Mayor Rachel Reese

When Cabinet recently decided to accept nearly all the recommendations of an independent working group of councils and iwi on water reform it marked a welcome recognition of the unique role these groups play.

And with the Government’s decision to introduce reform legislation this month (May) it also took a step forward in finally addressing a longstanding challenge in providing clean and safe water services for all New Zealanders.

Not addressing the consistent funding and management of our water infrastructure is not an option.

We already have issues with water quality, infrastructure maintenance and management as well as significant funding challenges in the future.

These proposed changes offer a way out of an infrastructure model that is not working. The government has taken on board the recommendations from the working group and it now has a package that I think delivers a better result for the communities of New Zealand.

The governance and accountability concerns by the local government sector raised in response to the initial proposals have been addressed. Equally importantly, my concerns for my community have been acknowledged and the government has responded in a positive manner.

We need to move to planning and implementing the transition to the new model and looking for further refinements if we think more improvements can be made.

The community is the focus for both iwi and council through these changes, but the most important aspect is that community representation is enshrined in the proposals and protection against privatisation of water has been locked in, with control retained by the public of New Zealand who I can’t see ever agreeing to private ownership of water.

Changes in this sector are decades overdue and we also need to retain a "big picture" focus.

For example, the construction of Nelson’s water treatment plant was extremely controversial. Today we are very thankful for the vision shown at the time.

Even an area such as Nelson that has put significant resources into our water infrastructure faces unknown future costs around an aging pipe network as well as a need to update resource consents for our wastewater plants. Alongside this is the ongoing challenge to address the impact of climate change.

These changes provide a robust platform for a better long-term approach given the cultural, resilience, environmental and affordability issues we face.

Water New Zealand’s 2020-2021 National Performance Review identified over 2,754 wet weather wastewater overflows last year. The Ministry of Health Drinking Water Quality report (2020-21) found 22% of New Zealanders were drinking water that didn’t meet safety standards.

The performance, history and challenges of all councils vary. But for some time, and at least on a national level, a new approach has been needed. It is clear the costs to ratepayers are going to be significant to ensure water, wastewater and stormwater services are maintained and updated to meet future challenges.

For many years successive governments and local government have sought to agree and implement reform, but somehow this process hasn’t happened.

The Cabinet decision entrenches protections of local ownership and accountability over the four new water entities that will be responsible for delivering water services.

With community ownership and accountability protected, councils now look forward to seeing the benefits of reform delivered.

By separating their balance sheets from councils, the new entities will be able to borrow to invest.

Additionally, councils will benefit from considerable government funding to ensure the success of the transition to the new water services entities.

Challenges of course still lie ahead. But as New Zealanders always do, we have finally all got around the table.

Now we can all get on with the real and overdue work that still lies ahead.