Te Tauihu iwi and councils team up to

Three councils and eight iwi in the top of the south have teamed up to jointly oppose the Three Waters reform boundaries.

The new model proposed by the Government would set up four entities to manage the country’s drinking water, wastewater and stormwater networks, which it said councils had failed to maintain to a safe standard, with 30 years’ worth of outstanding maintenance estimated to cost $185 billion.

Councils across the country have been filing submissions on the Water Services Entities Bill, which passed its first reading in June and was currently before the Select

Committee. Submissions closed on Friday and the committee’s report was due in November.

Marlborough, Nelson and Tasman councils, and all eight iwi of Te Tauihu, have filed a joint submission against the reform’s boundaries.

Marlborough mayor John Leggett said on Friday the boundaries for the four megaentities were a particular sticking point for the three councils and Te Tauihu iwi.

They questioned the decision to include part of Marlborough and Tasman in Entity C along with Wellington, Gisborne and

Hawkes Bay, and part in Entity D, with the rest of the South Island.

‘‘It makes no practical sense for Seddon’s water scheme to be managed by Entity D, as is currently proposed, when Blenheim, located 20 kilometres away, will be managed by Entity C,’’ Leggett said.

The joint submission said Te Tauihu should sit entirely within Entity D with the rest of the South Island to avoid splitting Marlborough and Tasman each in half. ‘‘There is also a closer community of interest with the South Island,’’ Leggett said.

But whichever Entity Marlborough was in, it would be one of either 21 territorial authorities in Entity C, or one of 23 in Entity D. ‘‘Given only six or seven council representatives are proposed for the Regional Representative Groups, the odds of the Marlborough District Council being