We pay for the amount of power we use, why not water?

"Somewhere along the line, we are going to have to have water meters. I don’t see any other way, to truly make it user pays."

We pay for the amount of power we use, why not water?

Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark believes the potential introduction of water meters in the future could be key to help limit water use and tend to some rising costs.

Water restrictions are currently in place in Invercargill after a long dry spell. At the same time, water remains a hot topic on the back of the Government’s Three Waters reform.

Clark said New Zealand’s two major political parties, Labour and National, both have remained quiet as to how a user-pays element to water could be ramped up.

Part of that was because water meters was not necessarily a popular option with some, Clark said.

Some councils already have introduced water meters, Auckland included, with the Central Otago District Council the closest example for Southlanders.

“The benefit of water meters is you pay for what you use. If you want to have a 20-minute shower every day and you can afford to pay the rates that go with it, so be it, it’s just like a power meter.

“If things are a bit tight for you and your family, and you think I can actually cut 30 percent off my water bill by being a bit more careful, then that’s what you do.

“Water meters allow you to manage. At the other end of the scale, the people that are currently getting it cheap are going to jump up and down and that’s why no one wants to talk about it.

“A good example is if you live in a house by yourself, but the neighbour next door is mum and dad with four kids, well you can imagine the volumes of water that is going through those two houses. At the moment you pay exactly the same.”

“We don’t allow that for power, so why would we let it happen for water? Somewhere along the line, we are going to have to have water meters. I don’t see any other way, to truly make it user pays.”

Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark.

If people were encouraged to limit their water use, as they do with power, that could ease some of the burdens on the council.

“If you have less demand, you have less treatment and if you’ve got less water going through you’ve got less discharge at the other end,” Clark said.

He said there had initially been some pushback in Central Otago over the introduction of water meters, but it had turned out to be a good move.

“After a couple of years, they actually paid for themselves with the lack of treatment at the front end and less treatment at the other end when the grey water goes out.”

“Given that our future treatment plants, at the tail end, won’t be able to discharge into a river or sea, it’s good to have less volume going through them.”

Water looms as key election topic, although Clark acknowledged whether it be Labour’s model or National’s an increase in water rates was coming.

Clark has been a vocal opponent of the Government’s Three Waters reform which he believed could potentially increase Invercargill ratepayers’ water costs from about $800 to between $1800 and $2300, “depending on who you believe”.

The reform would see council’s water services shifted from the councils to four new entities covering the country.

At the weekend the National Party revealed its counter to the Three Waters reform which has got the backing of Clark.

If it is elected National will scrap the Three Waters model and replace it with a different system for drinking water, stormwater and wastewater - which would remain in local control.

National says if it is in government, it would set strict water quality standards and require councils to invest in the ongoing maintenance of their vital water infrastructure.

“I think National has got it right on the button. Leave the water quality in place, leave the regulator in place, leave councils in place to do it,” Clark said.

The main issue that needed to be worked through is how councils will fund the work in the future, Clark said.

“[Councils] need an injection over 30 years. They don’t need that tomorrow, or the year after, it just needs to be a steady plan.”

“For some councils, like our council, I think we’ll do ok with that plan we are required to put together over the next 12 months, if it’s a new Government, if it’s National.”

“[National] has been careful of saying what level of support will come for those that need it.

“They don’t want councils just to be blasé thinking the Government is going to bail us out somewhere along the line.”

Clark understood under the National proposal the council’s water plans would be quite strict, they would need to rate accordingly, and could not use that money elsewhere in the organisation.

He felt National’s plan could help limit the impact on Invercargill if it was not part of an entity that was also looking after water infrastructure requirements in smaller towns, or growth areas that require investment elsewhere in the South Island.

“You make a choice about where you live. The closer you get to the city concentration the lesser the rates, you can see that in Auckland.

“The flip side of that is you go into some of the outlying areas and the houses are cheaper than what they are in the city. There is a bit of a balancing act.”