The Timaru District Council has joined Central Otago, Gore, Clutha and Waitaki councils in exploring options for the future delivery of water service.

In one of the most significant collaborations in South Island local government, the five councils have formed the Southern Water Done Well Steering Group to move forward with the Government’s Local Water Done Well programme.

Queenstown Lakes District Council and Invercargill are continuing to explore their own options, while Dunedin City Council has joined with the Christchurch City Council.

Waitaki District mayor Gary Kircher, Clutha District mayor Bryan Cadogan, Central Otago District mayor Tamah Alley and Gore District mayor Ben Bell spoke with Timaru district councillors before its council meeting on Tuesday.

In a joint statement, the mayors said the Southern Water Done Well partnership challenged the status quo and proved all councils – big or small - can be bold leaders.

“We're committed to turning over every rock to find water delivery solutions that provide real value for our ratepayers while maintaining the local voice our communities demand.”

Southern Mayors have joined forces to move forward options under Local Water Done Well FILE SHOT.

By September this year, the group must have identified the best options for delivering water services in the future, talked to their communities about them, and produced a Water Services Delivery Plan.

The plans will show how councils intend to deliver water services that meet regulatory requirements, support growth and urban development, and are financially sustainable.

Timaru District mayor Nigel Bowen said he was looking forward to progressing the group's ideas and seeing how they fit with the needs of the Timaru District community.

“We face many challenges in providing high quality water services to our community in the long term, not only financial ones,” he said.

”From this decision today, we get to join forces with a group of like-minded councils to consider how best we could work together to provide this critical infrastructure in a sustainable way.”

The commitment agreement passed on Tuesday sets out the process to consider the design of a joint council-controlled organisation (CCO) and how it compared to other practicable options, such as leaving water services in-house or setting up a standalone council CCO.

A complete analysis of the three options, including the impact on each council’s rates, debt and levels of service, would be presented for community feedback at the end of April.

Prior to public consultation, the councils must identify their preferred option from the three analyses.

A spokesperson from the QLDC said council was yet to make a formal decision on the matter and will be consulting on a preferred delivery model in the coming months.

Dunedin and Christchurch city councillors signed a Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] at a council meeting last week.

Invercargill has gone out to its ratepayers already to consult on three options - an in-house business unit with structural change, which would only cost $330,000 a year, as its preferred option.

Secondly its own CCO that would cost $3.9 million to set up and $4.7 million a year to run, and a third option of an Otago/Southland Water Services Entity - which would cost $50.6 million to set up and $27 million a year to run.  

That was separate to the Southern Water Done Well partnership proposed by other councils. 

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