Read the 2024/25 Annual Report and summary report
Keen to delve into the detail of our finances and performance results? Check our full 2024/25 Annual Report.
Ngā hua whakahirahira
2024/25 highlights
Want a quick overview of our mahi for the past financial year? Here are some highlights from 2024/25.
Wai
Water
Responding to environment incidents
Whenever an environmental incident occurs, Waikato Regional Council’s Incident Response specialists are just a phone call away. Council staff respond to environmental notifications that involve potentially unlawful discharges to air, water or land in the Waikato region that involve contamination of the environment.
24/7 response service
for environmental incidents
2063km of drainage systems
managed under our drainage schemes
Rerenga rauropi, tiakitanga taiao
Biodiversity and biosecurity
Council grants $1.34m to four landscape scale environmental projects
Waikato Regional Council granted a total of $1.34 million from its Natural Heritage Fund (NHF) towards four landscape scale environmental projects.
Successful applicants included:
- Te Whakaoranga o Karioi – The Karioi Project
- Caring for Native Biodiversity in Northern Coromandel
- Kia Mau Tonu Kaitiakitanga o Pirongia
- Kaimai Mamaku Restoration project.
577,187 plants and trees
planted
14,555 hectares
of priority biodiversity sites covered
55 per cent
of Waikato schools involved in the Enviroschools programme
673
vessel hulls checked in region-wide biosecurity survey
$138,000
provided to 36 environmental projects through the Small Scale Community Initiatives Fund
$372,873
provided to 12 projects through the Environmental Initiatives Fund
74,458m of streambank
protected
156,534m
of new fencing
Hanganga tauwhiro
Sustainable development and infrastructure
Innovative engineering enhances flood resilience and environment
Waikato Regional Council’s newly completed asset rationalisation project near the Piako River mouth reflects a new and environmentally innovative era of flood management.
The three-year project, which saw three floodgates decommissioned and replaced with one, was an upgrade of the lower reaches of the Piako River scheme that was built in the 1960s and 1970s to provide protection to 159,000 hectares of low-lying – including below sea level – productive farmland.
442
floodgates assessed
114
pump stations assessed
205
other assets assessed
81 per cent
of flood management assets in very good to fair condition
2 per cent
improvement in flood management asset condition
96 per cent
satisfaction with our flood warning alert system
Hononga hapori
Community connections
Meteor’s milestone million
Hamilton’s Meteor bus service celebrated its one millionth passenger trip in 2024/25, averaging 12,144 passengers each week.
Launched in September 2023, it’s Hamilton’s third high-frequency service and now the second most popular bus service in the Waikato after the Orbiter.
4 million journeys
on our public transport services
340,000
scheduled trips
50,000 journeys
with Total Mobility
6900 get road safety lessons
from Ruben the Road Safety Bear
Takutai moana
Coastal and marine
Mock oil spill keeps response team on their toes
Whangamatā Marina is usually the picture of serene seaside relaxation and recreation. Not so on Tuesday, 11 March, when dozens of figures clad in hi-vis sprang to action for a marine oil spill response exercise.
Training exercises like this one are held biannually by Waikato Regional Council in different locations around the Waikato rohe (region). They enable our staff to practice the deployment of marine oil spill equipment that can minimise environmental harm.
12 hours or less
response time for category one maritime navigation aid repairs
161
maritime infringement addressed
Hearings
held on proposed coastal plan
25
coastal sites planted with Thames-Coromandel District Council
Whakaheke tukunga
Transition to a low emissions economy
Council adopts plan to use nature-based solutions to achieve carbon neutrality
Waikato Regional Council will be using nature-based solutions to offset its hard-to-reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
29 per cent
reduction in emissions against 2017 base year*
*From independent Toitū carbonreduce report. Reflects 2023/24 financial year reported in 2024/25 (excludes public transport emissions).
6 new EVs
replace diesel buses in Waipā