Some people are always frugal with water use, so what should they do when there's a shortage? Photo / Michael Craig
I am always conscious about conserving water because I grew up using limited tank water in an area of New Zealand prone to summer droughts.
As a result, I am amused and also bemused when everyone living in cities is encouraged to save water during a water shortage by
using techniques I use on a daily basis.
Do those planning water use believe everyone wastes water all the time as a rule, and if so are their plans for saving water during shortages based on this premise? If they are, people like me are not taken into account in their calculations.
And if they are, and this is not a rhetorical question, is it then my duty as a good citizen to waste water most of the time, so I can then conserve it during shortages? So that the planners' idea of conservation in times of need works in practice?
Claire Chambers, Parnell.
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Northland and other areas in the North and South islands have run out of potable drinking water and the concerns about climate change are ever forced in front of us.
Wouldn't it be more beneficial to the people and country if the Government were to focus more on building water storage catchment dams before spending vast resources closing a working shipping port in Auckland and moving it somewhere else?
Surely the needs of a growing population to the staff of life that is drinking water is greater than a few insects, earthworms and snails that may be lost when a storage lake is created?
Either that or develop instead a system of piping the ground water being taken by foreign interests to be sold overseas and direct it to a regions known to be affected by drought on what is becoming a regular basis?
With growth of population comes increased demand for precious resources, nothing more precious than clean drinking water. It's time we had leaders with true abilities and a little more foresight.
Max Wagstaff, Glendowie.
The current housing crisis is a totally predictable result of current legislation.
High rents are a reflection of the lack availability, no capital gains tax encourages buying property, while the proposed changes make renting unattractive. So buy and get a tax-free capital gain.
I was looking at the price of erecting a garage and Skyline estimates you should allow 20 per cent for the costs of permits etc. It turns out houses are the same.
Removal of the Resource Management Act and adding a capital gains tax would make things much better, but the current coalition make this impossible.
Putting people in motels is an indication of a complete failure of government and throwing money at problems is not appropriate.
Neville Cameron, Coromandel.
Auckland is indeed run by idiots, not only that, it is one of the dirtiest major cities of the Western world.
I know, I grew up in Auckland. I remember when street sweepers swept the gutters every day in the city.
The cone should have been on our flag, and things will not change. For that to happen, the council needs to show some guts and take control.
Geoffrey Strickland, Thames.
I'd like to thank Simon Wilson (NZ Herald, February 14) for confirming Mike Hosking's assertion that our city planning is driven by ideological nonsense. Simon claims the CRL will take tens of thousands of cars off the road. Really?
Despite untold millions of dollars spent on bike lanes, bus lanes, on ramp lights, T3 transit lanes and every other manner of ideological driven effort to reduce traffic in Auckland, nothing has changed. We still have tens of thousands of cars on our roads. We still have kilometres of queues alongside empty T3 transit lanes. We still have gridlock on our motorways.
The reality is, unless you are one of the 60,000 people living in the CBD, the other 1.5 million of us need a car in Auckland. No amount of money will change that.
Simon, I have $200 that says the CRL will not take "tens of thousands of cars" off our roads. Are you prepared to take that bet?
Kent Millar, Blockhouse Bay.
Sea levels are rising at dangerous levels. A lot of the country is in drought conditions and, with climate change, not likely to get any better. There are things called desalination plants which basically filter salt from water and filter impurities, thus making potable water. Seems like a "two birds with one stone" kind of scenario.
Supposedly, both major political parties have "tagged" themselves as the infrastructure party, so how about get infrastructuring? Or am I missing something?
Tony Pope, New Plymouth.
It was very sad to read (NZ Herald, February 14) how "Susan" had lost $42,500, through a Tinder dating site scam.
This tragedy always seems to happen when people are vulnerable. Adding to their depressed state.
I therefore feel obliged to share a warning. I recently subscribed to Grindr, a man-to-man dating site, for six months.
Almost every week I would get emails from very attractive guys, who said they were in the US armed forces, and either in, or about to go, to Afghanistan or Iraq.
They all wanted to find their ideal partner, and make a match for life. All had very few limitations on the sort of person they were willing to accept.
Too good to be true. Which means it wasn't. I played along with one for a few weeks to see how he operated, asking why he picked me etc.
He was quite plausible and convincing to a remarkable degree. But then came what I was waiting for – a request for money for an airfare.
