Waters workshops were held at Ōtorohanga and Te Kūiti this week
Waikato Water Done Well is three waters under another name, with the fangs pulled.
That’s the gist of the workshops presented to King Country councils this week.
Waikato Water Done Well will be voluntary, councils will be able to opt in, opt out as it suits. But as was touted with Three Waters, there will be strength in numbers, and better financial outcomes for ratepayers.
Presenting were Matamata-Piako chief executive Don McLeod, former Three Waters Entity B chief Vaughan Payne, and Co-Lab chief Kelvin French.
“There are some facts, some realities that need to be talked about irrespective of what direction you believe might be appropriate for Ōtorohanga,” McLeod said.
The various Waikato councils’ long term plans revealed the amount of capital works scheduled in the Waikato over the next 10 years is valued at $5 billion dollars.
There isn’t a contracting industry able to deliver, and with supply constrained demand goes up and so do prices. Aggregation can give individual district councils more opportunity to influence than they can alone.
“Nobody is going to listen to Matamata-Piako if I go to the regional council and say I want to spread the work out,” McLeod said.
But there was an opportunity for catchment-based consenting as opposed to consenting every individual plant.
He said not every council would benefit to same degree financially, but if councils considered the work opportunities, if they gave consideration to what could be achieved by aggregating, that would substantiate more of a case to think about those possibilities.
Vaughan Payne said councils were expected to deliver water services plans and financial models to the government.
The plans are required next year and must describe the delivery for each council and what investment will be made to deliver on regulatory requirements.
The other component was the model – individual or in combination with other councils.
Councils can set up their own council controlled organisations (CCOs) or do so with other councils. Waikato mayors and iwi chairs met last August to discuss Three Waters reform and formed the view they wanted a little more control of what was best for the Waikato, as opposed to reacting to central Government. The outcome was to support individual councils making informed decision on the merits or otherwise on aggregation for the region or sub region. “We are not here to tell you what to do, we are simply here to pass on information that has been collated by the joint forum. It’s really up to you to decide what’s best for Ōtorohanga District Council,” Payne said. Across the whole Waikato councils were expected to spend $7.5 billion over the next 10 years with $5 billion on capital works. The overall asset condition for Waikato waste water was quite poor, with 44 per cent rating average or better, which in relation to other regions was quite low, Payne said. Treated Waikato drinking water was leaking at an average of 11 Olympic swimming pools of water every day. Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced last week that Cabinet had made it easier for councils to borrow to fund waters projects. New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency Limited can immediately begin lending to water CCOs that are financially supported by their parent council or councils.
