Government Considering Wastewater User Charges Before Ak Region Water Review Is Even Concluded

BEWARE!!

"The Government is considering making changes to the Local Government Act which could see local bodies able to meet drainage costs by a charge based on the amount of water households used."

Since METROWATER LTD, as the first and only retail water LATE, has been continually opposed and discredited by the Water Pressure Group in Auckland City, there is little chance that any other local body would now dare to establish a water company.

The AUCKLAND REGION WATER REVIEW has precisely this end in sight when it puts forward its Option One (Modified Status Quo). As has been stated repeatedly, the only real "modification" under this option would be that wastewater user charges could be imposed without a local body needing to commercialise their water services. The massive lobby from the combined pressure of the six municipalities comprising the Review has been described as containing sufficient potential weight to convince central government of the "desirability" of law reform to permit this change.

But now it emerges that the government is apparently independently considering rewarding the wealthy by introducing user charges anyway! So much for the thousands of People's Option postcard submissions which were sent to the Minister for Auckland Issues, Judith Tizard - so much for pious statements from the Minister for Local Government, Sandra Lee - and so much for the sham consultation process of the Review team!

In spite of a $250,000 publicity budget hard-selling the review - as opposed to the paltry sums (about $1460) spent by the People's Option Water Coalition - as predicted, the People's Option blew the Review's "choices" out of the water when citizens favoured it by more than twice, the numbers of submissions received supporting the entire three "official" options combined.

BE WARNED - WASTEWATER CHARGES ARE AIMED AT YOU!! USER CHARGES REWARD ONLY THE RICH! ORGANISE IN YOUR COMMUNITY THROUGHOUT NEW ZEALAND NOW!

Jim Gladwin Auckland

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