More opportunity to discuss water reforms with government
As part of the government’s proposed Three Waters reform, two more Bills are open for submission now.
On Tuesday January 31st, Councillors met in Council Chambers to discuss and create their submissions for the Water Services Legislation Bill and the Water Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill, having read more than 300 pages of information in preparation.
Whilst the Hurunui District Council (HDC) remains vehemently opposed to the government’s three waters model, it remains engaged in the debate in an attempt to get a fairer outcome for the Hurunui District.
The first Bill, the ‘Water Services Legislation Bill’ (WSLB) relates to the Water Services Entities Bill (WSEB) which was open for submission last year and many members of the Hurunui District submitted on. It was passed in December 2022.
Mayor Marie Black said this Bill would provide the Water Services Entity (WSE) the power to bring the WSE Act to life, for example by providing it with the power to establish drinking water catchment areas and stormwater management rules, and enabling it to carry out work on various classes of land.
In this Bill, relationships between local authorities and WSEs are established, and the areas of compliance and enforcement are addressed including the mechanisms for how the transition of water service governance will occur.
Black explained that this is an omnibus bill, which means it changes other pieces of New Zealand legislation
including the Water Services Entities Act 2002, the Local Government Act 1974, the Local Government Act 2002, and the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.
“The devil is in the detail on this one.”
The second Bill open for submission is the Water Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill. The Bill would see Water Commissioner being appointed with the Water Commission to oversee economic efficiency and consumer protection mechanisms.
There would be three forms of regulation; Information disclosure, Quality only regulation, and Price quality regulation.
Should the Bill be passed in its current form, the first two forms of regulation (information disclosure and quality only regulation) would commence in 2027.
Part of this Bill also addresses the complaints process and the disputes resolution process.
Chief Executive Officer Hamish Dobbie said this Bill is about the quality of water delivery standards, not the quality of the water.
“This Bill regulates the activities of regulated water service providers.”
Dobbie said, being a rural Council, there are still many questions to be answered in relation to how this proposed Three Waters reform would happen, if it happens. But it was valuable to sit around the table and discuss the Bills and be part of the bigger conversation with the government.
Any individual or organisation in New Zealand is welcome to provide feedback on these two Bills.
Submissions close this Sunday February 12, and the links to the Bills on Parliament’s website can be found here:
Water Services Legislation Bill
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bil...
Water Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill
