So what does the government announcement on the Three Waters reset mean for Central Otago?

Quite a bit actually.

So, the good stuff first. We are now guaranteed a seat alongside the other Otago and Southland councils on the Regional Representative Group. Under the previous plan, there were only six seats at the RRG table shared by 20 councils, so we weren’t guaranteed representation. We now have one seat of the eight council seats at the table, alongside the equal number of iwi seats that remain a feature of the reform.

The RRG will set the strategic and performance expectations for the entity, appoint the board, approve the strategic direction, and monitor the performance of the Water Services Entities in their area, so having a guaranteed voice on it is a good thing. But there’s a couple of ‘buts’.

First, it needs to be remembered that we get one seat out of 16, so how loudly will our voice be heard?

Second, and more importantly, it is the entity board that does the heavy lifting; that really steers the ship. Sure, the RRG sits above it, but how much power or influence will it really hold?

So what is the trade off for this seat at the table? Unfortunately it will be money out of yours and my pockets.  

Through this whole tortured process of reform, the government has said, and shown overseas evidence that, water entities achieve the best economies of scale if they serve around 800,000 to 1,000,000 people. The Otago-Southland entity will serve around 320,000.  Fewer people, fewer savings.  

The calculations that accompanied the announcement from the government say going from four entities to ten will increase the 2054 water bill for Otago/Southland folk from $2,340 a year to $4,430 a year; so that seat at the table has cost us $2,090 a year each household in 30 years.  

I can’t see how it’s worth it.

Having said that, the same figures claim that without reform, the cost will be $9,730. Now without a doubt figures extrapolated out 30 years are a wet-finger in the wind type prediction, but they give the general direction and knowing some of the costs your council faces, that $9,730 figure is not at all outside the bounds of possibility.

For me, the last four years of working in the three waters space has been about how I play my part in keeping the cost of getting over the infrastructure hump across the country that is in front of us is kept as low as possible for individual households. This week’s news was a big step backwards in that regard.