Taupō steps up drinking water protection

The Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai celebrates today’s opening of the Motuoapa Drinking Water Treatment Plant by Taupō District Council. The plant is part of the council’s $55 million investment to strengthen drinking water safety across the district.

In 2023, Taupō District Council identified 11 supplies that needed essential treatment barriers and committed to a major programme of upgrades.

The Authority’s Head of Operations, Steve Taylor, says the council’s investment will deliver lasting public health benefits through safer, more resilient drinking water supplies.

“Taupō District Council has been extremely proactive in responding to the need for these upgrades. It moved quickly, committed significant investment and has made a huge amount of progress in a relatively short time.

"Over the past three years, the council has delivered essential treatment upgrades and six new drinking water treatment plants, meaning 8,000 more people have safer water when they turn on the tap.

“This will benefit the growing population of Taupō as well as domestic and international tourists, providing safer drinking water and relieving pressure on the network over the summer.

“No single treatment can protect against every risk. The new plants use multiple methods to protect against different types of contamination. These include barriers against protozoa and bacteria, alongside residual disinfection that helps keep drinking water safe as it moves through the pipes to people’s homes and businesses.

“The Motuoapa plant will also help manage the longstanding risk from naturally occurring arsenic associated with geothermal activity in Lake Taupō. The new plant provides another important safeguard, helping to protect drinking water for the community and visitors.

“Upgrading drinking water infrastructure takes substantial investment, planning and effort. Taupō District Council has committed to making this work a priority and communities across the district are now seeing the results,” says Steve Taylor.

The Motuoapa plant follows the opening in May of a new plant serving the Omori, Pukawa and Kuratau communities, and a plant at Kinloch in October 2025. Work is continuing at two Taupō supplies, including a new plant for the Hatepe community and extending the main Taupō supply to include Centennial Drive.

Questions and answers

What is a protozoa barrier?
No one safeguard, or barrier, is effective against all types of contamination. While chlorine can kill bacteria and viruses in drinking water, it doesn’t protect against protozoa.

Protozoa are single-celled parasites, like cryptosporidium and giardia, that can make people sick. But they can be removed from water using some filters or inactivated using ultraviolet light, so that they don’t pose a health risk.

These filters and UV (ultraviolet) treatment tools are known as protozoa barriers because they help prevent protozoa from making people sick.

What is a bacterial barrier?
A bacterial barrier is used during the primary disinfection stage in the drinking water treatment process. It’s designed to remove, kill or deactivate bacteria present in water that’s been collected from lakes, rivers, aquifers or rainwater. The most common bacterial barriers are chlorination, UV treatment, and some types of filters.

What is residual disinfection?
Once water has been treated, it needs to be sent out to people – usually through pipes. Things like damage to drinking water pipes create an opportunity for bacteria to contaminate treated drinking water. So, a small amount of chlorine is also added when drinking water leaves the treatment plant to keep treated water safe as it travels from the treatment plant to people. In the water services sector, this is called residual disinfection.