Featherston Watermain Renewals – 2025/26
About this project
The Featherston Watermain Renewals project is the first cab off the rank for Council in bringing the delivery of the capital water programme back in-house from Wellington Water Ltd (WWL) in July 2025. The project was released for open tender with Elite Drainage Wairarapa being awarded the contract in October 2025. It has been five years since SWDC has run its waters capital programme in house. The anticipated benefits of Council managing its waters capital programme directly include more cost control and efficiency and the use of local contractors as project leads or subcontractors where appropriate.
The Featherston Watermain Renewals scope is to replace 2.6km of aging water pipes, which are thought to be one of the sources of ongoing leaks and water loss. This project is essential to improve water supply resilience to the community.
Timeline
The renewal programme will be completed in two phases. Phase one is scheduled to begin on 10 November 2025 and run until the SWDC end-of- year brown out period (where programmed works cease for the holiday period) beginning on 15 December 2025. The order of Featherston streets for watermain renewal is Crawford Street, Boundary Road, Waite Street, Birdwood Street, and Fitzherbert Street East.
Phase two of the project begins on 8 January 2026 and includes: Revans Street, Fox Street, Fitzherbert Street (SH2), Ludlam Street (SH2), Lyon Street, and Hickson Street. The detailed programme for phase two will be completed at later date. Traffic management approvals for work on SH2 are currently under way.
Phase one (2025) – Crawford Street, Boundary Road, Waite Street, and Birdwood Street, and Fitzherbert Street East.
Phase two (2026) – Revans Street, Fox Street, Fitzherbert Street (SH2), Ludlam Street (SH2), Lyon Street, and Hickson Street.
Current status
17 November 2025
The project is well under way with the team working on Birdwood, Crawford, and Waite Streets this week.
On Tuesday 18 November lateral connections will be made on Crawford Street. To do this work, the water supply needs to be temporarily turned off between 10am–3pm.
Project advice letters have been delivered to affected residents in the areas shown below:
Traffic management is in place. Please ensure that vehicles are kept clear of the work site.
Previous updates
7 November 2025
Installation of the new watermain pipe in Crawford Street, Featherston has begun. Traffic management is in place. Please ensure that vehicles are kept clear of the work site.
Project advice letters have also been delivered to residents on Boundary Road, Waite Street, Birdwood Street and Fitzherbert Street East.
31 October 2025
From 10 November 2025, works will get under way in Crawford Street, Featherston with the installation of new watermain pipe.
This work will take about two weeks from the 10 November 2025 until 24 November 2025. Hours of work will generally be 7am to 6pm from Monday to Friday, with some Saturdays worked, if necessary.
Traffic management will be in place to help guide pedestrians, ensuring their access and safety is maintained throughout the works. We will also require that all vehicles are clear of the work site. This will be highlighted with no parking cones the night before.