Western Bay of Plenty District Mayor Garry Webber on Three Waters' rural impact

Western Bay of Plenty mayor Garry Webber.

OPINION
It's no secret the Three Waters reform is a hot topic for our communities, in particular our rural communities where there are over 70,000 privately owned, mixed-use operations providing both stock and drinking water.

This is why I'm sure the Rural Supplies Working Group's main recommendation - that private supplies won't transfer to the new entities - will be welcome news for rural communities throughout New Zealand.

The Rural Supplies Technical Working Group was set up by the Government to advise on how the water system reforms would handle rural supply schemes – making 30 recommendations.

In total, there are more than 70 recommendations when you include the 46 the independent working group released in April on how to improve governance arrangements for the four Water Service Entities.

This is serious food for thought for the Government, having recently introduced the Water Services Entities Bill into Parliament. This is the first of two bills giving effect to the Government's water services proposals.

This is the bill that establishes the four entities, their purpose and objectives etc, and their representation and governance arrangements. This bill also covers the accountability arrangements for the entities and other levers communities have to influence the direction of the entities. Some formative transition provisions are also included.

The second bill is expected in September or October and will cover economic regulation, rural supplies, links to planning, the more detailed powers and the flow-on effects for other obligations.

But back to our rural communities.

The Rural Supplies Working Group report primarily focuses on council-owned mixed-use rural supplies.

The group found users of mixed-use rural supplies have concerns that relate to Three Waters services delivery reform and implications for the ongoing ownership and management of mixed-use rural supplies.

Some of the other key highlights are:

• Recommending that rural service users should generally not be subsidising urban service users and also that consultation with rural users on the water entities' funding should start before the new entities "go live" and before domestic volumetric pricing is introduced to new areas.

• And that new water-quality regulator Taumata Arowai should provide cost-effective ways for schemes to comply that recognise their uniqueness, offer options to not chlorinate in certain drinking water supply situations, and closely involve rural stakeholders in designing and implementing regulatory requirements.

Rural small supplies must be registered with Taumata Arowai by November 15 2025. But they have until November 2028 to be compliant.

I know there's a lot of confusion and misinformation about the reform and so I encourage you to take a read of both the Rural Supplies Technical Working Group and independent working group reports to get the full picture.

Lastly, let me reiterate - the council is involved in the Three Waters discussion, not sitting back and letting things happen. The critical outcome expected from the reforms is that all council-owned and operated facilities are fully compliant with the new Taumata Arowai standards, which come into effect from July 1, 2024.

We are monitoring the reforms closely and will not be making any rushed decisions.

It is important to fully understand what the amended bill means for our district and only once council staff have had time to analyse the bill will we be able to determine our select committee response.

- by Western Bay of Plenty District Mayor Garry Webber who was a member of the Working Group on Representation, Governance and Accountability of new Water Services Entities set up to advise Government on the Three Waters Reform Programme.