‘No more watered-down debates on meters’

It is time Wellington had a serious debate about water meters, regional council chairman Chris Laidlaw says, as the region continues to face shortages.

‘‘We are all just complacent about water … it is time now to have a discussion about how we can reduce demand,’’ he said as he unveiled an $11 million ultraviolet treatment plant in Lower Hutt.

On the Kapiti Coast, meters had cut demand by as much as 20 per cent, he said, and the reality was, when people had to pay, they used less.

Laidlaw signalled that with the Greater Wellington region quickly drying out, he wanted a debate on how to reduce water usage.

Increasing storage also needed to be looked at to help cope with dry spells, he said.

He rejected any connection between water meters and privatisation. He said privatisation was not on the agenda, and never had been.

After a period in which individual water usage declined and was then steady, usage is again increasing, he said.

The Waterloo treatment plant, unveiled yesterday, was fasttracked after the discovery of E coli in drinking water late last year.

The plant treats water from the Hutt aquifer, which supplies up to 70 per cent of the daily water needs for Wellington city.

Laidlaw said the UV plant would produce some of the safest drinking water in the country.

‘‘It is a magnificent piece of machinery. I am not sure how it does work, but it does.’’

The plant uses chlorine and UV tubes to treat 60 million litres of water a day.

The system came from Germany and is housed in two shipping containers.

Plant manager Jeremy McKibbin told Laidlaw that the E coli incident in Havelock North, in which 5500 people fell ill and three elderly people died, highlighted the need to have a safe supply.

‘‘The effect here [of E coli in the drinking water] would have been absolutely catastrophic to the Wellington economy and probably the national economy as well,’’ McKibbin said.