Top of south may become ‘poor cousin’

Wellington will be the priority under the Government’s Three Waters reform proposals and ‘‘we’ll be a poor cousin’’, experienced Tasman district councillor Kit Maling fears.

Under those proposals, the water services provided by Nelson City Council, along with most of those provided by the Marlborough district and Tasman district councils, are earmarked to be amalgamated into Water Services Entity C, which also covers the east coast of the North Island, down to and including Wellington.

‘‘Entity C in particular has got massive problems in Wellington because of historical underfunding,’’ Maling told his fellow elected members during an operations committee meeting last week.

‘‘That’s the capital city, so I can see where the priority’s going to be and I think we’ll be a poor cousin and that’s a concern that I have and that’s where we’ll have to be very active going forward.’’

Maling’s comments came as the elected members discussed the failure of a submission by the Tasman, Nelson and Marlborough councils, along with Te Tauihu iwi, which requested the top of the south water services be transferred to Water Services Entity D instead of C.

The submission was made in writing and orally to Parliament’s finance and expenditure committee in response to the Water Services Entities Bill.

However, the select committee stuck with the original proposal in its subsequent recommendations. That means that if the bill becomes law, most of the water services in the Marlborough and Tasman districts will transfer to entity C while those within the boundaries of the takiwa¯ (tribal territory) of Nga¯ i Tahu will transfer to D, such as those at Murchison and South Marlborough.

Councillor Barry Dowler said he was ‘‘pretty gutted’’ by the process.

‘‘I wouldn’t support it from the start because of the fact they’re carving up our district . . . If they’d thought about it, I might have changed my views a bit. They haven’t,’’ Dowler said.

Councillor Celia Butler asked how the charging would work and whether consumers in most of Tasman district could be charged one price by entity C while water users in the likes of Murchison and Seddon and Ward could face a different charge from entity D.

‘‘We don’t really know much about the charging yet, do we?’’

Council infrastructure group manager Richard Kirby agreed the details on charging were not yet known.

‘‘But can I say the Government is looking to set up an economic regulator to make sure that these entities are not price gouging, that the prices they’re charging are fair and reasonable for the work that needs to be done and the investment that needs to be acquired,’’ he said.

The big difference most people would notice in the post-reform environment was that the payment of three waters infrastructure would no longer be via rates.

‘‘It’s going to be a separate invoice from the water services entity,’’ Kirby said.

Also, if water users had a problem, they would call the entity, not the council, under the reform proposals. ‘‘The entity customer services [team] will be answering it and dealing with it,’’ he said.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF A huge fountain erupting in Aro Valley, Wellington, in January 2021. The capital is tipped to need billions of dollars of investment in water infrastructure, leading to fears smaller regions may be left high and dry.

BRADEN FASTIER/STUFF Tasman district councillor Kit Maling says he is concerned the priority will be on Wellington for those regions whose water assets come under the umbrella of the proposed Water Services Entity C.