Accepting significant change in our lives is not easy. Sometimes you cannot go back – the goal posts have moved, risks have increased and standards have lifted.
So when council decided in December 2017 to support water chlorination, it was a big decision.
It was a decision based on an understanding, acceptance and appreciation that council's main priority must be to keep the people of Napier safe from contaminated drinking water.
I maintain that this is still the right decision, and this is backed up by a recent meeting we had with the Ministry of Health, where it became evident that chlorinating municipal water networks is going to become mandatory nationwide.
To try to seek an exemption from mandatory treatment without a financially viable and safe alternative would be a failure in our duty of care. The bottom line is, we wouldn't chlorinate if we didn't need to.
People died as a result of the Havelock North water contamination. This is not a theoretical hazard – it actually happened – and many who didn't die continue to suffer long-term consequences. That Napier never suffered a widespread outbreak of water-borne illness can only be put down to luck. How many residents have been sick over the years and put it down to food poisoning or a viral bug when it was in fact contaminated water?
The risks in delivering safe water to our people are very serious. It's impossible to eliminate all risks from our near 500km network. Our network has 20 per cent leakage, often as a result of broken pipes. So if the pressure changes in the pipe (which is common) contaminants can easily be drawn in.
This cannot always be blamed on council infrastructure – damaged pipes beneath private dwellings are a problem too. But our aim is to reduce these risks as much as we can. Chlorine is a proven, effective way to disinfect as part of a multi-barrier approach to protecting a water supply.
It's true that chlorine is not a silver bullet – there are certain pathogens that chlorine can't deal with, such as cryptosporidium. However because our water source is ground water, the likelihood of this type of contamination is very low.
It has been suggested that if Christchurch can go chlorine free, then so can we. Let's be clear about what Christchurch is spending – $907 million to raise bores, renew assets and increase operational control. We have completed an estimate of the potential costs as noted in our Annual Plan documents. Any exemption from chlorination would be $110-$150 million, plus increased annual operational costs. What price is Napier willing to pay to achieve what Christchurch is doing?
An alternative approach is having the same system design and operational excellence that is achieved in the Netherlands.
There is no doubt that the Netherlands model works. Again, it is about willingness to pay. Water rates in the Netherlands are five to 10 times higher than ours. Our ratepayers currently pay around $200 per year per household for an unlimited water supply.
There is a perception that water is too expensive, because our belief system is that it should be free. But there are significant costs to get safe water to our taps in sufficient quantities and pressure. Initial calculations on the costs of implementing the Netherlands model appear to be prohibitive to Napier's ratepayers. We expect this to be confirmed with the external review we have instigated.
We would only remove chlorine if we had a network and operational practices that were similar to those in the Netherlands. If we did embark on that journey, chlorine would remain until the network was operationally sound and risks of contamination could be appropriately managed. This process would take decades as demonstrated overseas and the Netherlands still issue 'boil water' notices and use emergency chlorination when necessary.
Aside from the cost, our biggest barrier in this discussion is people's persistent belief that water in the aquifer is always 100 per cent safe. There are risks at the aquifer itself – through seismic activity, minimum water age and private or illegal bores. Our water quality means that we need to interfere with it less than elsewhere, but we still have no guarantee that conditions in the aquifer are what we think they are and that they will reliably stay the same.
Our duty of care to the people of Napier dictates that we must chlorinate our water. The tragedy of Havelock North was a serious wake-up call to the Government and councils around New Zealand.
As identified in our Water Safety Plan and the proposed mandate by the Government, we will continue to chlorinate – thus protecting people's lives – until a safe and financially sustainable alternative is identified. Which makes me think of an old proverb: Better a Thousand Times Careful, than Once Dead.
* Faye White is acting mayor for Napier.