Wellington councils given ultimatum on water meters
Saturday, 16 December 2023
Daran Ponter has had enough of Wellington’s councils not taking the looming water shortage seriously and has set a deadline for them to show their support for meters.
The Greater Wellington Regional Council chairperson this week sent a bluntly worded letter to the mayors of Wellington, Hutt City, Upper Hutt and Porirua, accusing them of reneging on what had been agreed to at the recent Wellington Water summit – to fix the leaks, support universal water meters and increase the supply of water.
He noted Hutt City planned to consult on water meters and Wellington City had excluded meters from their long term plan. Wellington Water estimates installing meters would cost $300m.
Greater Wellington is the bulk water supplier for the region. Ponter has consistently said he is reluctant to support spending hundreds of millions on new storage facilities without councils committing to water meters.
“I acknowledge the fiscal constraints you face but generally it seems your councils are relegating our shared resolution behind other priorities,” the letter says.
Wellington Water recently wrote to Greater Wellington asking it to consider varying the consents to take water from various catchments, including the Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt River. Wellington Water said it could not guarantee the supply to hospitals and resthomes during a drought.
Ponter’s letter suggested Greater Wellington would only reluctantly agree to take more water from rivers and aquifers.
“On our current trajectory, we are set to breach the conditions of our resource consents. Not only will we fall short of our duty under the law, but we will disregard our community and Whaitua Committee requests for ‘reasonable and efficient use’ of water.”
Greater Wellington found itself in “an untenable situation” as both the regulator and supplier of bulk water, Ponter said.
He gave the four councils a January 31 deadline to include “your intentions to formally consult with your community regarding universal water metering’’ in their long term plan.
Greater Wellington was also considering imposing limits on how much water each city could use. Councils would pay a surcharge on water used above an agreed limit.
Ponter told The Post that the time had come to take the water crisis seriously.
“The metro councils can not keep kicking the can down the road on leaks and water meters. We cannot build our way out of the problems with more damns.”
He was putting the councils on notice they could face surcharges as high as 50%.
The amount councils would be charged would depend on their commitment to reducing water use by installing meters, fixing leaks and renewing old pipes.
Wellington Water chairperson Nick Leggett backed Ponter’s message that fixing the water crisis comes down to installing water meters, renewing old pipes and fixing leaks.
“It (Ponter’s letter) gives a very clear sense that Greater Wellington, as the supplier of bulk water, is expecting the region to significantly reduce water usage.”
With 44% of the water being lost to leaks, he agreed building new dams was not the answer.
“The building dams option is the least efficient, and most expensive, and has the least impact long term.”
Although extra bulk storage is necessary he said it should not be a priority until the issue of leaks is addressed and meters are installed.
The mayors have been contacted for comment.