Govt's three water reforms getting murky

The Local Government Minister plans to merge all 67 local council-held water assets into four regional bodies. The governorship of these four entities will be split 50/50 between Maori and councils. However, this has not gone down well with councils around the country - particularly in regional and rural NZ.

Federated Farmers recently joined the chorus of those opposed to the Government's plans, asking it to go back to the drawing board on reform of three waters.

"While it's clear that billions of dollars of investment are needed to get drinking water, stormwater and sewerage infrastructure up to scratch, there are too many flaws and question marks over the proposed four new mega entities for the Government to just press ahead," says Feds president Andrew Hoggard.

According to the farmer lobby, deep concerns have been raised in the provinces and chief among these is the risk rural voices and needs will be swamped in the enlarged set-ups.

"The complexity of rural water scheme ownership and operations is creating uncertainty in many rural communities," Hoggard adds.

Many councils around the country, which had until the end of September to get to grips with the Government's three waters plan, have either voted to opt out of the proposed reforms or have asked for a pause. However, so far, Mahuta has indicated she will push ahead with her proposed changes - with or without council support.

Meanwhile, Luxon told Rural News - despite the pushback from councils and others - Mahuta appears to be pushing ahead with the reforms, which he says is tantamount to confiscating local water assets.

"In Parliament, the minister extolled the apparent virtues of an 'all-in' legislated approach to three waters reform, clearly paving the way for legislation to come," Luxon says.

"An 'all-in' approach would see every council in the country lose their existing control of their water assets, which would then be centralised within one of four new regional water entities."

He adds that National has been warning councils and communities for months that this outcome would be inevitable and says his party will repeal the model when it is in government.

Luxon says the proposed reforms promised benefits are overstated and the Government's one-size-fits-all approach will not work.

"From day one, there has been no other alternatives offered other than the Governmment's proposal and this hasn't changed in 18 months," he told Rural News.

Luxon adds that National supports the formation of new water authority Taumata Arowai to enforce and set standards. He says the Ministry of Health has dropped the ball on this in the past.

"However, we do not support the four water entities taking over all council water assets - especially the governorship and ownership of these," he explains.

"Local accountability is significantly watered down with the arms-length governance arrangements proposed."

Luxon says Mahuta's model will see councils and iwi appointing a panel, which in turn appoints another group, which then selects unelected board members of the four new mega water entities.

"Many rural and regional councils, which have done a good job with managing their local water assets, are rightly concerned about having little or no local voice," he explains.

"The South Island, for example, will see six council and six iwi representatives making up the panel, which will appoint the panel that appoints the board that will actually run the new water entity," Luxon adds. "It's just nuts to claim those 22 councils are fairly represented."

Luxon admits that some councils have done a poor job with water asset management, while others have done a fantastic job. He is also concerned that the proposed model will see those regions with good assets cross subsiding those with poor water infrastructure.

"A much more bespoke, tailored approach is needed," he adds.

"Where those councils have done well on water are monitored by Taumata Arowai, those that have clear infrastructure problems the Government has to get alongside."

He concedes that the Government currently has a majority in Parliament and can pass these reforms if it wants.

"We have - and will continue to - fight these changes all the way and National will repeal these reforms when we are in Government."

What's Three Waters?

'Three Waters' refers to drinking water, waste water and storm water.

Under the Governmnet proposal, 67 councils nationwide would be amalgamated into four water entities - three in the North Island and one covering the entire South Island.

On announcing the proposed reform, the Government offered $761 million to councils to help fix water issues. The money was only available if councils opted in to consultation on the proposal. All councils signed up to entering into consultations and received initial incentive payments for doing so, but this did not commit them to any changes.

At July's Local Government NZ conference, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a further $2.5 billion incentive for councils to opt in to the scheme.

Councils had until the end of September 2021 to advise whether they were in or out of the reforms. Since then, the majority of local authorities around the country have either opted out or asked for a pause in the reforms.

The Government says it aims to have its new three waters programme operating by July 1 2024.