KAPITI COAST · OFFICIAL COUNCIL DATA
What's actually in the Kapiti Coast's tap water
Kapiti Coast District Council released its compliance record for all four supplies it runs - Waikanae, Paraparaumu, Raumati, Otaki, Te Horo and Paekakariki. 1,542 chlorine samples. E. coli: one detection in 880 samples, at the minimum detectable level. The water is safe. The same record shows what stays in it at the tap - zone by zone below. The free check reads yours.
THE HEADLINE NUMBERS
All four zones sit above a health goal.
Your water passes New Zealand's rules. Kapiti Coast District Council treats its water properly, and their own results show it. The same results show what stays in the water: the chlorine that already did its job, the fluoride one plant adds on purpose, and the by-products chlorine leaves behind. All measured. All inside the legal limits. Every one of the four zones carries at least one reading above an international health-based goal. The numbers are below; what you do about them is up to you.
ZONE BY ZONE
What was found in your zone
Chlorine and E. coli are tested year-round in every zone; metals and chlorination by-products a few times a year. These are the council's own results. "Readings above health goals" counts results sitting above a US EPA health goal or EWG health guideline - international health-based benchmarks that sit far below New Zealand's legal limits.
| Zone | Chlorine, typical | THMs, highest sample | Haloacetic acids | Readings above health goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waikanae / Paraparaumu / Raumati | 0.86 mg/L | 0.0222 mg/L | Not detected | 1 |
| Otaki | 1.03 mg/L | 0.026 mg/L | Not detected | 2incl. a lead detection |
| Paekakariki | 0.94 mg/L | 0.0201 mg/L | 0.01 mg/L | 3incl. a lead detection |
| Hautere / Te Horo | 1.07 mg/L | 0.0197 mg/L | Not detected | 2incl. a lead detection |
Source: Kapiti Coast District Council LGOIMA response OIR 2627/58, received 27 August 2026 - the council's Taumata Arowai Hinekorako compliance exports. Chlorine typicals are zone medians across the released record (January 2023 to April 2026; the combined Waikanae/Paraparaumu/Raumati zone reports from its start in 2025); THM figures are the highest per-sample total, summing quantified species only. Lead's health-based goal is zero (US EPA); THM and HAA goals are EWG health guidelines. All readings sit inside New Zealand's legal limits. The export carries no pH or turbidity results.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR HOUSE
Three things to know.
By-products in every zone
Chlorine meeting natural organic matter is how trihalomethanes form, and all four zones returned them - peaks between 0.0197 and 0.026 mg/L. Inside the legal limits, above the EWG health guideline - both true. Paekakariki also returned a quantified haloacetic acid result, 0.01 mg/L.
Fluoride depends on your zone
The Waikanae plant fluoridates, so Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Raumati drink fluoridated water - the release does not include the treated-water level. Otaki, Te Horo and Paekakariki do not. Only reverse osmosis removes it - around 90%, at the kitchen tap.
Safe and pure are different questions
One E. coli detection in 880 samples, at the minimum detectable level - the council is doing its job. The same release shows lead traces in three of four zones against a health goal of zero, no pH or turbidity results at all, and not one test for PFAS or microplastics. Zero is a choice you make at your own tap.
YOUR ADDRESS
This is the district picture. Get the report for your zone.
The free water check takes about two minutes, and it includes the PDF water report for your address - written from the same council data, read for your house.
THE SYSTEM THAT FITS
What we'd fit on the Kapiti Coast.
Fluoride (where your zone adds it), PFAS and microplastics only come out at the kitchen tap with reverse osmosis, and that's the ES60's job. If it's the chlorine in your showers that bothers you, that's a whole-house filter - we supply those by arrangement, so call us on 021 709 370.
Under the sink · removes fluoride, PFAS and microplastics
Pentair ES60 under-bench RO
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