In 2016, Havelock North – a small town in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand – was hit by tragedy. Its main water supply had become contaminated with Campylobacter, a harmful bacteria, after floodwaters from a paddock made it into the town’s aquifer. Two out of every five residents became ill, and four people died. “It was a crisis,” says Graeme Hansen, now director of major capital projects at Hastings District Council. The council manages the local services, including water, for the territory that incorporates Havelock North.
For a long time, the council struggled to get past the terrible event. “Part of my motivation for taking this job was to help forge a new way forward,” says Hansen, who had previously worked at Hawke’s Bay Regional Council. It was important to “acknowledge what happened and apologise to the community, but to do so positively”, he says.
Hansen knew that rebuilding the community’s trust in its drinking water would be a monumental challenge. A key step was providing education on how water moves from the source to people’s homes, he says. “I’ve always been intrigued about the lack of knowledge around this,” says Hansen. “For a lot of people, their level of interest extends to ‘As long as water comes out of the tap and the loo flushes, and as long as the water drains away when it rains, that’s fine.’”
Hansen saw the council’s ambitious Drinking Water Strategy – kickstarted just prior to his arrival in 2018 in response to the Campylobacter crisis – as an opportunity to transform the wider conversation around water. “Alongside upgrading the infrastructure, we wanted to raise public awareness around water, especially for future generations,” he says. That was the genesis of Waiaroha – a world-first project that combines an advanced water-treatment centre with a community and education centre, freely accessible to all.
More than water
Waiaroha – the name derived from the Māori words wai (‘water’) and aroha (‘love’) – began construction in April 2021, and opened in October 2023. Unlike most water treatment facilities, it’s not tucked away in an industrial estate, or strategically concealed in parkland. Instead, it’s situated right in the heart of Heretaunga Hastings, a city less than 5 km from Havelock North, on the corner plot of a residential street. The location was chosen largely for its access to the underlying aquifer, but this led to some challenging conversations with the local councillors, says Hansen. “There was a perception that we’d just be adding a big eyesore to the city – rusty, old tanks, right on people’s doorsteps,” he recalls. “We had to do a lot of work to convince them that we could create a beautiful place.”
Hansen and his colleagues were determined to make Waiaroha a destination in its own right. Yes, it would be home to a fully automated, state-of-the-art facility that uses a combination of UV light, chlorination and fluoridation to treat the drinking water supply of 20,000 homes. Yes, the site would include two enormous storage tanks that each hold 5 million litres of water. But it would be so much more than that – a place for the community to gather, an education and discovery centre for children, and a celebration of Māori culture.
To achieve these goals, Hansen and his team knew they’d need to assemble a network of experts from a wide range of sectors. The first port of call was Ngāti Kahungunu, the local iwi (tribe) of the area, with whom the Hastings District Council has had a long-standing working relationship. “Ngāti Kahungunu have been principal and primary decision-makers, alongside myself, on all of this,” says Hansen. “We had iwi leader Hira Huata acting as the driving force on our cultural work.” The site design and landscape architecture were delivered by a local firm called Wayfinder. For the educational content and visitor experience aspects of the project, the council turned to another local, Lily Frederikse from creative studio Stitchbird, who has more than 20 years of experience working in museum and exhibition design. “The experience really opened my eyes to the range of skills and expertise available within Hawke’s Bay,” says Hansen.
For three years, this team worked alongside engineers and contractors to make Waiaroha a reality. “We pushed really hard for this because it was our dream project,” says Frederikse. “You hear a lot of talk from councils about innovation, but it’s not common to actually see it modelled in a community. Hastings took a very brave, bold approach here – visionary, I think. They enabled the community to participate throughout, and as a result, those people feel a huge amount of pride in and respect for Waiaroha.”
From mountains to sea
The site of Waiaroha itself is a physical representation of the water cycle, as it flows from the mountains – the real-world source of the city’s drinking water – to the sea. The entrance, for example, is elevated a couple of metres above street level, accessible by a set of steps, to represent the mountains, and from there, the site follows a gentle downward slope. The native plants and vegetation that are placed throughout the centre are species found in the mountainous and river valley regions of Hawke’s Bay.
