[tigerlily]

I'm curious where the water supply in Wellington comes from? Is it ground water or surface water?

Where does the garbage go? Is it a landfill? Trash to energy plant?

How is the power for the region generated? Coal? Gas plant? Hydroelectric? Wind?

Always nice to know these things about your new town!

[IanW99]

Try this link for Water Supply (http://www.wellington.govt.nz/services/watersupply/index.html) information and this one for Garbage (http://wellington.govt.nz/services/rubbrecyc/index.html) in Wellington region.

Ian

[tigerlily]

And here is another part of the answer- at least for the future-
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4217358a7693.html


Wellington wind farm 'will be envy of world'
The Dominion Post | Friday, 28 September 2007

The Makara wind farm will be the "envy of the rest of the world" and become a symbol for Wellington, according to Meridian Energy chief executive Keith Turner.

West Wind is expected to be the world?s best wind farm, but the plan has been strongly opposed by residents concerned about the noise and size of the giant turbines, some less than a kilometre from homes.

The wind farm is expected to generate power at full potential about 47 per cent of the time, double the international average for wind farms.

Because of the consistent winds at Makara, the project should produce some power more than 90 per cent of the time.

A breeze of about 4 metres a second is needed to produce power, but in storm conditions - more than 25 metres a second - winds will be too strong to produce power.

Marking the turning of the first sod of earth at the $430 million site yesterday, Dr Turner confirmed that Meridian had chosen Siemens 2.3-megawatt wind turbines for the 62-turbine farm.

Prime Minister Helen Clark launched the project. "There will be few cities in the world, let alone capital cities, which can generate renewable electricity from within their boundaries," she said.

Last week, the Government said it aimed to have 90 per cent of electricity from renewable resources, such as wind and hydro power, by 2025.

Miss Clark said the New Zealand Energy Strategy and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy would be issued next month. They would set out the Government?s plans for a sustainable energy system.

Meridian originally planned 70 turbines, but four were ruled out by the Environment Court, and Meridian itself dropped another four, reducing the cost.

The project will have a total capacity of more than 140 megawatts, enough electricity to power all the houses in Wellington.

"We are absolutely delighted to be able to make a start on building this wind farm, which I believe will become a new symbol for Wellington," Dr Turner said.

The turbines will be 111 metres high, slightly more than the State Insurance Building, one of Wellington?s tallest buildings, and are expected to produce power by 2009.

Meridian said it would add only 40 trucks a day, and possibly fewer, to the existing 700 truck movements a day on Karori Rd. Large pieces of equipment, including the turbines, would be taken by barge to Makara.

Improvements to external roads around the site have begun, as required by the resource consent conditions.

Higgins Contractors has been confirmed as the civil engineering contractor. Higgins was used for Meridian?s first wind farm, Te Apiti, north of the Manawatu Gorge.