Our Work
Based on the 30+ years of water industry consulting experience of Owner / Director Steve Carne, Taonga Water Advisory is focused on providing industry leading services, in New Zealand and eastern Australia and the Pacific Islands. Below are some examples of the work that we have recently done or are currently engaged in.
Tauranga City Council
Having scoped out the program of works, we are currently managing and implementing all tasks associated with TCC’s wastewater network inflow and infiltration program. Rather than trying to correct an overflow problem due to excessive I/I, TCC’s I/I program is unique in that it is mainly of a preventive nature, aimed to keep already low I/I levels low, to enable further growth in and connections to the network. This has seen us help develop a bespoke I/I key performance indicator reporting dashboard that automatically calculates I/I KPIs (as per the Water NZ I/I Control Manual) from SCADA data feeds from over 165 pump stations in the network. Using the results from this analysis, we are also carrying out field source detection works in the few areas suspected of excessive I/I. We are also investigating the feasibility of alternate tactics for a private house lateral inspection and renewal program in order to reduce I/I arising from house lateral defects. Shortly, we will develop and scope a pilot rehabilitation program in an area identified by the dashboard analysis as having reduceable I/I volumes.
Whanganui District Council
At Whanganui we are completing a range of projects. These include a review and revamp of their trade waste operating regime. With 3 main and over 200 smaller trade waste dischargers connected to the system, WDC’s treatment plant is designed for a 280,000 ep even though there are only 45,000 people in Whanganui. It is therefore important to ensure that WDC’s trade waste regime is operating as well as it can and is in line with current industry best practice. We are also looking at in detail the inflow/infiltration levels within the wastewater network, in order to reduce the extent and frequency of network discharges during wet weather. Like the Tauranga work, we have also investigated the feasibility of a mandated house lateral renewal program in order to reduce to I/I arising from house lateral defects.
Rangitikei District Council
We are currently providing client-side Project Director, “smart-buyer” type support/review/challenge services to RDC on 2 key capital projects.
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Marton Water Supply Upgrade
To mitigate endemic taste and odour issues with the Marton water supply, particularly in summer, this project sees the historical reservoir surface water source being replaced with bore sources and installation of an associated new treatment plant process using membrane nanofiltration to treat hardness, iron and manganese.
Marton- Bulls Wastewater Centralisation Project
This project sees the connection of the wastewater systems at Marton and nearby Bulls and combining treatment processes into a single modern system. We are overseeing a consultant team providing technical advisory services that is currently considering treatment and disposal options with a view to applying for a new resource consent by mid 2026.
GHD
We have provided bid support, strategy and advisory services for global multidisciplinary consultancy GHD on a number of their water, wastewater and stormwater projects and specifc opportunity pursuits across New Zealand and the Pacific.
DHI Water and Environment
We are currently completing some advisory and review work to assist DHI in tailoring their Future City Flows software to incorporate I/I KPIs that are contained in the New Zealand and Australian I/I Manuals that Steve authored.
Detection Services Limited
We recently carried out bid support, review and strategy advisory services to Detection Services, Australasia's leading water-wastewater condition assessment company for a major project opportunity pursuit they undertook with a leading NZ-based water agency.
