Three Waters stands up to scrutiny: DIA
This follows council’s rebuttal of reforms
The Department of Internal Affairs has hit back at Rotorua Lakes Council after its rejection of Three Waters reform, saying it “stands up” to scrutiny.
It follows Rotorua Lakes Council’s blunt rebuttal of the reform at a full council meeting on Thursday, which saw just one councillor — Trevor Maxwell — continuing to defend it.
The reform, announced in June last year, would create four water service entities to take over responsibility for drinking, waste and stormwater from councils.
Originally an opt-in programme, it was made mandatory in October last year and has met opposition from some, including at least 31 councils.
In Thursday’s meeting, council infrastructure and environmental solutions deputy chief executive Stavros Michael said in his opinion some of the issues with water services in New Zealand were “overstated” by the Government.
He also said, in his view, the reform programme proffered “overhyped efficiencies” and work on the transition to the reform — which was made mandatory last October — was a drain on council resources.
On Friday, Department of Internal Affairs Three Waters reform programme executive director Hamiora Bowkett said the reform plans were developed in response to matters identified in the independent Havelock North Inquiry and the subsequent Three Waters Review.
“That work in turn drew on relevant expertise from the Ministry of Health and others in terms of the health challenges that flow from problems in our Three Waters system. The fact is tens of thousands of New Zealanders fall ill from drinking tap water each year and tens of thousands more have to boil their water before drinking it to avoid becoming ill.”
Bowkett referenced the Ministry of Health’s 2020/2021 annual report on drinking water. That report found in the reporting period, 78 per cent of
people covered by the report — 3.1 million — received drinking water that complied with all of the standards, a decrease of .6 per cent from the previous reporting period.
Bowkett said the reform was a “detailed credible plan” to address those problems and would ensure safe access to tap water nationally.
He said estimates of the efficiencies possible under the reform were part of the analysis provided by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS).
“[This] has been peer reviewed twice and stands up to this scrutiny.”
One peer review, by consultants Farrierswier, concluded there were “inherent limitations” with WICS’ types of analysis but overall it was likely to give “reasonable estimates” of the potential benefits from reform. It did not assess whether outputs,
such as expenditure, revenue and price forecasts, were reasonable.
Another, by Beca, concluded predictions from WICS modelling “may well underestimate the necessary investment costs”, highlighting some differences between Scotland and New Zealand, such as iwi relationships, funding arrangements, levels of service and workforce capacity.
“Differences between Scotland and New Zealand make it difficult, through modelling, to accurately predict how, when and at what cost the new water service entities would meet higher national environmental standards or improved/consistent levels of service across their regions.”
Bowkett said it was “well aware” the transition would mean councils incurred costs, including through demands on staff time.
“The department can confirm that funding will be provided to councils to meet these costs.”
That transition funding would be in addition to the Government’s “Better Off” and “No-worse Off” support packages, announced in July 2021, he said.
On Thursday, the council voted to apply for $8.05 million from the first tranche of “Better Off” funding.
Earlier in the week, a nationwide campaign opposing the reform visited Rotorua, with about 120 people turning out to protest.
The Water Services Entities Bill is currently before the finance and expenditure select committee.
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has not responded to a request for comment.
● Local Democracy Reporting is public interest journalism funded by NZ On Air.