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To save Wellington’s collapsed pipe network, Wellington Mayor Andy Foster will seek to introduce water metering charges for all residents.
As part of a broad series of reforms, a mayoral task force report found that Wellington City Council should transfer ownership of its pipelines worth $ 3.86 billion to Wellington Water, which would independently charge residents. For the water.
Removing pipes from the city books would mean that rates could be lowered by up to a third, although whether that would mean savings for taxpayers would depend on the level of metering charges.
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It would give Wellington a system similar to Auckland’s Watercare authority, which Foster called the “most advanced water system in the country.”
Under the current system in the Wellington region, residents pay for water through tariffs. Each city council owns its own pipelines and pays Wellington Water to operate and maintain the network.
The Mayor’s Office Working Group on the Three Waters was launched in February after a series of increasingly serious pipeline collapses sent millions of liters of sewage into the port, closed roads and required “turd taxis” to transport sludge to across Owhiro Bay for months.
Transformative change was needed in all parts of water management to prepare the city for the future, Foster said. “Modifying the edges is not going to be enough.”
The lengthy report painted a grim picture of Wellington’s pipes as old, broken, underfunded, and chronically neglected.
Councilor Fleur Fitzsimons called it “warts and all reports of the sorry state of Wellington’s water.”
The city of Wellington has 2,653 kilometers of pipelines, many of which are in poor condition and unknown. A massive investment program was needed to learn more about the quality of pipes in the city, according to the report.
The city has recorded a total of 2,096 sewage spills in the past 12 months, despite setting a goal of no more than 100 spills.
Ross Giblin / Stuff
A report from the task force commissioned by Wellington Mayor Andy Foster recommended volumetric water charging for the city.
Only one-third of sewage pipes had been inspected in the past 15 years, and 30 percent of them had structural framing, poor joints, or other serious defects.
Up to 30 percent of all drinking water in Wellington is lost before it reaches the tap due to a huge number of unidentified leaks in the pipe network.
Population growth would put even greater pressure on pipes and could lead to drought-like water shortages in the summer months.
The measurement was necessary to incentivize people to use less water and to help identify leaks, the report found.
He also said the council had suffered from an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality that led to an underfunded, ruptured and poorly understood pipeline network.
The council had been setting aside enough money to keep up with the necessary repairs, but had consistently diverted up to half of the money to other projects.
“Indeed, we have been underfunding water for 150 years, since the first pipes sank,” said Foster.
PINK WOODS / THINGS
The report was sparked by a series of high-profile pipeline collapses last summer.
Political pressure to keep rates low had led to a culture in which Wellington Water tried to prioritize crucial repairs within a certain budget, rather than setting the budget based on the amount of work required.
Transferring ownership of the pipelines to Wellington Water could be complex and may require other Wellington councils to take the same step.
The report largely echoes the ongoing water reforms pushed by the government, which will remove water services from the hands of councils and create five to seven new multi-regional water authorities.
The new independent water entity could borrow money against water assets and set metering rates without political interference.
The organization would operate on the basis of a “statement of intent” established by the boards, but would not need board approval for day-to-day decisions.
Several of Wellington’s left-wing councilors have long been skeptical about the water metering, worried it would hurt low-income renters and families.
Councilwoman Jenny Condie said the report made no recommendation on how meters should be priced, but would like to see protections added to ensure poorer residents are not disadvantaged.
The task force included the mayor, councilors, representatives from Wellington Water, the Chamber of Commerce, iwi, and community groups.
The recommendations will be considered by the council on December 16 and will be submitted for public consultation as part of the Long Term Plan.
