John MacDonald: Are councils really the best outfits to be in charge of the water?

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

We are going to pay more for water services. But even though it's coming about because of government policy, I’m not blaming Wellington. I’m blaming our councils.

Councils that should be ashamed of how they ran down our water infrastructure to the extent that millions of litres of water disappear every day because of cruddy pipes.

And the consequence of that neglect and incompetence is going to hit us in the pocket.

Two examples. In Christchurch, household water bills are expected to increase by $900 a year. In Selwyn, the yearly increase in water charges could be as high as $1800 a year.

Local Government Minister Simon Watts is saying the Government’s Local Water Done Well policy, which is the alternative to Labour’s doomed 3 Waters policy, is "the best approach” to sorting out our water infrastructure.

But I wonder if you’re starting to realise that Labour’s approach wasn’t so bad after all?

Under that model, control of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater would have been taken away from local councils and handed over to new water authorities.

It would’ve taken away ownership of water infrastructure, too.

I’m more than happy to put my hand up and say, at the time, it was the ownership bit that got me going.

Back then, I thought the then-Labour Government was offering peanuts to take over ownership of water infrastructure.

But I am more than happy to put my hand up now and say that wasn’t the big deal I once thought it was, and I think we would have all been better off under Labour’s model. Because not only are we going to be paying more for our water, but there are also going to be a truckload more water entities than there would have been.

Under 3 Waters, there would have been 10 entities. Now, it’s already looking like we’ll have more than 40 water service providers involving different councils.

So more bureaucracy and more costs, all in the name of local ownership and control.

All in the name of local ownership and control by local councils which, because of their neglect of the water infrastructure year-after-year, are going to be hitting us with big increases in water charges. Local councils who have failed us.

If councils had done what they should have done and not kicked the infrastructure spending can down the road time and time again, then maybe we wouldn’t be feeling so fleeced.

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