Gisborne, Wairoa mayors back changes to ‘Three Waters’ reforms

East Coast mayors are welcoming the major shake-up to Three Waters reforms announced by the Government this morning.

Under the changes to what will now be referred to as “affordable water reforms” instead of Three Waters, 10 new regionally owned public water entities will be established — a dramatic increase from the four originally proposed.

It means Gisborne and Wairoa will join an entity with only Hawke’s Bay councils, instead of being included in an originally proposed group of 20 councils which stretched as far as Wellington and the top of the South Island.

Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said the council was thankful Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty had listened to the community’s concerns.

“We support more regionally based entities and 10 is more palatable than the initial four,” Mayor Stoltz said.

“While we are not averse to being grouped in with Hawkes Bay, we will need to fully assess what it may mean for Gisborne/Tairāwhiti and in particular the affordability objectives when you no longer have scale.”

The council had spent significant staff time and ratepayer money preparing for the transition and it was important the Government got it right, she said.

The changes were also welcomed by Wairoa Mayor Craig Little.

“I think this announcement today is a great step forward. We have to work out the nuts and bolts of it all but I’m pretty happy,” he said. “From a Wairoa perspective, we were really concerned about our remoteness . . . who was going to worry about Wairoa? But under this one, I know for certain that our neighbours (will).”

Under the new approach, Minister McAnulty said savings to New Zealand housholds would end up being between $2770 and $5400 a year by 2054.

The Government estimates that for that same period, the per-year cost to households could reduce from $16,700 for Gisborne and $20,860 for Wairoa to $4010 for each.

In the Government’s announcment today, it said entities would be owned by local councils on behalf of the public, with entity borders based on existing regional areas.

Each entity would be run by a professional board, with members appointed on competency and skill.

Strategic oversight and direction would be provided by local representative groups. Every local council in the country, as well as mana whenua, would get a seat at the table, the Government promised.

Mr McAnulty said he had been working closely with local government leaders and relevant stakeholders over the past few months on how to progress the reforms.

“The feedback has been overwhelmingly clear that our water infrastructure deficit needs to be addressed now if we’re to save households from ballooning bills that will make water unaffordable,” he said. “But also that the reform programme must be led at a regional level.

“We have listened closely and absolutely agree.”

The cost of meeting the upgrades needed for the country’s water systems is projected to cost up to $185 billion over the next 30 years, the Government says.

It predicted households in some areas could see rates rise up to $9730 per year by 2054 if nothing was done.

Following today’s announcement, Gisborne will now be included in entity F alongside Central Hawke’s Bay District Council, Hastings District Council, Napier City Council and Wairoa District Council.