WELLINGTON'S WATER could be privatised before residents are aware of what’s happening, say local representatives.
“The government’s land and water group is slowly working its way around [the country]. It’s not a public exercise at all,” says Greater Wellington Regional Councillor Chris Laidlaw.
Residents and advocacy groups in Wellington are extremely concerned that government amendments could take water out of public hands.
Proposed changes include extending private sector contracts from 15 to 35 years, allowing water infrastructure to be owned by a “non-council party”, and removal of the clause that requires councils to “retain control over all matters relating to the management of water services”.
Parliament was to have the first reading of these amendments on Thursday April 29, in a bill that includes recommendations on Removing Barriers to Water Infrastructure Developments in the Local Government Act 2002. These amendments could dramatically change the way water is managed.
“It has a fairly ominous sound to it. The mystery is that there is no coherent public debate surrounding water,” says Laidlaw.
The Wellington Residents’ Coalition focused on the issue at their AGM this month. At the meeting, Right to Water spokesperson Maria McMillan discussed the proposed changes.
“The [Wellington City] Council will be divested of the power to control water. The change takes a human right and gives control of it to the market. We will be beholden to private companies,” says McMillan.
The government has already given support to these changes at cabinet level, and the next step is bringing them into law, she says.
“International experience shows privatisation increases costs and leaves the [water] company less accountable for its actions, both environmentally and to rate payers.”
McMillan is concerned that national legislation is progressing in parallel with inaccurate local government claims around excessive water use that arose last year.
Warwick Taylor of Wellington Residents’ Coalition says, “Water is protected under law, but they are seeking to change that. Why not just do away with democracy altogether if it’s cheaper.”
GWRC councillor Sally Baber says removing council control of the water supply goes against human rights and is being approached in a manner similar to the deregulation of the electricity market.
At the moment council controlled organisation Capacity currently manages water, stormwater, and wastewater services in Wellington, and stated its desire last year to manage bulk water for the region.
A protest on the issue, run by The Wellington Residents’ Coalition, 11am, Manners Mall, May 1.
Jamie Melbourne-Hayward.