A Three Waters update

entity, along with a rework of the plans and priorities.

What is the future for local councils? There is no doubt the Three Waters reform, once implemented, will result in the biggest changes to local government since the reforms of the late 1980s.

A significant portion of FNDC income via depreciation and rates to support Three Waters infrastructure will change, resulting in a much reduced council. Does this mean the three district councils will be forced to amalgamate into a region-wide entity?

Not all councils are failing: should the wellperforming ones be penalised for their good efforts?

Whanga¯ rei, for example, has recently spent millions upgrading its Three Waters assets. They are compliant, they deliver safe drinking water, there is no significant debt, and it’s affordable. Will Whanga¯ rei residents face a Three Waters utility charge significantly higher than currently being paid, and therefore be subsidising large cities’ failing assets?

One approach that ought to be considered, rather than encumbering the new entity with unnecessary conditions and costs, is to formally recognise communities and hapu¯ / iwi as the kaitiaki of their schemes, and offer the expertise and advantages that scale can bring to them in a service model.

That would work for private schemes as well, because “ownership” does not need to change hands, and they too can share in the advantages of scale and the additional funding models available via the entity.

It was great that free and frank discussion was allowed, but there is much to do, and significant risks if we don’t get it right.