Life
Water pricing is a political hot potato, which is why a nervous Government is saying it’s “too hard”.
ater, water, everywhere …” and more than a drop or two to drink. The problem is that because so many folk here and abroad are drinking it, some others are bottling it like crazy and selling it at a reasonable profit. That profit is reasonable because the water they’re pumping out of the ground is free. Cue public uproar, opposition outrage and Government ducking and weaving.
New Zealand- and foreign-owned companies have been doing it for years, but lately the public have woken up to the fact and many people are not happy. Well, 15,700 petitioners weren’t happy about it, but social and mainstream media have added to the torrent of complaints about free water.
Labour advocates putting a price on the fresh water used by bottling companies, but the Government claims it’s “too hard”, although it has asked a technical advisory group to report back – safely after the election.
Water pricing is a political hot potato. If the Government decides to put a charge on water, which has historically been freely available, what’s the bet a war party of iwi will slap a Waitangi Tribunal claim on H O, its pricing and the right to extract it? Dear old Don Brash and his Hobson’s Pledge outfit, as well as a fair chunk of National voters, will then scream blue murder about special rights for Maori. However, National can’t be against a potential iwi claim, because it needs Maori Party support to form the next government and doesn’t want a replay of the foreshore and seabed argument to scupper its plan. Hence the classic move by all governments when cornered: kick the issue to some form of long-winded inquiry to consider at length. Great length.
It has always amazed me that bottled water in the supermarket is more expensive than a bottle of beer, which surely costs more to produce when you take into account hops, brewing and labour. My father would have had an attack of hysterics at the thought of folk buying bottled water to drink. “They’ll be selling you air next.” Actually, they already are, but not in the same volume as water.
At restaurants, when I’m asked if I want “ordinary water” or “bottled”, I proudly and loudly proclaim, “Tap water, please.” Most urban water tastes just as good, even if it tastes as though Auckland’s authorities have upped the chlorine lately. Since the mass poisoning in Havelock North, I avoid drinking water when I’m there, preferring another locally made product instead.
I can see the Government’s thorny political problem in putting a price on the extraction of water for bottling, but as it already charges oil companies for the right to extract oil and gas and also mineral companies for their extractions, why not water?
I guess it fears the demand for water charges could soon extend beyond bottling companies to other big water extractors, such as farmers. And anything that annoys farmers equals electoral doom. In fact, if charging was made across the board to anyone extracting water from below ground, rivers or lakes, it would affect local-body charges and householders would pay much more for water.
To avoid the whole drama, I’m heading to the local hardware store to look at big domestic water tanks. That glass of H O always tastes better fresh from a cloud and off the roof.
When I’m asked if I want “ordinary water” or “bottled”, I proclaim, “Tap water, please.”