Mayors take questions on water report

L-R, Tainui chair Rahui Papa, Hamilton Mayor Julie Hardaker, Waipa Mayor Jim Mylchreest, Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson and Cranleigh managing director Paul Bayly at the Water NZ conference.

The Mayors of Waipa, Hamilton and Waikato District Councils appeared alongside Waikato-Tainui chairman Rahui Papa at Water New Zealand's annual conference at the end of August to answer questions on an independent recommendation to create a company to collectively manage their water, including waste water.

Hamilton Mayor Julie Hardaker said that Council was resolved in principal to accept the report and was in the process of moving forward with the recommendation , but that there were a number of issues around structure and shareholder arrangements that had to be worked through.

"We still have a long way to go. It will be 8-10 months before we can go out to the public."

Waipa Mayor Jim Mylchreest was a little more reluctant, and said there were prevailing concerns about the detailed issues from a governance perspective.

He said when it came down to it any future interest from wet industries and business would mean competition between the three councils, which could put Waipa at a disadvantage.

"They will look for the most economic place without looking at community desires."

Mr Mylchreest said the Waipa Council could expect to lose up to 40 staff by natural attrition, and that the CCO would most likely want to establish itself in one of the larger areas.

"If you lost another employer of that size it would be a concern."

Cranleigh managing director Paul Bayly, who headed the Cranleigh report, said staff numbers would decrease and doing so would drive savings.

"They do reduce but we see that happening by attrition. There will also be a shift of skill sets."

He said there would be long-term advantages to the CCO model however, including providing a career path for engineers, an overall better engineering standard, and the possibility for a future Centre of Water Excellence.

Waikato-Tainui chairman Rahui Papa said iwi was watching with keen interest.

"We are taking into consideration joint management with all three councils."

He said that CCOs were not new to Tainui.

"We are looking at the governance structure and thinking about how we can be involved at every level."

The Waipa and Waikato councils already use water metres extensively, and Hamilton uses meters for industrial and commercial properties, but not residential.

Hamilton City Council performance general manager Blair Bowcott said around a third of water in the city was metered.

Ms Hardaker said that councils had been very focused on costs of different regions and already had a good understanding of cost. She said there was no indication that Council was taking any particular direction on meters.

"This council has not discussed water meters.

"The Water Report states that the recommendations relating to a CCO do not include water meters and are not required for a CCO to be established."

Mr Bayly said that the Cranleigh report did not recommend Hamilton switch to being fully metered and the fact that two of the three councils had largely adopted them was a good thing but did not mean Hamilton should as well.

"For our business case it wasn't a problem that Hamilton wasn't entirely on water meters. We can see no issues."