Minister demands Wellington, Upper Hutt mayors front up with leak info
Friday, 19 January 2024
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has sent a strongly worded letter to the mayors of Wellington and Upper Hutt, demanding action on the looming water crisis ‒ a possible first step to the appointment of Crown observers.
Brown claimed Wellington and Upper Hutt both missed a deadline to provide information about how they were addressing leaks to the region’s water committee, who would then pass it on to Brown.
“I am disappointed that Wellington City and Upper Hutt City failed to provide Wellington Water with the required information,” Brown said.
But Wellington mayor Tory Whanau said her council did provide the requested information.
“I’m unsure why the Minister thinks we haven’t responded, we certainly did.”
Brown has used his powers under section 257 of the Local Government Act to formally request information showing the councils are taking their obligations to residents seriously.
The letters come at the end of a week where the region has been under Level 2 water restrictions and after a year of warnings from Wellington Water that a hot summer could mean the water reservoirs run dry.
The letter and formal request were met by confusion from Whanau, who said she had provided the feedback requested by Wellington Water Committee chairperson Campbell Barry and responded to the requests he made.
Whanau forwarded an email showing she provided feedback to Barry on Wednesday morning.
A spokesperson for Brown’s office said on Friday night that the letter from the Wellington Water Committee only provided financial information about Porirua City Council and Hutt City Council.
After seeing Brown’s letters, Porirua mayor Anita Baker said she was “really disappointed and actually quite angry” with the other councils. She totally backed the Minister’s decision given that Hutt City and Porirua had both managed to provide the information.
Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry had given the councils many opportunities and reminders to provide the information before the deadline, Baker said.
The letter was a serious signal and showed that Brown was really not happy with Wellington’s water crisis.
Baker felt that while Porirua was doing its all to fix and replace as many pipes as possible, the rest of the region was not doing its bit.
“Our ratepayers are maxed out, in the water crisis we need people to see that we’re taking it seriously and investing. We can’t see that from [Wellington and Upper Hutt].”
The other councils in the region had been able to provide the information requested to the Wellington Water Committee by January 17.
“Based on your failure to respond to the chair of the Wellington Water Committee, modelling prepared by Wellington Water, and ongoing public concerns that a state of drinking water emergency may be declared this summer period, I believe a problem may exist with your council’s ability to meet its obligations regarding supply of drinking water and you are unwilling or unable to address it,” Brown wrote in the letters addressed to Whanau and Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy.
He requested information by February 1 about funding for water infrastructure and asset management stretching back 10 years, including information about depreciation, funding requests from Wellington water, and documentation showing the councils were planning to support the water committee’s recommendation for water metering.
The water crisis hit home for Wellingtonians just before Christmas when they were urged to purchase 200L emergency storage tanks, despite stocks running low. It led to people lining up for hours outside the Tip Shop to get their hands on a tank.
Wellington Water has warned that it cannot prioritise water supply even to hospitals and rest homes if the water runs dry.
This week the risk of harshest restrictions was downgraded to 23%, thanks to an improved weather forecast from NIWA.
Barry and Guppy could not be contacted for comment.