Selwyn_Times: March 06, 2024

Wednesday March 6 2024 Selwyn Times
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
LETTERS 17
Call for ‘a rates revolt’;
unpacking the cost
of chlorinating water
We want to hear your views
on the issues affecting life
in Selwyn
Send emails to:
barry@starmedia.kiwi
Letters may be edited or rejected at Star Media’s
discretion. Letters should be about 200 words.
A name, postal address and phone number should be
provided.
Please use your real name, not a nickname, alias, pen
name or abbreviation.
I 100 per cent support Graham
Bethell’s letter (Selwyn Times,
February 14) about the massive
16 per cent increase in rates.
I presented a submission to the
council about three years ago
requesting a decrease in rates,
and I fail to understand while
inflation was at 2 per cent why
did they want a 6 per cent rate
increase?
If the council only spent what
we need and not what they want,
then massive increases would not
be necessary.
Elected members and council
staff should realise we, the
ratepayers, provide their wage
and salaries. And by massive rate
increases they have failed their
duty of care.
I must congratulate councillor
Lydia Gliddon for her comments
in the Selwyn Times about the
huge increase in the rates.
It is now time for a rates revolt
or a petition on this massive
increase on rates. We, the people,
have had enough.
-Trevor Taege
Well done Graham Bethell.
The 16 per cent Selwyn council
rate hike, followed by an even
larger one of 24.6 per cent from
ECan, should be treated with the
contempt they deserve.
We are reminded daily of
the cost of living crisis in New
Zealand, along with the massive
cost increases and diminished
returns for many farms and
businesses, but it appears
our councils have no regard
whatsoever for the plight of those
people – or is it a case of the
tails in those grandiose kennels
in Rolleston and Christchurch
actually wagging the dogs?
ECan claims it needs a lot of
money for flood protection, but if
RATES RISE: It’s time to protest against the rates increase,
readers say.
PHOTO: GETTY
it had continued to allow gravel
to be taken from river beds in
large quantities as it used to be,
their flood problem would have
been largely solved.
Instead, we have good land
being used for quarries while
river beds continue to rise.
When I was young the
Malvern council office in
Darfield was run by the county
clerk and one female assistant.
The council consisted of local
businessmen and farmers, and
good business acumen and
commonsense ran the county.
Maybe it is time for ratepayers
to withhold their rate payments
in protest at the extravagance
and inefficiency of the current
regime.
-Fred Bull
Water
Contrary to Mr Wade’s
assertion in last week’s letters
page (Selwyn Times, February
28), Taumata Arowai is still
very much in operation. It is
New Zealand’s drinking water
standards regulator, councils
are legally required to comply,
and as far as I’m aware the new
government has no plans to
repeal that legislation.
Mr Wade may have confused
Taumata Arowai with the large
water service entities created by
the previous government, which
have indeed been disestablished.
Meeting the new standards
without chlorination is not as
simple or cheap as he suggests.
Even our new infrastructure was
designed to meet the pre-2022
regulations, so we would have
to replace kilometres of pipe all
over the district.
Also, even the cleanest
aquifer-sourced water can be
contaminated between bore and
tap, so they’d require us to install
smart meters (not just water
meters) to detect leaks far more
quickly. The exemption checklist
also includes far more frequent
lab testing in more locations
along the network.
Would the extra millions be
worth it? Maybe, but the only
source for that money is rates.
Anyone who would like
to see the legislation around
drinking water standards, water
infrastructure management, or
local government funding should
seek a conversation with our MP,
not council. We are all waiting to
find out what happens next.
-Sophie McInnes, district
councillor
Last week, reader Les Wade
questioned the $82 million cost
of stopping chlorination of
the district’s water. A council
spokesperson responds: All
public drinking water supplies
must be chlorinated in New
Zealand by law. All water on
Selwyn supplies is treated at
water treatment plants before
it enters the pipe reticulation
to your property. Chlorine is
added before the water goes
into the pipe network to provide
an additional contamination
barrier, all the way up to your
tap.
The requirements to get an
exemption are very high – we
are the only council which has
been granted an exemption for
a regular residential supply.
Learning from the Rakaia
Huts exemption process,
costs to obtain exemptions for
the remaining schemes have
been estimated by external
consultants. To obtain and
implement exemptions we
expect that we would need to
change the way we operate our
water supplies by undertaking
increased testing and
monitoring, and further upgrade
our network to reduce the risk of
contamination. These upgrades
include additional treatment,
storage, earlier pipe renewals
and metering, so we can more
accurately identify when there
are leaks.
The capital costs to meet all
the requirements for Rakaia
Huts and our other 16 supplies
that we might be able to get to
an exemption for is estimated at
$67.4 million and the ongoing
maintenance would cost an
additional $15.2 million – or
a total across all the supplies
of $82.6 million over a 10-year
period.
Street lights
One of the reasons we
purchased our home in
Stonebridge, Prebbleton, was
because we really liked how
the subdivision was set up,
with the gorgeous lamps that
always looked so nice when we
looked out of our window at
night. Surely there are LEDs
that can be used without
changing the look of our
local neighbourhood.
Murray England obviously
had no consideration for our
community. We don’t live in
a public park that is designed
with a budget; we live in a
subdivision with million-dollar
homes.
Please can we have our
antique-style lamps returned
with the amazing LED lights that
we are all happy to change to
reduce the costs for ratepayers.
How do we help other
neighbourhood in our district
from being subject to change
with no consideration for the
local people? Change is great
but maybe include the locals
that will be affected daily when
making decisions needs to be
seriously considered.
-Paula and Neville Jones
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