Three Waters plans
District could still go it alone and keep costs affordable
The future of Whanganui’s Three Waters infrastructure and delivery hasn’t been decided but “going it alone” is still on the table. The Government repealed Three Waters reform legislation in February, ending the move to 10 water entities across the country.
A report from Whanganui District Council’s Three Waters transition manager Kathryn Stewart said councils across the Horizons Regional Council’s region were appraising their options — both individually “and as a region or sub-region”.
“Any eventual recommendation to proceed with a regional or subregional approach would be subject to oversight and approval of individual councils,” Stewart said.
“This options appraisal work is expected to conclude in July.”
Three Waters refers to drinking water, stormwater and wastewater.
Council chief executive David Langford told a council strategy and policy committee meeting, the Three Waters transition process started as mandatory under the previous Government.
The council’s transition team was being paid for by central government, not by ratepayers.
“The resource is there, we’ve got the team established, and we are well under way with the work,” Langford said.
“It is prudent to prepare our community for a potential change.”
However, a regionalised delivery
would not necessarily be the outcome, he said.
Councillor Michael Law said he had “no appetite whatsoever” for any sort of regionalisation of water.
“Every time we have centralised we have had bad outcomes for society in our district,” he said.
“Barring some unprecedented information from the officers, I will not be supporting any movement towards regionalisation for water.”
Langford said “going it alone” — maintaining the status quo — was still an option but it was important for elected members to be well informed when it came to other options.
That could be a WhanganuiManawatū model or the district could “go north and join Taranaki”, he said.
“The long-term plan has been put together on the basis that we are going to continue to deliver Three Waters.
“We’ve significantly increased the investment in renewals and maintenance and there are a lot more projects in the long-term plan than the previous one for upgrades — to make sure we meet rising standards and that we can accommodate growth in our community.
“Our balance sheet can take it quite comfortably and I think going it alone is a credible option.”
It had taken effort from previous councils to maintain high water standards and invest in infrastructure, putting Whanganui in a good position compared to other regions, Langford said.
He said one compelling reason to join neighbours would be the potential to bring down costs.
Councillor Helen Craig said water and treatment standards would only increase and resource consents were going to get tougher.
“Because of the increasing complexities of plants and networks, we are going to want to have the best professional advice and staff managing them as we can,” she said.
“In many cases, lots of smaller councils can’t afford that.
“At the very least, I would like to see agreements where we are working together to share our funding resource in terms of staff so we can have the best advice as we’re moving forward.”
Councillor Rob Vinsen said the community needed to understand that Whanganui’s Three Waters network was affordable.
“If you look at the 10-year plan and look at the proposed rates increase from year two onwards, we are talking about no more than the rate of inflation.
“Any talk — which is basically scare tactics in a way — that in the future council is going to be hiking up the rates to an unaffordable level, needs to be countered by this council.
“That is not going to happen.”