Since the Government announced its three waters reform proposal there's been a lot of rumour and speculation about what the reform will deliver. The focus of the first workshop held on 25 August was to give clarity on what's being proposed and what impact the new model would have on our Council and communities. At this stage we’re not being asked to make a decision - that won't happen until the end of this year, and before making any decisions we want to understand both sides of the case for change.

The workshop sessions covered -

• Our current situation - what the Government's proposing and how we're performing day-to-day in the Three Waters space
• The financial impact of the reform on Council
• Independent assessment of what Council stands to gain and lose with reform
• Issues for Council to consider ahead of the next workshop

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The COVID Alert Level 4 lockdown meant the first Council workshop on the Three Waters reform took place over Zoom.

In this session our Water and Waste Water Manager, Karl Pavlovich, provided an overview of how our three waters services are performing. Overall, we're performing pretty well but we're facing challenges in the areas of compliance, public health, customer expectations and resilience, to name a few.

The regulatory and legislative changes are happening separate to the three waters reform, and we are needing to raise the bar to meet new performance standards to deliver our three waters services. And this will be costly.

Karl then provided an overview of the Government's case for change and what the proposed changes are. The Government is concerned about a range of issues including: poor compliance with drinking water standards, poor health outcomes, high levels of increasing debt, underspending on infrastructure, poor environmental outcomes, poor outcomes for Māori, and the future affordability of the country's water network. To read the detailed Government reports please click here.

To understand what financial impact the new model would have on Council our Finance and Business Services Manager, Larnia Rushbrooke, crunched the numbers. The assessment assumed reform would happen and we would continue to deliver on our 2021-2031 Long Term Plan (LTP).

From the day of transition (1 July 2024) our total income would reduce but there would also be a reduction in outgoings. We would continue to break even, and therefore remain viable without Three Waters in the equation. Our ability to borrow money would also increase under the reform.

We had Kevin Lavery and Andy Matthews from Tuhura Partners provide an independent assessment on the impact of reform specific to us.

There were a number of takeaways from the presentation, starting with recognition that we'd built a sold three waters foundation. The proposed savings under the new model had been tested, by halving the benefits and doubling the costs, and their bottom line showed there was still a strong case for reform.

Some sobering facts were delivered in relation to three waters delivery across New Zealand and then the microscope was turned on us to see how we stacked up. And while we did fairly well, there were areas for improvement, particularly where the new regulatory framework (Mana o te Wai) will require better performance.

The balanced scorecard provided a break down of the opportunities and challenges for our district, to help us assess the impact of reform. The presentation was very informative but also highlighted how complex this proposed model is.

Water and Waste Water Manager, Karl Pavlovich returned to wrap up the workshop by summarising some of the issues that our Council could spend more time discussing at future workshops. 

Councillors are in the process of providing feedback on the aspects they want to look at in more detail. Future workshops will focus on trying to address their areas of concern.

The three waters reform is being led by the Government. Councils currently have an opportunity to raise any issues/concerns on their communities’ behalves and we welcome the community to be part of the process.

If you have a question or comment you want us to consider please click here. All feedback will help inform our conversations with the Government.

• August to September 2021 - period for Council to raise issues/concerns and seek clarification with the Government
• 1 October 2021 - Our feedback to Government is due
• October 2021 – Government to consider the feedback  and decide how it will progress, including how and when councils will consult with their communities