Chch mayor keen to team up with neighbouring councils on Three Waters

Thursday, 15 February 2024

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger has welcomed the Government’s new Local Water Done Well plan and signalled Christchurch City Council will work with neighbouring councils on water infrastructure.

Mauger said the coalition Government’s plan “could work well” as it allowed councils to retain control.

The Coalition Government has repealed Three Waters as part of its 100-day plan. Its replacement - Local Water Done Well - involves a new technical advisory group and a implementing a bill to allow councils to choose to band together to establish council-controlled organisations (CCO) with more borrowing power.

Mauger said he was willing to work with up to five councils, or even more.

Canterbury was lucky because it had the best water in the country as it came from aquifers in the ground, he said.

“We’ve therefore got a lot of similarities with our neighbouring councils Selwyn and Waimakariri, meaning it would be fairly easy to get a CCO organised between us to run Three Waters.”

It could start with three to five councils to make sure the entity worked well, and then other councils could be added as the CCO got up and running, he said.

“I really do like the idea of local councils having local ownership, as this would be the best outcome for everyone.”

Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon says local communities need control and say over their assets.

It comes as Buller mayor Jamie Cleine, on the West Coast, warned of rates bills for drinking and wastewater alone spiralling by $1600 on average per household in just three years - a rise of more than 70%.

He estimated up to $50 million was needed just to bring the district’s drinking water up to legal standards.

“Our water accounts are already all overdrawn. People in Westport are paying $2200 a year just for drinking water and wastewater. That will have to go up to $2800 in the first year, $3300 the next year and to $3800 the year after that,” he said.

“We would need to approach Canterbury or Tasman mayors. I am absolutely open to that but I am cognisant that we would be bringing an unpalatable business case to the table, and that doesn’t help in those conversations.”

Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon, who is also Communities 4 Local Democracy co-chairperson, said the member councils were thrilled the new Government had delivered on its campaign promise to repeal the unpopular reform.

“They were elected on a mandate that opposed centralisation and the forced removal of community water assets.

“C4LD put forward a community-led, common sense alternative for water reform that sees higher standards delivered throughout the country while making sure local community have control and say over their assets. We welcome working with the new government on this model.”

Christchurch introduced water metering as a way of managing use and finding leaks. More councils are likely to follow suit.

Selwyn mayor Sam Broughton said he could not say whether the new plan would work without further detail.

“But I welcome the principle that local decision making, and flexibility will offer communities and councils greater say in how their water services will be delivered. Selwyn are open to discussions about working with other Canterbury councils in the first instance,” he said.

Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen said he 100% supported the repeal of Three Waters reform.

He said he was open to discussion with other councils on amalgamating Three Waters work, and believed it would start with adjoining neighbouring councils first like Mackenzie, Waimate, Ashburton and Oamaru.

“That doesn’t mean that the bigger councils will subsidise the smaller players,” he said.

He said Timaru district ratepayers would probably not support financially subsidising infrastructure work in Buller and direct Government investment would be more appropriate for councils with small rating bases.