I advised the US Embassy in case they could trace the offenders, even though I am sure they will not be in the US armed forces. My advice to anybody getting these sort of approaches is, before you do anything, talk to a friend.
Russell O Armitage, Hamilton.
In the late 1980s and early '90s, I worked for the New Zealand Māori Council, developing a proposal for the Māori Radio Network and then the Māori Television service.
Those proposals became the blueprints for the Māori radio and television networks we now enjoy. Those were the last significant developments in public broadcasting system.
The NZ Broadcasting Corporation's plan for Māori radio was to be called "The Māori Programme". It was to be broadcast on AM frequencies from headquarters in Wellington.
The NZ Māori Council had a clear vision that its radio system would contribute to Māori social and economic development. It would reflect and support the diversity of traditional Māori communities. And it would embrace the latest technology – in radio by using FM frequencies and in television by investing in digital equipment, rather than analogue.
Now RNZ wants to create a new youth radio service, but it appears to be repeating mistakes of the past. Does it express a vision for the social, cultural and economic development of young people in New Zealand's, or is it merely an "offering" to attract that audience segment? And what purpose is served by a radio network, of all things? Young people (and even old fogies like myself) have smartphones that offer a multiverse of streaming "on-demand" audio-visual content and allow us to be our own content creators and channel managers.
Perhaps it's time for RNZ and the Wellington broadcasting policy boffins to look around, pay attention, and think about where we are now and what comes next.
David Hay, Epsom.
Along with 13,000 other souls I spent my Friday evening at Eden Park watching our national game featuring, arguably, one of the best teams in world rugby play the Blues. The next day saw Eden Park host a football (soccer) fixture between two teams from a second rate league by world standards, drawing a crowd of well over 15,000.
What has gone wrong with rugby?
Thirty-plus penalties ensured there was no flow at all, the game has to be uncomplicated somehow. And the encroachment of the offside line stifles the life out of any offensive moves. Spectators in the stadium had little or no idea why the penalties were awarded and what was happening with the TMO. I get why players have to be rested, it's a very physical game; but all of us would have enjoyed a Barrett/Mo'unga confrontation.
Fixtures come thick and fast, far too many. Fewer fixtures are needed and all of them must be of the very highest quality with all fit players playing, no sabbaticals.
Combine Super Rugby teams with second 15s playing at provincial ground if necessary or simply have less teams and less players.
Something has to be done because rugby is losing its way.
John Stevens, Greenhithe.
There is a lot of commentary on the infrastructure deficit at the moment and probably not all a bad thing.
Like many issues that adversely impact upon our economy, if we were to reduce putting excessive amounts of capital into residential property, we would have the capital to address the infrastructure deficit, not to mention the benefit to the wider society that more reasonably priced housing would bring.
We need to accept as a country that we have turned what is a commodity (a home to live in) into a real-world game of Monopoly aided by the banks and all the vested interests in the real estate and related industries.
Jeremy King, Taupō.
On cones
My daughter recently had a dream about the "Fantasia" film version of Paul Dukas' "Sorcerer's Apprentice", but instead of hundreds of brooms, there were hundreds of road cones. K M Mansell, Royal Oak.
On beaches
The recent deaths of the sea lion and her baby should never have occurred. This is evidence that vehicles do not belong on beaches. Margaret Anderson, Auckland Central.
On Flaxmere
Why not charge everyone in the house at Ramsey Cres who was at home at the time the young boy was admitted to hospital as an accessory after the fact? Might this not loosen someone's tongue? Colleen McMurchy, Onehunga.
On AT
Well it's been very expensive and quite disruptive for a lot of people but Auckland Transport has finally done it. They've got rid of Mike Hosking. Geoff Leckie, Flatbush.
On gratitude
After reading of the defamation case presented to the High Court by Sir Bob Jones, I think we should all show a little more gratitude for the privilege of living in New Zealand. Gail FitzGerald, One Tree Hill.
On Covid-19
One irony is that waging wars seems to have been put on the back foot and "trumped" by the global fight against this microscopic beast threatening up to 4 billion humans. Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.
On Peters
Shane Jones suggests that his leader is Tane Mahuta. If this has any credibility should Winston be checked for kauri dieback? Peter Clapshaw, Remuera.
It's time to check your ticket for the winning numbers.