Wainuiomata Water Collection Area is a regional park located near

Wainuiomata Wainuiomata () is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's North Island. Origin of name The word 'Wainui-o-mata' is a Māori name made up of the words Wai = water, Nui = big, O = of, and Mata – which could refer ...

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

in the

Wellington Region Greater Wellington, also known as the Wellington Region (Māori: ''Te Upoko o te Ika''), is a non-unitary region of New Zealand that occupies the southernmost part of the North Island. The region covers an area of , and has a population of T ...

at the southern end of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. It is administered by

Wellington Regional Council Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council, is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for Public transport in the Wellington Region, public ...

, for exclusive use by

Wellington Water Wellington Water Limited is an infrastructure asset management company that manages the drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services of the councils in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Ownership and governance The company was fir ...

as a water catchment reserve. The park covers the catchments of the

Wainuiomata River The Wainuiomata River runs southwest through the Wainuiomata Valley located in the southern Remutaka Range in the North Island, New Zealand. Origin of name The word ''Wainui-o-Mata'' is a Māori name made up of the elements ''wai'' (water), ...

and the

Ōrongorongo River The Ōrongorongo River runs for southwest through the Ōrongorongo Valley in the southern Remutaka Ranges of the North Island of New Zealand. The river and its associated catchments lie within the bounds of the Remutaka Forest Park, which is a ...

. It adjoins

Remutaka Forest Park Remutaka Forest Park (spelled Rimutaka Forest Park prior to 2017) is a protected area near Wellington, New Zealand. Popular access points are south of Wainuiomata and in the upper Hutt Valley. The park covers , encompassing the Catchpool Valle ...

and Wainuiomata Recreation Area. In 2022, a study commissioned by

and conducted by

Jim Lynch James Robert Lynch (August 28, 1945 – July 21, 2022) was an American football linebacker. Lynch played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where he was named an All-American and won the Maxwell Award in 1966. Lynch is a memb ...

, the founder of

Zealandia Zealandia (pronounced ), also known as (Māori) or Tasmantis, is an almost entirely submerged mass of continental crust that subsided after breaking away from Gondwanaland 83–79 million years ago.Gurnis, M., Hall, C.E., and Lavier, L.L., ...

, found that establishing a wildlife sanctuary in the water catchment area was "technically and practically feasible". The name given to the proposed sanctuary is Puketahā.

Geography

The area consists of lush native forests and clear rivers, which have remained largely untouched.

Southern rata ''Metrosideros umbellata'', the southern rātā, is a tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to or more tall with a trunk up to or more in diameter. It produces masses of red flowers in summer. Unlike its relative, northern rātā, this spec ...

trees tower over a canopy of hinau,

kamahi ''Weinmannia racemosa'', commonly called kāmahi, is an evergreen small shrub to medium-sized tree of the family Cunoniaceae. It is the most abundant forest tree in New Zealand, occurring in lowland, montane, and subalpine forests and shrublan ...

rewarewa ''Knightia excelsa'', commonly called rewarewa (from Māori), is an evergreen tree endemic to the low elevation and valley forests of New Zealand's North Island and Marlborough Sounds (41° S) and the type species for the genus ''Knightia''. ...

and tree ferns. There are also black beech trees on drier sites and

silver beech ''Nothofagus menziesii'', commonly known as silver beech ( mi, tawhai, tahina), is a tree of the southern beech family endemic to New Zealand. Its common name probably comes from the fact that its bark is whitish in colour, particularly in younge ...

trees on high ridge-tops.

North Island robin The North Island robin (''Petroica longipes'') is a species of Australasian robin endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is also known in Māori as the Toutouwai. It and the South Island robin (''P. australis'') of the South Island an ...

s are being re-introduced, and some

North Island brown kiwi The North Island brown kiwi (''Apteryx mantelli''; ''Apteryx australis'' or ''Apteryx bulleri'' as before 2000, still used in some sources) is a species of kiwi that is widespread in the northern two-thirds of the North Island of New Zealand an ...

have migrated to the park from the nearby

. The council has been working to protect plant, fish, insect and bird species, by intensively controlling possums, rats, stoats, deer, pigs and goats. Regular records are made of vegetation recovery, animal numbers and native bird populations.

History

European settlers recognised the value of the area as a water source in the 19th century. An earth dam was constructed in 1880, and a pipeline was laid to Wellington. This complemented the country's first public water supply dam, completed in

Karori Karori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, 4 km from the city centre and is one of New Zealand's most populous suburbs, with a population of in History Origins The name ''Karori'' used ...

west of the city two years earlier. The Morton Dam was constructed between 1908 and 1911. A weir and pipeline from the Ōrongorongo Catchment was built in 1924. The original system was decommissioned and emptied in the late 1980s, and a new treatment plant was built which takes water direct from weirs in both river catchments. The new plant produces up to 60 million litres per day, supplying about 15 percent of the water used in the Wellington urban area. The re-introduction of kiwi into the nearby

, beginning in May 2006, led to some kiwi migration to the collection area. The re-introduction of

s to the park began in September 2016. Pest control was carried out in the park in October 2019, including the use of 1080 to reduce rat numbers.

Recreation

Public access to the park is restricted to protect the native bush and water catchments. There are some guided tours of the park, but visitors must have the permission of Wellington Regional Council or Wellington Water. Hunting ballots are issued for land blocks, with hunting permitted between 5.30am and dusk on a group of specified dates. Five of the 10 available hunting blocks require a

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

vehicle to access. Fireworks are banned at all times.

References

{{Protected areas of New Zealand Lower Hutt Regional parks of New Zealand Parks in the Wellington Region Water supply and sanitation in New Zealand