Water Hawke's Bay
Water Hawke's Bay Limited was incorporated on 26 June 2026. It is owned by the Hastings, Napier and Central Hawke's Bay councils.
Until the handover, Napier City Council keeps delivering water, wastewater and stormwater, and Hastings District Council stays responsible for its own network.
Napier: the council owns the lateral to your boundary
In Napier, the council owns the wastewater pipework up to and including the lateral to your boundary. Inside your property, faults are yours to fix and pay for.
If a toilet, shower or sink won't drain, get a plumber or drainlayer to investigate. If they trace the problem to the boundary, ring the council on 06 835 7579.
The council won't pay for the camera inspection or jetting used to find the cause. And nobody may lift a manhole lid.
Napier's water supply
Napier's water comes from the Heretaunga Aquifer and is chlorinated. The council links discoloured water to manganese reacting with the chlorine, which it has added since 2017.
Hastings and Havelock North
Hastings District Council will locate your toby for you, which helps when a plumber needs the water off quickly.
We found no pipe-ownership rule from Hastings that we could verify. Before work near the boundary in Hastings or Havelock North, ask the council where its pipe ends.
Check the tradie and their supervisor
Only certifying plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers work without a supervisor. Everyone else works under a named certifying licence holder in the same trade.
Ask whether the person is supervised and by whom, then look the supervisor up on the PGDB register too. Supervisors must make sure the people they supervise can show their authorisation card when asked.
Cylinders and lost gas certificates
A new water heater with a controlled heat source of its own, or connected to one, can replace the old one without building consent. Exempt work still has to meet the Building Code and leave the house at least as compliant as it was.
Lost the gas certificate for an older installation? Another certifying gasfitter can check it and issue a certificate of verification. PGDB doesn't hold gas certificates issued after 1 October 2013.
What we would do in Hawke's Bay
In Napier, ask the plumber or drainlayer to find the blockage before anyone mentions the council. The council's advice is to ring it once the problem is found at the boundary, and it won't pay for the camera work or jetting that finds it. Ask for the footage or photos either way, so you can see for yourself where the fault was.
Send the job through. A Hawke's Bay tradie who specialises in it can take it on, and they alone get your phone number and email.