Governance over Northland's water services will be combined with those of Auckland under the Three Waters reform. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Governance over Northland's water services will be combined with those of Auckland under the Three Waters reform. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland leaders are disappointed with the Government's decision to mandate the Three Waters reform saying the people of the region are owed answers.
After previously hinting towards a mandate, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta yesterday announced that the Three Waters reform will go ahead – regardless of councils' objection.
Underthe legislation, drinking water, wastewater and stormwater will be governed under four large cluster groups instead of by 67 councils across the country.
Whangārei District Council (WDC), Far North District Council (FNDC), Kaipara District Council (KDC) and Auckland Council will be combined into a giant group known as Entity A.
Whangārei mayor Sheryl Mai, Far North mayor John Carter and Kaipara mayor Dr Jason Smith collectively addressed Mahuta this month, requesting to pause Three Waters.
"It is clear that without the establishment of these publicly owned entities we will continue to see a frail network and contaminated water in many communities.
"To delay will only push the problem on, increase future household costs and put livelihoods at risk," said Mahuta.
Three Waters would also prepare the water services for the impacts of climate change.
It is estimated $185 billion is needed to fix, upgrade and maintain New Zealand's water services over the next 30 years.
"We are very disappointed with the decision," Mai reacted to the announcement.
WDC would continue to express the desire to be excluded from the reform.
"Many of the comments that the minister made about the state of the water do not apply to Whangārei."
Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai said WDC have been "good guardians" of the district's water assets. Photo / Tania Whyte
The district is in the 36 per cent of councils that have the income to meet the needs of the water infrastructure.
"She [Minister Mahuta] implied many councils haven't managed their assets well. We definitely are in a category that has.
"We do not have spills into the harbour, we have water measuring, we built a new water treatment plant, we invested in stormwater assets and we've planned for the future of these assets really well.
"We've been good guardians and we want to continue to do that for our people."
Mai's biggest concern was the level of accountability for the governance.
"It's an entity that is governed by people who are not democratically elected," the mayor criticised.
She said it was clear that the community didn't want their local control taken away.
In Kaipara, the feedback from people was also very unambiguous: Jason Smith said none of the correspondence he received was in favour of Three Waters.
The Kaipara mayor was "disappointed but not surprised the Government has chosen to mandate these reforms".
"The tone of this work has now gone from a reasonable to a radical approach."
Smith said mandating Three Waters was a "substantial" change in the Government's approach.
"For councils such as Kaipara, the Government has not yet been able to provide accurate detailed information to answer our simple questions about what the reforms as proposed would mean for Kaipara people."
Smith was concerned these questions will remain unanswered and that the needs of people in Kaipara could be neglected.
Kaipara Mayor Dr Jason Smith said Three Waters had gone from "reasonable to radical". Photo / Michael Cunningham
Under Entity A, Three Waters will combine control over the water infrastructure of 25,000 Kaipara residents, almost 69,000 Far North residents and almost 100,000 Whangārei residents with those of 1.5 million Aucklanders.
Along with Mai, Far North mayor John Carter has been steadfastly against the proposed reform.
He said he was outraged by the decision and in particular how Mahuta had used a Far North private water supply as an example of water quality across the district.
According to the minister, several Far North drinking water supplies did not comply with the Health Act or meet the drinking water standards in 2019-2020.
This was made even more critical by frequent drought and water shortages during summer.
"It's absolutely outrageous the minister would mislead the public by using an example of a Far North location which has to boil its drinking water as representative of FNDC water," Carter said.
"It's a total misrepresentation of the situation and anyone listening would think that FNDC is completely hopeless.
"There are around 20 council water supplies including the likes of Kaitaia, Kerikeri and Kaikohe, which are all council public water supplies that comply with government standards."
Carter said the community had expressed concerns about not being adequately consulted about the changes.
Far North Mayor John Carter was outraged by how Minister Mahuta used a Far North private water supply as an example of water quality across the district. Photo / Tania Whyte
"We will continue to work with local government New Zealand and with other mayors around the country because while we are not against reform, we don't accept this proposal that has been mandated by the Government," Carter said.
"We believe that local government and more importantly, the community, have a right to have a say and the structure they're intending to put in place, takes away the voice of the people.
"This government has not sufficiently consulted with iwi, with business, with sporting clubs or the community as a whole."
Mahuta said to people working in water that "their interests are very important to maintain continuity".
The Department of Internal Affairs has been commissioned to implement the reforms.
The DIA would work with the local government sector, iwi, water industry and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements, Mahuta said.
