Meters still reducing water use for Kāpiti, 10 years on

Saturday, 30 September 2023

High water users in Kāpiti have reduced their consumption by 70% since water meters were introduced. (File photo)

Janet Holborow is the mayor of Kāpiti Coast District Council

OPINION: More than a decade after water meters were introduced in Kāpiti, the rest of the Wellington region is considering following suit.

When water meters were first suggested in 2012 by the then chief executive of Kāpiti, Pat Dougherty, the district was staring down the barrel of serious water shortages, with a risk of breaching the allowed consented take from the Waikanae River, and a risk that new subdivision consents would soon not be possible.

The council had tried everything from education campaigns to compulsory water tanks on new builds, but the district continued to use more water than could be provided.

Council went out to the community with a proposal for water meters alongside a scheme to use aquifer water to supplement the Waikanae River downstream of the outtake (The River Recharge Scheme). They also gave the option of building a dam, with an estimated cost of around $35 million, which for a small district is not an insubstantial sum.

At the time, there was fierce opposition to the proposal and as chairperson of the community board in Paekākāriki, I was aware of an intense fear in that community of privatisation and loss of control.

The council received around 1500 submissions, with many preferring a dam, but the then mayor Jenny Rowan and the council of the day pressed ahead with the water meter project.

Current and future residents have them to thank for the present situation, where Kāpiti is frequently the only area in the region with no water restrictions, as around a million cubic metres less per year is taken from the Waikanae River. The land for the dam has also been secured, but the implementation of water meters meant construction could be pushed out 50 years.

The water system in Kāpiti also means that the district is able to accommodate the growth which is happening. This growth is predicted to see more than 20,000 people move into the district by 2050. Much of this growth has been stimulated by the transport infrastructure which has been delivered without much thought around the impacts in terms of growth. It’s just as well Kāpiti has water infrastructure in place which can cope.

Kāpiti Coast mayor Janet Holborow is grateful for the foresight of earlier council decision-makers.

The same can’t be said of the rest of the region. The recent forum held with the council mayors painted a grim picture of the future, and it’s clear that steps need to be taken to address the looming water shortage faced by the region.

In Kāpiti the installation of water meters had an immediate impact on water usage, with the discovery of 443 leaks initially and more over the years. Fixing these leaks means millions of litres of water are no longer being wasted.

Reduced household water use has also decreased substantially, with a sharp drop as soon as the 23,000 meters were introduced, a reduction which has been maintained overtime.

High water users have reduced their consumption by 70%. Many of these were our keen gardeners, so it’s great to see we still have healthy green gardens in the district.

With all of these reductions, the River Recharge scheme has hardly been used, as the Waikanae River flow has been within acceptable limits even during dry summers when much of the region is implementing restrictions.

A community panel (the Charging Regime Advisory Group) was tasked with finding a fair and effective way to charge for water, which resulted in a 50/50 split between fixed charge and volumetric charge. Under that scheme, 60% of people pay less in water charges than previously.

Extra provisions were included in standing orders requiring a 75% majority and a referendum before disposing of water assets to address the privatisation concerns.

There were some initial uncertainties in the community, and we heard of people filling their basins with water rather than running the tap, and some who used a bucket in the shower to collect water, but as people realised how affordable water still was, these teething problems soon disappeared.

A hardship fund was set up for those who had difficulty paying their water charges, particularly large households, but there have been very few applications for assistance.

But the main benefit is a change of attitude. At the time the scheme was introduced a common question was, “Water falls free from the sky – should we pay?” Meters helped people find out about how much water is wasted, and that water is not endless nor free.

It’s a tāonga and a finite resource which needs to be treated with respect.