Firstly let me start this by saying that I have had the benefit of being an elected member for three years, and spending 200-300 hours on the Three Water reforms. From reading papers & council briefings, to tuning into live steams & attending workshops. It has been an on-going conversation for the full three years of the triennium. It’s important to remember this is a government reform, and not a council initiative.

I am largely in favour of the reforms, but I do have some reservations – most of which we made in our recent submission to the government.

The reality is the condition, age and rising costs to provide three waters presents a really significant challenge to councils around New Zealand, and the status quo just doesn’t stack up when balancing the investment required and increasing rates to fund it. Without reform, some councils like Taupō District Council residents will be paying around $7,310 a year for water rates (currently $1,400pa with reform $1,260). The numbers in Lower Hutt still largely support reform too. We currently pay $880pa in water rates per house, without reform this goes to $2,380 & with reform this drops to $1,260. (Click here to see the DIA Dashboard from June 2021 using councils long-term plan’s planned investment)

I make this point to illustrate that this isn’t a local problem that the local 67 councils can fix alone.

For too long political decision makers have chosen to underinvest in water infrastructure, which is why we need political oversight of qualified water & asset management experts to run these new entities. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter who is in charge of providing three waters – you just want to know you can drink water out of the tap and not get sick or die, and when you flush the toilet it’s not going into our streams & rivers.

The parts of the reform I’m still questioning are:

  • Entity boundaries, does it really make sense that our primarily north-island based entity includes the very top of the South Island too?
  • How our local voice influences the water entity?
  • How will investment across the entity be prioritised?
  • How the new entity integrates with our own long-term planning?
  • Workforce is already stretched, is there enough qualified workforce for the new large entities?
  • Consultation & communication – the government hasn’t done a good job of explaining three waters, and it’s largely been dominated by those opposing it. The government needs to clearly explain the need for change better.

So while a bit of a yes/no answer – I am largely in favour – but we still have a bit of a way to go till I’m completely satisfied. But this is a government reform, it wont be a decision for councils to make. Positions on three waters reform will certainly be a hot topic for the general election in 2023.