The new law was sparked by a gastro outbreak in Havelock North in 2016, which led to outrage in the community. Photo / File
Federated Farmers has "significant concerns" with parts of a major water bill, aimed at overhauling the way New Zealand's drinking water safety standards are managed.
So too do many marae representatives, who are sounding the alarm over a section of the legislation they say would give Government power to enter a marae without a warrant if officials believed there was a health issue with water.
Close to 1000 people, groups and organisation have submitted to the Health Select Committee over the Water Service Bill.
That legislation, according to Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins, is "the most significant thing to happen to local government in more than 30 years".
The bill was in direct response to the Havelock North drinking water saga in 2016.
Highly sub-par drinking water standards led to a gastroenteritis outbreak, which caused an estimated 5000 people to get sick; four deaths were associated with the contaminated water.
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the legislation was introduced to the House to help ensure this never happened again.
"This is unacceptable in a first-world country such as New Zealand," she said last year.
It passed its first reading but now MPs on the Health Select Committee face the mammoth task of hearing submissions to those who would be affected by the legislation.
And that is a lot of people.
Many Māori representing their marae have taken issue with the clause in the bill which gives a compliance officer the right to: "Enter a place ... without a search warrant only if the officer believes, on reasonable grounds, that entry is required in relation to a serious risk to public health".
According to the legislation, the compliance officer must make reasonable efforts to contact the owner, occupier, or person in charge of the place. And if it's a marae, the officer must take account of the kawa of the marae. However, there is still a lot of unrest.
"Talking about [someone from the crown] being able to enter without a warrant makes me feel like a criminal," a spokesperson from Te Whanau-a-Pararaki hapū told MPs.
"We have been here generations; my father lived here, my grandparents lived here and their parents lived here – we haven't poisoned anyone with water."
Meanwhile, a significant number of the bill's submissions appear to be from smaller, more remote community organisations.
That is because the bill, as it stands, would directly affect them in a significant, and potentially costly, way.
At the moment, the Ministry of Health regulates water standards for all water suppliers – that is, any entity which provides drinking water to a certain number of people a year.
For much of New Zealand, this is run by council-controlled organisations, such as Water Care in Auckland.
But water suppliers also cover much smaller entities, non-council players which are not connected to a council drinking water system – such as some more rural maraes, sports clubs, and holiday parks.
According to Local Government NZ, between roughly 800,000 and a million New Zealanders currently receive their water from non-council supplies.
In some areas of New Zealand, half of the population receive their drinking water from non-council supplies.
In the past, the Ministry of Health was a light-handed regulator and had a much higher threshold when it came to cracking down on water suppliers not following drinking water safety rules.
But Taumata Arowai, the new drinking water regulator, will have a much stronger focus on ensuring compliance across the board when the law is passed.
The bill will give this Crown Agency its power when it is passed later this year.
Taumata Arowai's remit is to "significantly strengthen the drinking water regulatory framework".
And here lies the problem for smaller suppliers – those who service fewer than 500 people with their water – they will be under the microscope by Taumata Arowai.
They will be required to produce a drinking water safety plan, albeit within five years of Taumata Arowai being granted its powers.
The only exceptions will be domestic self-suppliers, such as single household units.
They will also be required to register with the water regulator, ensure key details are updated annually and ensure their drinking water complies with the up-dated safe drinking water framework.
All water suppliers must notify Taumata Arowai if their drinking water breaches safety standards.
What if they don't comply?
Then the onus is on councils to work with the suppliers to bring them up to standard.
As the bill stands, the Local Government Act would be amended so that councils could be responsible for any smaller supplier which does not comply with the safe drinking water regulation.
For example, if a holiday park not connected to Auckland Council's water supply doesn't comply with the drinking water framework, it falls on Auckland Council to fix the problem.
That could mean connecting that holiday home to Auckland water system – which would be costly and in many cases not practically feasible.
Local Government NZ president Stuart Crosby said if this part of the bill is made law, there was the potential for a huge passing of costs on to councils.
"[The bill] overreaches by creating a situation where ratepayers will have to pick up the costs where private water suppliers can't meet the drinking water standards."
This comes at a time when many councils across the country are already struggling financially.
In its submission on the bill, the Queenstown Lakes District Council raised this very concern.
"[Our] council is mindful of the financial burden the Bill may cause the community to carry, given the district's many water supplies are spread across a large geographical area."
Murupara community board chair Jackie Te Amo also raised issues with the bill, saying upgrading marae drinking water to the new Government standard would be too costly for most marae to afford.
"We feel like we're being punished because run-off from a farm got into a community water supply; we feel that's not fair," Te Amo told RNZ.
Federated Farmers has also voiced its "significant concerns" about the bill, saying it's a "regulatory overreaction" to previous Government failures to regulate safe drinking water.
"As a result, low-cost and fit-for-purpose private supplier arrangements and schemes will be burdened with additional costs, despite there being little evidence they have or are putting human health at risk."
Setting up the new drinking water regulator is just one part of the Government's reform programme when it comes to the three waters.
The Government is pursuing plans to reform local government's three waters services into a number of multi-regional entities.
The exact size, shape and design of these entities is still being worked through.
The new entities, along with Taumata Arowai, pose another problem for local councils.
"There is going to have to be a lot of people trained, a lot of people employed thought the country to look after these entities to supply this water," Taranaki District mayor Phil Nixon told MPs this week.
And the growing number of water regulators need specifically trained staff.
"No doubt [they will] recruit most of the necessary staff; probably people who are currently sitting in our office," Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkin said.
But councils still need to employ people to monitor and enforce standards for private schemes, given councils could be liable if small players don't comply.
"We have concerns as to where the workforce is going to come from," Hawkin said.
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