Water fight gains momentum

A push for councils in the southern region to work together in a bid to retain ownership of their water-related assets has received the backing of a senior Dunedin councillor, who believes the Government may back away from its proposal.

The Government has proposed to take drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services away from 67 councils and put them into the hands of four publicly-owned water service entities.

However, many councils are pushing back amid fears the water services may eventually become privatised and the prices hiked for consumers.

However, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the Government was developing safeguards against future privatisation and the reforms were designed to ease the burden on ratepayers.

This week, Invercargill City Councillor Ian Pottinger said one option may be for eight southern councils, as far north as Waitaki, to retain ownership of their water assets individually, but save costs through combined staffing and purchasing power.

Dunedin City Council councillor Jim O’Malley said he agreed with Pottinger, and he believed the Government may backtrack on its three waters proposal, ‘‘because they have realised it’s really unpopular’’.

Now was a good time to combine with other southern councils on the issue, because if the Government did backtrack it would still insist councils came forward with models that worked, he said.

He feared if a single water entity headed in Christchurch made decisions on where to invest in water assets in southern towns and cities, it may dictate how the district plans at those individual councils evolved, meaning the councils would lose control of their own growth.

Mahuta said many communities would be facing challenges to fund infrastructure at the level required to ensure safe drinking water and better wastewater treatment. ‘‘The changes proposed by the Government to improve the three waters network on a financially sustainable base are designed to ease the burden on ratepayers – to do nothing is unacceptable.’’

Modelling provided to councils showed that, without reform, the cost increases to households of meeting the required investment would likely be unaffordable for many smaller communities.

‘‘Councils would ignore this at the expense of ratepayers who need a resilient, efficient network,’’ Mahuta said.

Gore District mayor Tracy Hicks said its council needed to spend up to $330 million on upgrades to its drinking and wastewater systems in the next 25 to 30 years.

‘‘When you look at a small district like this and equate it to the rating base it’s eye watering, so looking to be able to share that with some of the bigger areas does hold a bit of an attraction to me.

‘‘But at the same time I want to make damn sure the local service stays the same and the voice of the local people don’t get lost.’’

Mahuta said the Government would make decisions on the way forward for the reforms when it has considered the feedback from councils.

‘‘The changes proposed by the Government to improve the three waters network on a financially sustainable base are designed to ease the burden on ratepayers – to do nothing is unacceptable.’’ Nanaia Mahuta, Local Government Minister