By Peter Dalgety, Growth & Marketing Leader Pacific, Honeywell
Digital transformation is set to revolutionise the New Zealand water sector.
Nowhere are the pressures of climate change, regulatory reform and aging infrastructure felt more strongly than in the water sector. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, councils and water authorities are balancing rising community expectations with constrained funding, dispersed assets, and increasing compliance requirements.
Digital transformation is no longer a future ambition for water utilities; it is fast becoming a prerequisite for resilience, public confidence and long-term affordability.
New Zealand is already on the digital journey
Encouragingly, much of the groundwork for the New Zealand water sector is already underway – with important strides taken in modernising supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, remote operations and compliance reporting.
Guidance from Water New Zealand on SCADA good practice reflects active upgrades and growing standardisation across councils and utilities. At the same time, regulatory oversight from The Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai, particularly through the Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules (DWQAR), is driving the need for higher-quality monitoring, defensible data capture and transparent reporting.
In short, New Zealand utilities are moving, but many are still early in unlocking the full potential of integrated digital water infrastructure. The next step is not simply installing new SCADA screens; it is building connected, cyber-secure, data-rich platforms that support reliable operations and smarter management of assets over the long term.
A small, distributed system demands smarter tools
New Zealand’s water landscape is characterised by relatively small treatment plants, long distribution networks and geographically dispersed communities. This creates unique operational challenges, including:
- limited specialist staff, particularly in regional areas
- significant travel time to remote pump stations and reservoirs
- exposure to extreme weather and climate-driven variability
- growing expectations for continuous compliance evidence.
In this context, better digital visibility and control can make a real difference by giving operators clearer insight into what’s happening across their networks, and helping them respond faster and more confidently when issues arise.
Centralised SCADA and remote operations reduce the need for constant onsite presence while improving response times to incidents. High-frequency, high-quality operational data strengthens regulatory confidence and supports audit readiness. Advanced analytics help optimise chemical dosing, energy consumption and maintenance schedules, which is critical in a funding- and skills-constrained sector.
When applied in the right way, digital technology shifts utilities from reactive maintenance and manual processes to predictive, optimised operations.
A unified technology ‘stack’ for water utilities
At Honeywell, we approach digital water infrastructure as an integrated architecture rather than a collection of point solutions.
At the core is Experion PKS SCADA, providing a single, centralised platform for monitoring and control of treatment plants, pump stations, reservoirs and remote assets. This single ‘pane of glass’ view enhances situational awareness and enables coordinated remote operations.
Layered on this foundation are:
- advanced control and automation (DCS/PLC integration) to stabilise treatment, filtration, disinfection and sludge processes, reducing manual interventions, and improving consistency and quality
- data historian and analytics platforms to transform raw SCADA data into actionable insights for performance benchmarking, predictive maintenance, and energy optimisation
- alarm and event management tools to rationalise alerts, reduce alarm fatigue, and guide operators during critical events
- operational technology cybersecurity solutions, embedding secure remote access, role-based permissions and network segmentation as core design principles.
The outcome is a joined-up system that supports reliable operations, smarter use of resources and stronger protection for key infrastructure.
Lessons from comparable markets
New Zealand does not need to look far for practical examples of how this transformation can unfold.
In fact, just across the ditch in Queensland, Australia, Fitzroy River Water partnered with Honeywell to modernise the Glenmore Water Treatment Plant and North Rockhampton Sewage Treatment Plant in Rockhampton.
Using Experion PKS SCADA and integrated control of distributed assets, the project delivered the following benefits:
- improved operational reliability and reduced unplanned downtime
- extended asset life through enhanced monitoring and control
- centralised operations from a single interface, reducing operator workload
- improved responsiveness to incidents across the network.
These outcomes are directly transferable to the New Zealand context, where many councils are considering similar upgrades to centralise operations, strengthen cybersecurity and extend the life of critical infrastructure.
Beyond SCADA – a fully integrated approach to critical water infrastructure
The safety, reliability and cybersecurity practices developed in high-stakes industries like refining, chemicals, power generation and mining are now being applied to water systems.
Instead of piecing together multiple standalone tools, utilities can work with an integrated set-up where SCADA, advanced control, analytics and cybersecurity operate together. This makes systems easier to manage, reduces the risk of compatibility issues, and simplifies long-term upkeep – which is an important factor for councils looking for solutions that last, rather than one-off fixes.
Cybersecurity, in particular, needs to be built in from the start. As water networks become more connected and data-rich, the risks grow. Secure communications, role-based access and network separation are essential for keeping critical services safe, and maintaining public trust.
Tangible benefits for New Zealand utilities
For regional councils and water authorities, the practical benefits of digital transformation are clear:
- improved reliability and reduced downtime through better monitoring, alarm management, and automated control
- operational efficiency and cost control, including optimised energy and chemical use, and fewer site visits to remote assets
- enhanced asset management, using condition-based insights to prioritise renewals and extend asset life
- regulatory assurance, with defensible, high-quality data supporting DWQAR compliance and reporting to Taumata Arowai
- cyber-resilient operations, reducing the risk of disruption to essential services.
Beyond operational gains, digital platforms also strengthen environmental performance. Real-time visibility of flows, overflows and treatment processes supports consent management, and proactive incident management.
Why it matters: safety, quality and sustainability
At its heart, digital water infrastructure is about delivering real benefits to the people who rely on it. Stable, automated control helps reduce the risk of treatment failures, while continuous monitoring and alarms make sure critical barriers and disinfection processes stay on track. When something unusual happens, operators can respond faster, reducing the chance and duration of noncompliant events.
Better process control also means more consistent water quality, with clearer, safer drinking water every day. At the same time, optimising energy use and chemical dosing reduces the environmental footprint of treatment, while improved visibility of leaks, losses, and overflows helps conserve water and protect local waterways.
In a country exposed to extreme weather and climate pressures, having resilient, cyber-secure water systems isn’t just a technical goal – it’s essential for public health, environmental protection, and keeping communities thriving.
Building the next chapter of New Zealand’s water story
Aotearoa New Zealand is already progressing along the digital pathway. The opportunity now is to accelerate that journey and move from isolated upgrades to integrated, future-ready platforms that support resilience, compliance, and affordability.
By combining proven industrial control systems, advanced analytics and embedded cybersecurity, water utilities can build smarter, safer, and more sustainable infrastructure – strengthening resilience and public confidence for today’s communities, and for generations to come.