The Government will be changing the way drinking water, waste water and storm water are delivered in our communities. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta confirmed this week that the Government will push ahead with its preferred Three Waters plan.

 This decision is counter to the Government’s earlier promise to give Councils the choice to opt in or out of the reform in December this year. Mayor Ash Tanner is not surprised the Government has gone back on its word. “To say we’re disappointed is an understatement but it was always on the cards. Their proposal raised a lot of issues and the only way they were going to get it through was by forcing it on us.”

“As a Council, we still disagree with having our water assets being amalgamated into a new entity where we’ll have little or no control over them. We’ll remain the owners of the water entity but we won’t have the rights that owners of assets usually have, like the right to call the shots.”

Another fundamental issue the Mayor and elected members raised with Government in late September was whether the country had the capacity to undertake the work outlined in the government’s proposal. “Our position hasn’t changed. We just don’t think the modelling is realistic and we don’t believe anyone will be able to achieve what the Government expects within the timeframes provided. I guess time will tell.”

With no prior warning of the Government’s announcement Mayor Ash is still digesting the information and he hopes more information will be made available in the next few days. “If this is the decision then I want to get on with it and make sure we get the best deal we can for our community. That includes looking after our staff who’ll move across to the new water entity. We need to make sure the larger centres don’t get priority over us.”

The Government believes the challenges ahead for the three waters services are too great for Council’s across New Zealand to cope with. Mayor Ash does not agree with the one-size-fits-all approach. “The Government’s trying to tell us water services are in crisis and yet as a country we continue to rate amongst the top in the world for water quality. As a district we’ve managed our water assets well, but if there are some areas of New Zealand that need help then the Government should focus on giving them the help they need. Wholesale change isn’t needed.”

There are major legislation changes in the pipeline that will significantly increase the cost of delivering three waters for Councils - the Government proposal aims to reduce the burden of these cost by taking the responsibility away from local government, and creating four regional bodies who would be responsible for delivering drinking water, wastewater and storm water services instead. The current proposal would see Matamata-Piako’s water services combined with 21 other councils from the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki and top of the central North Island. The entities will be operational from 1 July 2024.