Media Release

Ohura Water Problems Will Occur Elsewhere

The affordability of funding water services in small town New Zealand is going to become increasingly problematic says Water New Zealand’s chief executive, Murray Gibb.

Commenting on a proposal to remove drinking water services from Ohura in the Ruapehu district, Mr Gibb said that pressure on smaller councils supplying these services was building and would increase.

“Demographic trends point towards declining populations in many of our smaller communities. That means declining rating bases. Couple that with ageing water infrastructure, and funding these networks will become unaffordable for many smaller communities,” he said.

“Security of funding is fundamental to the provision of water services because the infrastructure that delivers it is very expensive to operate and maintain. Take that security away and it becomes very hard for suppliers.”

“Some communities are already struggling to supply safe drinking water.”

“Ministry of Health reports show that water quality is related to the populations served. Larger towns easily meet the standards. But just under a quarter of New Zealanders receive water that doesn’t meet requisite standards and they live in smaller centres. A few small towns such as Otematata are on long term boil water notices.”

“Some communities also have problems meeting standards for discharges from their wastewater treatment plants. Meeting the recently introduced national standards for water quality in our lakes and rivers will add further costs,” he said.

“The good news is that other countries have faced the same problems as small town New Zealand and successfully dealt with them.”

“Where reticulated infrastructure is no longer affordable there are relatively inexpensive on-site systems that deliver good quality water.”

“Other solutions include rationalisation of water utilities into larger entities to achieve scale economies. Scotland provides a good example. It has one water utility. Since rationalisation of its utilities into one water business in 2002 it has saved 40 per cent in operational costs. These savings have been used to upgrade substandard water infrastructure and meet externally imposed standards, said Mr Gibb.”

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Water New Zealand is an independent not for profit association of water professionals and organisations. It is the country's largest water industry body, providing leadership and support in the water sector through advocacy, collaboration and professional development. Members are drawn from all areas of the water management industry including regional councils and territorial authorities, consultants, suppliers, government agencies and scientists. See www.waternz.org.nz for more information.

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