It falls free from the sky, so should we have to pay for it? Jacqueline Smith reports
It brings life. Bucketing from the skies, trickling through the bush, lapping at our shores and filtered through pipes to our taps. Fiona McNicholl is one of a swelling group of Aucklanders who refuses
to pay for it. The Onehunga resident has not paid her water bill since September 2003. "It's free from the sky. No one should pay for it," she says. In 2003, she signed a letter to Metrowater, which administers the city's water, along with people involved in 20 other disputes raised by the Water Pressure Group. Mrs McNicholl says she hasn't heard anything since. But, in March, the company contacted Mrs McNicholl's bank with a charging order on her house. Mrs McNicholl's bill amounts to $11,000, a fair chunk of which is attributable to a leak under her driveway. "The bank rang me and said they'd had a letter from Metrowater saying they intended to file a charging order - but the account's in dispute. "I'd never heard anything, and had not received a notice to defend myself in court." On its website, Metrowater says it will respond to a disputed bill within five working days, with an answer within 20 working days. But Penny Bright, media spokesperson for the Water Pressure Group says she has "a paper trail a mile long" showing members have not been given a response. "I'm trying to find out whether Metrowater is failing to follow its own disputes process," she says. Auckland City Councillor Douglas Armstrong, chairman of the finance and strategy committee, told The Aucklander that everyone must pay their bills. He says using the user-pays system, rather than charging water as part of rates, is fair. He says when people don't pay their bills, those who do are left to cover Metrowater's overheads. "That's an inherent flaw in the Water Pressure Group's argument. It's wrong that someone should turn on the tap and use water and not pay for it."