“The first story we tell is that of mist, and the final one, of the ocean,” says Wellington-based illustrator Yasmine El Orfi, who developed the visual narrative for Waiaroha. El Orfi created story panels and interactive displays that are installed around the site. “We ended up erecting 32 metres of drawings for the outdoor area,” she says. “They act as a navigation tool for visitors, guiding them to follow the water’s journey.”
Actual water flows around the site too, with features such as rapids and wetlands incorporated into the landscape. “The story panels showcase the flora and fauna that people would see along a real river,” says El Orfi. “So, in the ‘splashing streams’ area, you meet the whio (blue duck, endemic to New Zealand). Further down, at the ‘rapid rivers’, you see things like dragonflies and trout. The goal was to make the whole site feel educational and engaging, but also very playful.”
Frederikse agrees. “Play is a universal quality that engages our minds and our hearts,” she says. “To learn most effectively, [people] have to be doing something with their body, with their senses, with their spirit, and with other people.”
Te Whare Waiaroha, the discovery centre, sits at the heart of the site. It’s been described as “a mini Te Papa,” in reference to New Zealand’s national museum of the same name. Filled with games, activities and videos – all made by the project team – it acts as a classroom and an exhibition space for children, teachers and the wider public alike. Since January 2024, over 3000 people have visited the Whare via bookings, including 25 school groups. In a single week, 100 children came through the doors, and while there’s no count for casual visitors, the council’s communications team say that “it’s always busy” In this, its first summer, the outdoor space has been popular too, with locals of all ages spending time exploring the space.
Co-designed by Māori
Crucially, Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) is present throughout the site. From the intricately carved waharoa (entrance gateway) to the tukutuku (latticework) panels inside the education centre, the knowledge and stories of the Ngāti Kahungunu people are woven through those from Western science. “We don’t treat them separately,” says El Orfi. “They’re blended together.”
This was made possible by the close working relationships that were forged between team members. “We had iwi advisors and cultural artists involved at all stages,” says Frederikse. “Hira Huata is a specialist in the Atua (gods) of this place. She has this incredible knowledge of the thousands of connections between the gods, nature, landscape and people, and of the whakapapa (genealogy) of water. That was a central part of the narrative.”
“Hira is actually my auntie,” says master carver, Charles Paringatai, who led all of the whakairo (Māori wood carving) activity on the project. “She was the one who recommended that I come in to articulate that whakapapa and science through whakairo.”
Paringatai is a celebrated artist, who specialises in whakairo, sculpture and Tāmoko (Māori tattooing). He quickly found himself immersed in the project, excited by the challenge of working across different media, and as part of a larger team. He brought in three other local carvers – Phil Belcher, Caine Tawahi and Nathan Foote. “They’re all really experienced, so it was a case of giving them the overall narrative and just letting them do their thing. We each have different styles, but it all tied in together really nicely.”
Another important part of the site is the taonga rock. Water is a taonga (treasure) for Māori. When present in its purest form, it is used in rituals and to sanctify and bless objects such as pounamu (greenstone). “I made a commitment to iwi that we’d provide a place in Waiaroha where the water is totally untouched, and hasn’t gone through our treatment processes,” says Hansen. “So, we drilled 80 metres down to access the aquifer directly. That taonga rock is now probably the most special place on the site for me, too.”
When asked how he feels about Waiaroha, Paringatai says, “I’m quite proud. I think it was a monumental moment for us as mana whenua (people of the land) to show the skills we can offer the community. It hasn’t been done on a big scale like that before. The project started a new shift in our community, and inspiring the next generation about water.”
–Note: Phil Belcher, one of the master carvers who worked on Waiaroha, sadly passed away in February 2024, as this article was being written. The author wishes to express her condolences to his whānau (family), friends and community for their enormous loss.
Story by Laurie Winkless
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