THE Labour government’s Three Waters reforms are expected to be repealed following the election result that will result in a National/Act government.
What that will mean for the Waitomo district is still unclear.
“I can say that we are all waiting to hear what the new government policy will be around waters, and if the legislation is reversed, which is likely, I guess we are waiting to see whether is totally reversed of whether there are parts that are kept and give some opportunity for councils to share services with water,” Waitomo Mayor John Robertson said.
“We need to look at what I call an options analysis. We need to look at how we would travel if we continue as we do, with each council providing its own water services, versus in the Waikato region, how it would look if some councils came together to form a Council-Controlled Organisation, a CCO.
“I think everyone is quietly thinking and working through this at the moment. We can continue as Waitomo, we can continue as is and projects like that $9 million proposed new drinking water infrastructure would go ahead. Or we can look at whether there is a model that better combines us with other councils to do that work.”
Waitomo District Council approved close to $9m in water supply improvements in October 2022. The decision placed significant and overdue upgrades on the books if Three Waters activities were taken over by the new water entities from July 2024.
The project includes construction of a 1500 to 2500 cubic metre new reservoir at the Hetet Reservoir, the construction of a new rising main along the best route from the water treatment plant to the reservoir; construction of a gravity main through farmland along an existing easement, to the existing Hospital Reservoir – with a bypass pipe controlled by a pressure reducing valve, to supply the Hospital Zone while maintenance is performed on the existing reservoir or additional supply into the zone is required.
The project includes new high-lift pumps at the water treatment plant to exclusively supply the proposed Hetet Reservoir and necessary valves around the network; and completing ancillary work on the existing Blackmans, Mangarino, Hetet and Hospital Reservoirs.
Also included is the cleaning of the reservoirs’ sludge buildup from many years’ service; repair of the rusted and non-functioning overflow pipes; repairs to corroded internal access ladders, concrete crack repairs and sealing of the tanks, plus repairs to the corroded steel trusses and roof sheets and earthquake assessment and strengthening of each reservoir. The council has approved loan funding for up to $8,850,000 + GST.
“It’s occupying my mind a lot and just what the new government does will have a huge bearing on what we and other councils now do,” John said.
Both National and Act’s water policies were to return water assets to council ownership and control. New Zealand’s First’s online policy manifesto does not mention local water infrastructure. National and Act campaigned on reform, and the reforms are expected to follow the Communities 4 Local Democracy/ Castalia model.
Those reforms would shift drinking water and wastewater assets into CCO – for councils where water is not set as a CCO. Stormwater is fundamentally different – with assets plausibly including parks, recreation areas, ditches and roads – and is left out of the proposed structure.
A CCO can be owned by a single council, or by a set of councils. If councils find it more effective to deliver water services through a shared service model, they retain ownership of the shared entity.
Council water CCOs in the proposed structure would own the water assets and earn revenue through water charges, rather than attempting to manage the underlying councils’ water assets on whatever funding the underlying councils might wish to provide.
“I haven’t recently re-read that (Councils 4 Local Democracy) submission or the model that group was suggesting,” John said.
“That was about half the councils were behind that. We stayed silent on it in Waitomo. But that as I understand it is the second option of some councils combining to deliver water services, whether that’s drinking water and wastewater.”
