Rhea Dasent fears the new Water Services Bill will force her father, who supplies water to three households, to meet the same standards as larger, municipal suppliers. Photo / Supplied
Rhea Dasent fears the new Water Services Bill will force her father, who supplies water to three households, to meet the same standards as larger, municipal suppliers. Photo / Supplied
A Hawke's Bay farmer fears a new Water Services Bill targeting municipal suppliers could also increase the costs of using a bore to provide drinking water for her and her neighbours.
But Local Government minister Nanaia Mahuta, whose ministry is overseeing the water reforms, says farmers are unlikely to haveto pay anywhere near the cost of municipal suppliers.
Rhea Dasent, a policy adviser for Federated Farmers, is one of three households living on a family farm in Maraekakaho who are supplied water by her father.
"We have a groundwater bore that supplies my parents' home, the cottage I live in with my husband and two young children, and the cottage his oldest brother lives in with his family."
This same water supply also provides water to all the animal troughs on their 190-hectare beef cattle farm.
Water is pumped from a 15-metre deep bore shaft and sent to a concrete reservoir where it is then distributed.
The groundwater bore not only supplies the three households with water, but also the livestock on their 190-hectare beef cattle farm. Photo / Supplied
In the 100-plus years the family had been on the farm, and the 20 years the bore had been in use, there had never been any illness from bacterial contamination, she said.
This kind of set-up was common across Hawke's Bay, she said.
Under the proposed Bill, her father will have to register as a water supplier, develop a water safety plan, set up a consumer complaints scheme, test water quality and potentially have to add chlorine or fluoride.
Dasent agreed it was important to ensure better potable water and accountability by large and municipal water supplies, especially after the 2016 Havelock North water contamination.
Rhea Dasent, a policy advisor for Federated Farmers, is one of three households living on the family farm in Maraekakaho who are supplied water by her father. Photo / Supplied
"Large suppliers have multiple workers managing the water, doing shifts, with different roles, creating a chain of responsibility with many links.
"I can see the need for such suppliers to have a concise plan and monitoring procedure so all the people involved know what is happening."
But to classify people like her father as a water supplier, was "unfair" she said, calling for an exemption for small water suppliers from what she viewed as "unnecessary regulatory burden".
Mahuta said there was no proposal to treat farmers who supply neighbours with drinking water in the same way as municipal suppliers such as Hastings District Council.
Water is pumped up from a 15-metre deep bore shaft by pipes and sent to a concrete reservoir where it is then distributed. Photo / Supplied
She said Taumata Arowai, the new water services regulator, would be required to consider the scale, complexity and degree of risk of the supply.
"This means that farmers sharing water with two or three neighbours should be able to have mechanisms, such as 'point of entry' UV filters, that are simple, cost-effective and provide confidence to the supplier and the user of their drinking water safety."
She added small water suppliers, including rural suppliers, would have several years to adjust to the new arrangement and was even considering extending these timeframes to ensure those affected had the necessary support and guidance.
