A Watered-down Three Waters

Where second choice just isn't good enough

Apologies to readers outside New Zealand for another navel gazer on a local issue. The telling of it might remind you of similar follies where you are. We probably need a ‘World’s Stupidest Decision by a Local Council’ competition. Submissions welcome. Deadline December 1.

Kiwi readers will remember the dust-up a few years back over the then Labour Government’s Three Waters proposal to reorganise delivery of water services across the country. The programme would have taken responsibility for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater out of the hands of local government, with amalgamation into fewer, larger systems in the interest of efficiency and cost savings.

In my small rural district, the elected officials opposed it (led by our outspoken mayor at the time, now mayor again following victory in the recent local elections.) No edict from on high for them, especially not one from a Labour Government. Plus, it would reduce the size of their realm and diminish their power. Never mind that it was a well thought out plan and good for ratepayers (more on this below).

At the height of the battle, our local mayor said the Three Waters plan was “fake numbers based on assumptions”. I wrote to him and asked if he could provide evidence to support this claim. I didn’t hear back.

The National Party, in opposition at the time, got wind of the dissatisfaction with the Three Waters plan especially in their stronghold rural electorates. So they broke their silence and came out against it. They promised they would not continue with the plan if elected. Elected they were and – so much for promises – they are now pursuing their own watered-down version of Three Waters.

Local Water Done Well it’s called. (Hopefully, they didn’t pay some PR firm $100k to come up with that bomb.) It has required local councils to devise a ‘financially sustainable’ model for water services delivery. So, it’s really just mandatory in a different set of clothes. (Good luck to any councils wishing to go it alone.)

Our local council settled on Waikato (in reference to our region) Water Done Well, a cooperative effort with five other nearby councils. All are small rural districts, lightly populated and covering large areas (so there will be little in the way of economies of scale realised here).

The latest update on our council’s website notes that Waikato Water Done Well offers “the ability to make savings”. This stands in contrast to the anticipated benefits of Three Waters had it gone ahead. Asked to review the plan while it was under consideration, Beca, engineering/planning consultants with an international reputation, determined it would lead to significant cost savings.

Water is precious and finite. We must use it wisely, share it graciously and protect it with great care.

Way back when

It’s a pity our council didn’t get serious about water services delivery long ago. As part of my consulting work I prepared a water demand management plan for them in 2008. It was never implemented.

The council has plans for universal water metering to encourage efficient water use. It’s a good idea, but will be no magic bullet. So much can be done to conserve water independently of metering.

Twenty-five years ago, a staffer on a nearby city council advised commercial customers on reducing their water use and retrofitted older water-guzzling toilets, taps and showerheads in people’s homes, among other practical measures. The steps they took then are just as relevant today.

In 2020, now just as a concerned ratepayer, I sent council an email, including to our mayor at the time/now mayor again and to the finance head/now CEO, with a list of practical steps they could take. All would reduce water use even in the absence of metering. Some of the ideas related to new construction, so following them would have got a jump on the housing boom. They showed no interest.

Looking ahead

A seventh rural council might join Waikato Water Done Well at some point in the future. The region’s only city and a sizeable adjacent district council are striking out on their own – pursuing a two-team effort.

It all looks a bit of a hodgepodge compared to what Three Waters could have been. In a few years, an apt name for our local entity might well be Waikato Water Done in a Pretty Average Way and More Expensively.

Gord Stewart is a sustainability consultant with a background in environmental management and economics.

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Cloud computing ha! Internet data centres are big users of energy and water (for the latter, partly in cooling operations). The computing needs of AI will take this demand to a whole new level. This can have significant implications for local water supplies where the centres are located. Here’s a report on the issue from CBC Investigates in Canada. Here’s another one from EthicalGEO and this from the Environmental and Energy Studies Institute. This map shows the current data centres in New Zealand.