Tokomaru River. Foxton and Foxton Beach are supplied by bores.
The Levin Water Treatment Plant is located on Gladstone Road and can store 12 million litres of treated water.
Horowhenua has more than 300km of drinking water pipes.
On average, each resident consumes 250 litres of water per day, compared to the national average of 195 litres.
The district has been losing considerable amounts of water through leakage. To combat this, Horowhenua District Council has installed smart water meters to identify leaks on residents’ properties. Water meters have almost finished being installed throughout the district. The council expects this will lead to considerable water savings once identified leaks are fixed. Another likely benefit is less damage to residents’ properties, due to leaks being identified faster.
Council’s wastewater reticulation network and pump stations send sewage from households, businesses and industrial customers to wastewater treatment plants at Levin, Foxton, Foxton Beach, Shannon, Tokomaru and Waitārere Beach. The wastewater is biologically treated and the treated effluent is then applied to land – not discharged to waterways.
The council has more than 13,000 wastewater connections to households, industrial and commercial premises, 52 pump stations and almost 350km of pipes. The Levin wastewater treatment plant treats an average seven million litres a day of raw sewage.
The council is investing heavily in upgrading its wastewater infrastructure, including an estimated $111 million upgrade of the Levin Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is now more than 70 years old. The investment is largely funded by development contributions and debt funding, rather than by the ratepayers of today.
The piped stormwater network in Horowhenua is just over 96km long and includes 17 pump stations. More than half of the network (59km) is in Levin, where about two thirds of the district’s residents live. In Foxton the network is just over 15km long and in Foxton Beach the network is just under 12km. Smaller stormwater systems are found in Hōkio Beach, Manakau, Mangaore, Ōhau, Shannon, Tokomaru, Waitārere Beach and Waikawa Beach.
Horowhenua is improving its stormwater system and protecting waterways by installing ‘downstream defenders’ – essentially giant filters – at strategic points in the network.
Water infrastructure makes up around 46.6 % of Horowhenua District Council’s total asset value.
In the 2024/25 financial year, a residential ratepayer with a property with a capital value of $700,000 and a land value of $350,000 paid an average of $408.36 for drinking water services, $587.64 for wastewater services, and $164.76 for stormwater services.
Together, water services make up around 30 per cent of this ratepayer’s bill.
Providing water services is expensive and getting more so – in fact it accounted for around 82 per cent of the Horowhenua rates increase before accounting for growth in the 2025/26 financial year.
Learn about investment in water services in Horowhenua