THREE WATERS AND YOU
Over the last couple of months, we have seen very little in the media about the Government’s Three Waters proposal. Reading through the Council’s media releases, the last we have seen is in midFebruary when Council voted 8 – to – 3 to join the group known as “Councils 4 Local Democracy”. This group is opposed to the current proposals and is actively working to see a revision of the whole plan. Certainly it is not a good look when a local councillor describes the whole Three Waters proposal as, quote: “A dog’s breakfast”.
Where does Grey Power sit on all of this? At the Annual General Meeting of the Grey Power Federation in July 2021 delegates chose to present and pass two remits. In precis form:
(1) to the Minister – “. . . that local authorities currently holding these (water) assets investigate all and any fair and equitable methods that can be taken to impose restrictions on future governments . . . to prevent privatisation of these assets in perpetuity.”
Many of you will recall the privatisation of the electricity industry and the selling off of the |assets to big business which, in our opinion, have pillaged the electricity sector to the detriment of consumers.
(2) to all Mayors and Councillors – “that any decision regarding the transfer of control and management of water and wastewater not be made without a referendum of ratepayers in conjunction with the local body triennial elections.”
So far there has been little response from our local authorities. What needs to be understood in this debate is that we as ratepayers have funded the Three Waters infrastructure over many years. In fact, we own them and have given our council the task of managing them on our behalf. What is also a fact is that, in our opinion, the management of our water infrastructure has not really been up to standard. We only need to look at the water restrictions placed on us over the summer months to see that there has been a real deficit of long-term planning over quite a number of years. We may be in a bad way but look at Wellington with whole streets blowing up as ancient water pipes fracture and sewerage systems flood the street. Are we going to have to help pay for that? Grey Power is NOT coming out and saying we should scrap the whole Three Waters proposal. What we are saying is: ask the people who are going to have to pay the bills over the longer time what they want. Right now, mandate is a very dirty word in some sectors. For the Government to mandate the changes needed to bring about the Three Waters proposal can only cause added grief in an already toxic environment. Instead, let us have a say about what we want and what we need going into the next 40 years.