Water pressure builds for family

Every fortnight Northlander Gary Young must decide which bills to pay - out of electricity, food, water and rates.

For the Kaikohe homeowner and sickness beneficiary, at least one of the bills will not get paid.

With Christmas drawing near, it is likely that more than one will take a hit as he struggles to support his family.

Until this month, the list of priorities was led by power, or more so the threat of having the electricity cut, then food.

However, a move by the Far North District Council to restrict water to those who don't pay has Mr Young reconsidering the order of his bills list.

He is already a year's water rates in arrears, around $800, and expects he will be one of the first to feel the pinch when the water flows are turned down.

In a bid to to recoup almost $1.3 million in unpaid bills for metered water, the council plans to restrict household water to non-payers to around 90 litres a day.

It currently supplies water to about half the district's 56,000 population at $2.31 per cu m.

Mr Young said the cost of water - at around $50 a fortnight - on top of fortnightly rates repayments of $112 was too much.

"It's not fair. The rates are so high and then there is the high water cost on top of that - it's just nasty," he said.

"This type of move [to restrict water] is going to hit many Northlanders hard. Many people up here are beneficiaries with little money to go around. Everyone struggles."

Mr Young said costs must come down.

His pleas were supported by Ngapuhi chairman Sonny Tau, who predicted many iwi members would be affected by the move.

Mr Tau said unemployment was high in Northland and it was not right that the area endured some of the highest water rates in the country.

A spokesman for the Far North District Council, Rick McCall, said plans to restrict water were not new, and had been in place in the region until July last year.

He said a local government amendment did not carry the provision forward - a situation that has now been rectified, allowing the council to impose restrictions once again.

"In the 18 months that we have been unable to restrict water we have seen debt increase by more than $1 million," Mr McCall said.

He said the council had restricted access to between 180-200 houses in the past.

He accepted that water charges were high, partly driven by the need to recover debt incurred from past subsidies.

He said the debt was close to being repaid and the council would consider reducing the cost in the next few years.

CHARGES VARY FOR WATER

The Auckland Water Pressure Group says the Far North cost of $2.31 per cu m is high compared with:

Whangarei $1.42.

Waitakere $1.48.

Auckland (Metrowater) $1.17.

Manukau $1.06.