Water supply to be limited for debtors

The Far North District Council is trying again to use a bylaw to restrict water to households who have not paid their bills.

It is also mounting legal action against more than 400 consumers whose water bills are unpaid.

Transaction services manager Chris Ellington said unpaid water bills reached $1.3 million this year.

The possibility of restricting water to debtor households, introduced late last year, had resulted in a significant fall in total debt but the amount owed has started to rise again.

To fight back, the council is using debt recovery processes as a first option. "Water restrictions are a last resort," Mr Ellington said.

He has drafted a revised bylaw allowing the council to restrict water to 90 litres a day per person in debtor households. The draft bylaw goes to a council meeting next month for consideration.

An environmental health officer would accompany a council representative and a security officer when water-restricting devices were about to be fitted to a non-payer's meter.

The health officer's job would be to ensure members of a family about to face restricted water supplies had no health problems.

If there were medical or health conditions among people in the household, water restrictions would not be imposed, Mr Ellington said.

"If they are, there'll be a hell of a lot of inconvenience, but there won't be an unsanitary household."

The council believes this tactic will deflect earlier criticism from public health authorities who were concerned about the effect of reducing water to houses where people were in poor health.

Mr Ellington said he was unhappy with the wording of a previous bylaw. "We've revised it to make it more robust and to ensure it complies with new [local government] legislation. "

Meanwhile, legal action and debt recovery processes have started over debts totalling about $350,000. And notices of court proceedings are being prepared to chase another $150,000 worth of debt.