Changes to Northland water services are aimed at improving water services towards avoiding scenes such as this in Kerikeri.
Changes to Northland water services are aimed at improving water services towards avoiding scenes such as this in Kerikeri.
Two Northland councils with markedly opposing views on Māori involvement must now successfully work together to deliver Te Tai Tokerau’s biggest water services change.
Far North District Council (FNDC) voted 9:2 on Thursday to step into Northland’s proposal for drinking water and wastewater across the region under the Government’s LocalWater Done Well restructure.
The council was the last of three Northland district councils (Kaipara, Far North and Whangārei) to vote for drinking water, wastewater debt, assets and services to be shifted into a linked but stand-alone council-controlled organisation (CCO).
Whangārei District Council (WDC) waters general manager Andrew Carvell said the CCO offered the strongest path forward for the region.
“The new CCO will help ensure all of Northland can meet the increased compliance requirements for Local Water Done Well and address growth across the region, while ensuring charges are fair for the residents and ratepayers of each district,” Carvell said.
The Northland councils must now work against the clock to put together a water services delivery plan, before the Government’s September 3 deadline, despite their differences.
FNDC councillor Tāmati Rākena.
Kaipara District Council (KDC) axed its Māori ward and its mayor banned karakia from meetings, whereas FNDC promotes the use of te reo in meetings and Māori practices, and voted to retain its Māori ward.
FNDC councillor Tāmati Rākena said he didn’t look forward to working with KDC after it canned its Māori ward and other changes.
“KDC has thrown their toys out of the cot. They don’t want to hang out with Māori under Te Tiriti o Waitangi,” Rākena said.
Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said he disagreed, and he and his council had a good working relationship with Māori.
Jepson said water belonged to all and creating the CCO was about equal access.
Rākena said meaningful iwi and hapū partnership was not optional but foundational in what evolved in the new Northland water regime.
Explicit commitment to Te Mana o te Wai and to upholding the Treaty of Waitangi in governance arrangements was needed, he said.
Councillor Hilda Halkyard-Harawira said it appeared hapū and iwi were shut out of the discussion, as well as representation on the shareholder group.
Far North mayor Moko Tepania.
Far North Mayor Moko Tepania said his councillors’ concerns over Māori involvement, loss of democracy and rural communities getting left out of the picture would be addressed moving forward.
Iwi and hapū leaders had a lot of power that councils could benefit from, he said.
“This is what I remind Kaipara,” Tepania said.
Jepson said Tepania was entitled to his views and he looked forward to continuing their working relationship.
WDC kick-started the Northland councils’ move toward a regional three-council CCO on July 24.
KDC voted for the joint CCO on Wednesday, July 30.
Far North towns, including Kaikohe, will be served by a regional company rather than their local council delivering drinking water and wastewater services from 2027.
An FNDC water model where it instead kept its drinking water and wastewater in-house was seriously considered by the council.
This built on iwi and hapū submissions from Ngāti Korokoro Hapū, Ngāti Kopaki Hapū, Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Rēhia, Te uri Taniwah, Te Rūnanga o Whaningaroa, Te Hiku Ngāti Kuri, Te Aoupouri, Ngāi Takoto and Te Rarawa (joint submission).
But Tepania said the council’s performance and standards would be under such close scrutiny with the new water regime, that option was untenable.
The Far North council’s challenges include the large amount of spending needed to make the council’s waters infrastructure compliant with new quality rules.
Eight of the council’s 15 wastewater treatment plants were currently non-compliant with Northland Regional Council resource consents – two of those were majorly non-compliant. Seven had active abatement notices.
Only five of the council’s nine drinking water plants complied with bacterial standards and five with protozoa standards.
Tepania said consumer user water charges under the restructuring would be lower with a regional CCO.
By 2034 users would be paying $3400 in charges for drinking water and wastewater. This compared with $2046 under the cross-subsidised CCO model.
He said the proposal still had off-ramps if the council felt too uncomfortable about what was happening.
Far North Deputy Mayor Kelly Stratford said her council was being forced into the regional CCO in a manner that wasn’t comfortable.
