City engineers say the western Tauranga water crisis of two weeks ago was caused by earth movement rupturing the main pipeline that supplies the Cambridge Road reservoir.
The pipe bend that ruptured was sited under the cul de sac at the end of Chadwick Road. A combination of soil instability and vibration are the main suspects.

The broken pipe that caused a water shortage fear in western Tauranga.

'Any big trucks that that turned in this are would have impacted on it, plus the soil drying out,” says Peter. 'All these things added together are likely to have impacted.”
'What the final straw was we are not sure,” says Tauranga water supply manager Peter Bahrs.
The PVC pipe bend will be sent back to the manufacturer for checking, but the council engineers believe movement allowed it to move and split from the internal pressure.
The pipeline has a temporary repair in place that has secured the reservoirs' supplies while a longer term solution is sought.
Because of the soil instability issues, Peter says consultants are looking at alternative routes for a replacement pipeline.
The pipeline break took three days to repair and came close to leaving the city's western suburbs without water. A combination of an early warning from Bruno Weidmann who called it in soon after the water broke through the surface and aggressive water conservation by Bethlehem, Brookfield Otumoetai and Matua residents saved the supply.

The pipe hero, Bruno Wiedmann.