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Every night, the pools at Wai Ariki Hot Springs & Spa drain. Every morning, they fill again — with fresh geothermal water drawn from beneath Rotorua To the untrained eye it reads as excess. To Debbie Robertson, general manager of Wai Ariki, it is the only responsible option available.
“If we treated and held the water, it would essentially be taking our pure geothermal wai and turn it into a chlorinated pool,” Debbie says.
The logic is both practical and ethical. Geothermal water carries properties that don’t survive chemical intervention. “For us, the integrity of the wai matters,” she says. “Chemically treating geothermal water with high levels of chlorine can remove the therapeutic benefits for your skin, and impact reinjected back into Papatūānuku, so daily renewal is part of respecting the resource.”
She says, “This isn’t about convenience – it’s about protecting the natural qualities of the geothermal water and ensuring it remains as nature intended.”
That daily drain-and-fill cycle is just one piece of an infrastructure decision that gives Wai Ariki their point of difference from every other geothermal business in the country. Wai Ariki is the only business that re introduces geothermal water back into the earth after use – a process made possible by a capital.
“Ngāti Whakaue made a significant investment to do this properly – not only building a well to access the geothermal resource, but also creating a reinjection system to return that wai back into the earth, without the added chemicals,” Debbie says. “We’ve invested heavily in ensuring we can return the geothermal water back to Papatūānuku responsibly. That commitment comes from our values first. Reinjection infrastructure is expensive, but for us it was non-negotiable. If we take from the resource, we also have a responsibility to give back to it.”
The word that is often talked about in Māori environmental care is kaitiakitanga. But Debbie uses different word. “People often speak about kaitiakitanga quite loosely, but we are more focused on mātauranga Māori – the holistic way of thinking, living and making decisions every day that is uniquely Māori,” she says. “As Ngāti Whakaue, geothermal water is part of who we are. Many of us have grown up with geothermal bathing as part of everyday life in Rotorua, so the responsibility to care for it sits naturally within us. Every decision we make comes back to protecting our taiao, our culture, our reo and our pūrākau. We see ourselves as custodians of those things for future generations.”
She adds, “Without water, none of us exist. That responsibility extends beyond what most people perceive kaitiakitanga to be. It’s about caring for the wider living system around us.”
As resource pressures increase across the tourism sector and an increase in sustainability language, the question of what genuine commitment actually looks like becomes harder to ignore.
Debbie says “There’s certainly a lot of sustainability language used across tourism, but for Wai Ariki this isn’t branding – it’s simply who we are as Ngāti Whakaue. Our focus lies in ensuring our own practices genuinely reflect our values as Māori.”
Geothermal energy is not a resource every operator can access. Rotorua’s position within the Taupo Volcanic Zone gives businesses there a thermal advantage that cannot be replicated in Queenstown or the Coromandel.
“Geothermal energy is naturally part of life here in Rotorua, particularly for Te Arawa. That connection is unique to this place and this landscape. As such, many operators here draw from that resource in different ways – whether through heating, wellness or cultural experiences.”
“While not every operator or geographic zone in New Zealand have access to geothermal resources, the principle of working in balance with the environment is something every business can apply in its own way.” says Debbie.
