Wellingtonians have been slow to take up the idea of installing emergency water supplies to keep them going after a big earthquake.
Photo: RNZ
Wellington Water manages the region's supply and says councils need to do more to encourage people to install emergency tanks in homes.
Alex van Passen from Wellington Water said water was likely to be completely cut off to homes after a big quake, and people needed to have enough water to survive seven days.
He said it cost $100 to buy a 200 litre tank through the council.
Of 140,000 homes, only 15,000 have spent $100 on a 200-litre emergency tank that could let them survive for a week. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Mr van Passen said there were 140,000 households across Wellington, but councils had sold only 15,000 emergency water storage tanks since 2013.
He said sales went up after the Kaikoura earthquake last November, then slowed, so Wellington Water was working with councils to find ways to encourage more people to buy them.
"Some of them might be to include gradual payments through rates similar to what was done for home insulation. The other option is to work with community groups to help people to install or secure tanks so they don't fall over when there's an earthquake."
Wellington city councillor Iona Pannett said the council could offer to install tanks for a small charge, or subsidise them for low-income households.
She said the idea of having an emergency water tank at home was a relatively new one.
"It was just a few years ago this idea was being rejected, so it does take time to get messages through about the importance of providing your own water.
"I'm not overly concerned but it would be good to think about how we can do it. We don't have legal authority to impose them on people, it may be that we have some discussions with government about whether this is a useful change to make to the Building Act."
Ms Pannett said after a major event it was likely wastewater would also not be working, so council could consider helping households install composting toilets, and even fire extinguishers.
She said letting people pay off their tanks when they pay their rates might be one possibility, but would include a lot of administration.
