Critical water report sparks war of words
“That we’re fixing less leaks per month now than we were three years ago, despite spending substantially more, shows the urgent need to review the Wellington Water contractual model.” Ben McNulty, Wellington City councillor
Weeks before a scathing report into Wellington Water was released, the water agency rejected it and argued it was funded from a budget intended to fix leaks – a claim rubbished by the city council.
“[Wellington Water] does not accept the report, and is unable to approve it or sign off on the report’s recommendations,” Wellington Water chief executive Tonia Haskell wrote to council chief executive Barbara McKerrow on December 20.
It was included in emails released by Wellington Water under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act yesterday, the same day a Wellington City Council-commissioned and previously secret report into Wellington Water was released.
That report built on previously leaked details and showed a publicly funded agency beset by soaring costs, duplication of jobs, and delays.
It comes as a water crisis grips Wellington, where residents are being warned that historic under-investment in pipes and excessive water lost through leaks means some taps may run dry and even stricter water restrictions are likely this summer.
The report argued there was a lack of accountability from Wellington Water to the city council, which appeared to have given it an “open cheque book”, and an overall decrease in reactive works to problems. It found an inconsistent approach across the region, “a number of disparate systems”, and a lack of appropriate performance monitoring.
It also found the cost of the contract between Wellington Water and Fulton Hogan had increased hugely in two years.
But the newly released emails show the inner tensions as the report release was finalised.
“I feel disappointed that we have used funding allocated from the leakage funding to seek an opinion on the [Wellington Water] model,” a September 19 email from the water agency to the council said. The name of the sender and recipient was redacted.
It argued that the review, which had some useful insights and recommendations, “lacked independence, balance, and recognition of the hard work the front line teams are delivering in a challenging environment”.
It alleged a “fundamental lack of understanding” of the relationship between Wellington Water and contractor Fulton Hogan, a “lack of understanding” of how the council plans to fund works, and other issues including different fees and costs being conflated.
In an email shortly after, Haskell emailed others in the agency and Infrastructure NZ that the report was “riddled with errors and shows a complete misread of the Wellington Water and Wellington City context”.
Council spokesman Richard MacLean said the $74,060 cost of the report did not come from money earmarked for leaks.
“It is critical that we understand the rising cost of fixing leaks and any improvements that can be made to reduce cost to enable [Wellington Water] to fix more leaks more quickly,” he said.
City councillor Ben McNulty yesterday said the report’s key findings about escalating costs and poor delivery were not disputed.
“Wellingtonians expect council to dramatically increase our investment in water but we need to know that investment will deliver results,” he said.
“That we’re fixing less leaks per month now than we were three years ago despite spending substantially more shows the urgent need to review the Wellington Water contractual model.”
The FieldForce4 report says it interviewed more than 21 council, Wellington Water, and Fulton Hogan staff but front-line staff were excluded. It analysed more than 90 documents.
FieldForce4 chief executive Murray Niederer yesterday said he could not comment other than to say most of the data his company used came from Wellington Water.
Master Plumbers chief executive officer Greg Wallace has a radical idea to fix the current water crisis – let plumbers loose on the leaks.
Plumbers are frustrated and angry about the number of leaks in the city and want to do more to help Wellington Water, he said.
“Wellington Water should absolutely use the private sector to fix the leaks. The current situation is absolutely ludicrous.” Wellington Water chief executive Tonia Haskell said it “appreciates” the offer but it is not feasible to have plumbers doing the work.
“The public water network is complex and drinking water legislation requires specialist knowledge, training, and qualifications for those who work on it.”
There are 86 approved sub-contractors, a smaller number of which have the required skills to undertake leak repairs on the public network, she said.
The skills required include working with and repairing smaller diameter public water pipes and the associated fittings and connections, Haskell said.
Contractors also need to provide documented evidence of their ability to comply with both health and safety and environmental requirements, as the work involves protecting public health.
With the housing market slowing down, Wallace said his members are looking for work and fixing leaky pipes would be a good use of their knowledge and skills. Plumbers and drainlayers are already heavily involved in fixing private leaks and clearly have the expertise, he said.
He said Wellington’s Waters suggestion that plumbers are not qualified was “absolutely ludicrous”, and noted it takes seven years and two major exams to become a certified plumber. Protecting public health is at the heart of their training and everything plumbers do.
After being asked for comment, Wallace contacted one of his members who works for Wellington Water to ask him what qualifications he had to produce.
“He said ‘nothing, they recognised my qualifications and I just had to do some health and safety paperwork’.”
Ngaire Mansfield, from Straight Flush Plumbing, said Wallace’s comments reflect the widespread view held by the plumbing community.
“As a private company that specialises in maintenance and as a resident here for 20 years, it is really hard walking past these leaks and all I can do is report them.”
Her company has 12 employees, who regularly fix leaks on private property.
“We are a capital city and this is just embarrassing. I am not going to stay quiet on this.”
Haskell says there is a general skill shortage across the construction industry, which also applied to Wellington Water.
“To combat this, we’re consistently proactively recruiting both skilled tradespeople, and people we can upskill.”
Master Plumbers’ Wallace believes Wellingtonians do not understand how serious the water crisis is.
Wellington Water’s current strategy of fixing leaks is not addressing the real problem – the need to renew pipes across the city. “We could be the leakiest city in the world.”
Fixing leaks is just “a band-aid”, he said, and Wellington City should be putting all its effort into renewing pipes.
Angry posts on social media about long-running leaks undermine Wellington Water’s messaging about reducing water use, he said.
He does not accept the argument that the Wellington City Council is unable to fund Wellington Water to fix the crisis. Councillors have supported upgrading the town hall at $329 million, Let’s Get Wellington Moving and cycleways. “The plumbing community are highly frustrated because they can see the money going to the wrong places.”
The impact of running out of water, he warned, goes well beyond having to take two minute showers.
A reduction in the pressure creates a situation where there is the potential for sludge at the bottom of reservoirs and for sewage to contaminate drinking water.
Sludge could also block pipes and damage household taps.
Wallace warned it will take years to fix all the leaks. “I do not understand how we have a Green leaning council and we are just flushing the water into the harbour.”
He also warns that many of the newly installed cycleways need to be dug up as part of the long term plan to renew pipes.
“Who will pay for that? Ratepayers.”
As of January 25, there were 3260 leaks across the region needing repair, 1722 in Wellington City.