North Canterbury News: July 16, 2021

WAIMAKARIRI DISTRICT COUNCIL
8 The North Canterbury News, July 15, 2021
Advertising feature
Better water? What about Waimakariri?
DAN GORDON, MAYOR OF THE
WAIMAKARIRI DISTRICT COUNCIL
The Government’s ThreeWaters
Reforms programme is gaining traction
in the media.
You haveseenafew scary numbers,
and the massively misleading advertising
campaign,where the Government claims
that without water reform there is the
potential for astronomical increases in
household costs and awful
environmental outcomes.
As far as our councilcan tell, having
gone through their data, both of these
statements are not true and the council
and Ihave seriousconcerns about the
information and approach.
The Governmentisproposingto
remove waterservices from councils and
establish four water service entities
across the country, with one entity
proposed to coverall of the South Island
excluding parts of Nelson,Marlborough
and Tasman. Theseentities would look
afterdrinkingwater, wastewater and
stormwater.
Thereare broad statements being
made abouthugeefficiencies that will be
made and misrepresentations about the
dire stateoflocalinfrastructure.We
wanted to sharethe concerns we have so
residents get atrue feel for what’s being
proposed andwhere the council stands.
Our first concern is the public relations
line,or‘spin’,the Government keeps
repeating which is that‘‘there is aproven
case for change’’.This simply isn’t
correct. The Government are claiming
for the Three Waterssystem across New
Zealand they’re going to gainefficiencies
of over 45 percent. Theyclaim without
reform water costsper household could
increase up to $3,000 annuallyby2051
and that with reform costs willonly be
Ribbon cutting ... Council staff and community members at the opening on the
Garrymere water supply.
$1640.
This despite investing an additional
$120Bto$150B and employing up to 9000
new staff. You don’t savemoney by
spending billions of dollars and
employing thousands of people. It just
doesn’t stack up.
It’s also impossibletostatethe future
costsordollarsrequired for further
investment ahead of new standards being
released. We know the numbers in
Waimakariri. We ought to as we’ve
investedover $100M in water
infrastructure over the last20years and
have abudgetedplan in place for
managing these assets for the next 100.
The Governmentshould know our data
as well–wesupplied it to them –but
they’ve madesome exceptionally broad
and arbitrary statements about the
quality of water in Waimakariri. We have
commissioned experts to review these
statements andprovideuswith advice.
We’veasked to see the Government’s
data and economic modelling, but to date
this isn’tforthcoming. They’realso not
providinginformationonhow we have
been labelled a‘band 3’ service provider
despite Waimakariri having someofthe
best water infrastructureinthe country.
We takegreat prideinproviding our
communities withsafe andreliable
drinkingwater. At the moment they’re
not meetingtheirobligations as part of
our agreement which is ‘towork
together’. This concerns us.This is why
our Council agreed last yeartotake part
in the first part of the reformprocess
(doing so also secured$8M of
Governmentinvestmentinour District).
What we want, and need, is to see the
information, not hear the PR spin.
We needthis to haveanhonest
conversation with our community about
theseproposals and to make an informed
decision. Theseare ratepayer owned
assets. Our second concern is about
representation.
People in Waimakariri careabout
having asay and knowingthereis
someone to hold accountable when
things go wrong.The recent flooding is an
example of our council being ableto
respond quicklyand make decisionsthat
protect our community. The Government
proposal takes meaningful ownership of
our assetsaway from the community.
Merging almost all of the South Island
into one entity is going to mean
Waimakariri locals have little,tono
representation,control or influence.
Thereare concerns about crosssubsidisation.
If this goes ahead,the most
likely situation is, our ratepayers will
subsidise othercouncils that haven’t
properly invested in water, as opposed to
getting better outcomes.
Our hopeisthe Government takes
another lookatthe memorandum of
understanding we signed and starts
working more openly with local
government.Based on the limited
information presented so far,the view of
the councillors and myself wouldbethat
we do not join the Governments reform
programme. At thispointweare not
convinced thereare benefits for the
Waimakariri community.
We’vebeen told that this reform
programme is voluntary. Lately we are
hearing this choice may be taken away,
and government may legislate and
overrideour community’sdemocratic
rights. We expect thatthe Government to
honour its agreement and alloweach
council and communitythe choice to opt
in or out.Our website has apage withall
the informationwehave received to date
and we will keep this updated at www.
waimakariri.govt.nz.
Council has worked hard to upgrade
our 3waters infrastructure overthe last
20 years. This reform programme
appears to us to ask our ratepayers to
subsidise other communities.This isn’t
fair or equitable. We see no gains but
higher costs for our community.
sick child?
Call your General Practice
(GP) team 24/7 or visit an
urgent care clinic:
• Riccarton Clinic
8am–8pm
• Moorhouse Medical
8am–8pm
Under 14s have free medical visits after-hours
and weekends at urgent care clinics
• X-ray, fracture and wound care available
• Late-night pharmacies and parking on-site
CDHB12JULY21 ED
All clinics open 7days aweek
cdhb.health.nz/urgentcare