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Climate change presents a business opportunity to Wellington

Debate in Paris this week about the use of supertankers to ship water around the world should be a call to action in Wellington, says Porirua City Councillor Robert Shaw.

Cr Shaw, who was formerly the deputy chairperson of Greater Wellington's committee responsible for the bulk water supply, said Wellington has a unique water supply.

"We take water from flowing sources, use what we need, and let the rest flow into the sea. This surplus of water could easily fill a tanker."

"We are fortunate in Wellington that our water is of a particularly good quality."

"The message is there for us to see - there is a dramatic growing market for good water - we should use that information to gain a new income stream for our region."

Exporting water by sea was already happening between France and Algeria and Turkey and Israel.

"In the past oil takers have come into Wellington harbour and we ought now be seeking to replace them with water tankers."

Daniel Zimmer, executive director of the World Water Council in Marseille, identified New Zealand as one of the countries that could provide water by tanker. Last year New Zealand firm Adsteam Agency proposed taking water by tanker to Australia to relive drought. Last May, London's Thames Water investigated bringing water supplies by tanker from Scotland and Norway.

The World Bank, the largest tanker companies in the world, and the United Nations are all considering the problem of a forecast 3.2 billion people living in cities disparately short of water by the year 2100.

Councillor Shaw said "with the Wellington Regional Economic Strategy in place we have an ideal base for an investigation of the public private sector partnership that would be necessary to advance this idea."

Cr Shaw said he would ask his Council that is an active participant in the Wellington Economic Forum to advance the idea. We need to convene a group of people with the appropriate skills to work out what would need to happen for us to enter this new business. This would include those who could assess the market and its growth in dollar terms. Wellington would not own the tankers or the contracts for supply, but it could charge for the water and provide the facilities for tankers to fill. Holding tanks would probably be necessary to ensure continuity of supply.

"For us the business is ideal. It is a contribution to the environment that we can make in a very green clean way."

"At the moment we are running surplus water into the sea and it is an asset lost", he added.

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