Lawrence Yule: New water structure needed

The Mayor of Hastings Lawrence Yule.

The Government Inquiry into Havelock North Drinking Water has completed its hearings phase and is about to receive submissions on failings and improvements.

We are fortunate that, due to the work of the science caucus, the inquiry is able to say with a very high degree of probability that the gastro outbreak was caused by contaminated water from a pond in the Mangateretere Stream polluting the aquifer via a previously unknown connection, and being sucked into Brookvale bore 1 during its normal operation.

It seems unlikely that the outbreak was caused by any infrastructure failing.

While it is good to have a clear indication of the cause of last year's gastro outbreak, the Inquiry process has made it very clear that no one in the wider drinking water sector can rest on their laurels.

For us at the Council, the Inquiry has highlighted gaps in our documentation, institutional memory and record-keeping, and shortcomings in some of our contingency planning and compliance documentation.

While none of this seems to have made any difference to the cause of the outbreak, and potentially only marginal difference to the response, there are improvements in our processes, preparedness and capability that the council needs to, and will, make.

However, there are two major focus areas that have emerged: firstly, the need for a hard look at treatment options for drinking water, and secondly, the need for greater collaboration between agencies with responsibility for managing drinking water and water resources more broadly.

In Hawke's Bay we have been complacent about the quality of our drinking water. We have taken aquifer water that we all thought to be clean and pristine, and provided it to our citizens without any treatment whatsoever.

The Havelock North contamination event has been a huge "wakeup call" on this approach. The recent scare in the Napier supply further erased complacency. We can no longer treat the Te Mata/Tukituki aquifer as a safe and secure water source.

The GNS Science report on age testing of our source groundwater is pointing to potentially significant changes in the aquifer system and the possible need to treat water from some of our other bores. The Inquiry also seems likely to question the continuation of untreated supplies across the country.

All of this points to the need to discuss water treatment options with our community. While many of our citizens don't like chlorination, this is not the only option. The UV and filtration systems we are installing at Brookvale bore 3, while costly, can guard against contamination to a very high standard.

Another theme emerging from the inquiry is the need for key agencies in the management of drinking water to work more closely together on managing risks. By key agencies I mean those with responsibility for the environment (the Regional Council), health (the District Health Board and drinking water assessors) and water supply (Hastings District Council).

It's become clear that we need to strengthen our processes for working together on issues ranging from groundwater science to catchment management and resource consent applications for activities close to drinking water bores and sources. But there are wider questions as well: what is the relative priority of drinking water compared to other water uses? Are we over-allocating our water resources?

In my view, the inquiry is likely to address inter-agency collaboration. Last week I met with the leaders of the Napier, Central Hawke's Bay and Regional Councils (Wairoa was also invited), the District Health Board and Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated to work to ensure improved management of our water. A joint governance committee has been proposed.

This will build on the existing joint working group established to assist the Government Inquiry.

We need to broaden the conversation about all things water. We manage transport, land use and Civil Defence on a regional basis in collaboration with the Councils involved. I strongly support a proposed structure that could be called WaterHB. This would not control staffing arrangements or asset ownership but would mean that water allocation, water quality, water storage and aquifer management would be done in a collaborative basis agreed by all Councils.

Water is our most precious resource. We need a governance structure that reflects its fundamental importance.

- Lawrence Yule is the Mayor of Hastings.