Wellington City Council rejects water meters

Thursday, 23 November 2023

The equivalent of 30 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water is being lost to leaks every day.

Household water meters are at least half a decade away in Wellington city, with the council refusing to include installation in its draft long-term budget.

The Post has obtained a memo from Siobhan Proctor, the council’s chief infrastructure officer, to Wellington Water, declining a request to incorporate universal smart metering into the city’s 10-year financial plan.

With a summer drought looming, and decrepit pipes leaking the equivalent of 30 Olympic swimming pools each day, the water service provider wants to put meters in residential properties across the region.

The agency argues monitoring would improve detection of leaks, and reduce maintenance and consumption.

The final decision lies with the region’s councils. But with a $300m price tag and the charged issue of whether residents should pay for what they use, it’s a thorny issue for local politicians.

Now Wellington City Council has opted to delay that debate. By not including metering in the long-term plan, currently under consideration, there will be no consultation with residents for some years to come. A source confirmed it could be at least five years away.

In the memo, Proctor said she wants to see a detailed business case.

“As the memo explains, we are yet to receive the level of information from Wellington Water that we require to support inclusion in this LTP,” Proctor said in a statement.

“The proposed scale of investment is significant, in excess of $120 million and, as such, we are required under legislation to seek the community’s views…because it would be a significant change in the level of service provided to the community and will come at a significant cost to ratepayers.”

Proctor said the process is prescribed under local government legislation. “To inform the consultation we would require a well-developed business case…Further, due to the water reforms, any proposal for a significant change to the provision of three waters needs to be approved by [the Department of Internal Affairs]. They have noted they require a business case to support their consideration.”

Siobhan Procter is the council's chief infrastructure officer, overseeing project management, transport, infrastructure, asset management, resilience and property services.

Those water reforms are set to be repealed by the incoming Government.

In its response to Proctor, Wellington Water said evidence provided was “equivalent to what would be expected in a business case for a project at the current stage” and stood up to Audit NZ’s standards.

“There are a range of views about what a ‘business case’ entails and how this is presented,” principal adviser Fraser Clark wrote back. “There is a risk that this creates a focus on aspects like revenue, when this is investment is about water security.”

Porirua mayor Anita Baker is in favour of metering, and said the memo was disappointing.

“I was pretty shocked,” Baker said. “It’s disappointing because, as a region, we all need to do better. That's the frustrating thing. Kāpiti proved what happens when you put water meters in. They found all the leaks within about six months on private and public land. It makes a huge difference.”

The cost of installation is estimated to be up to $2000 per household. “People already pay for water in their rates,” Baker said. “This is just doing it another way. It’s user pays, so if you've got a swimming pool or larger family, yes, you will pay more than a retired couple. But it's the only way that's been proven to save water.”

Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy is not in favour of meters. Lower Hutt’s Campbell Barry said it was important for the region to “be on the same page.”

“We are going to be far more effective in addressing future water shortages if we are doing things together,” he said.

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau has said meters are effective, but worried about the cost of implementation.

Councils have to make “hard decisions on what to fund based on affordability and other priorities. We then work to the budgets they set,” Wellington Water chief executive Tonia Haskell said.

Without smart meters “councils will have to look at increasing investment in more expensive water supply options in order to sustainably meet the future demand for water in the coming years.”