Andrew Dickens Afternoons

As the Government dropped the latest iteration of its Three Waters water reform on Friday, I was left with the question: “what on earth do you want to achieve with all this?”  For more than 2 years, local and central Governments have been struggling with the issue of water reform.Reform is necessary as too many New Zealand households have substandard water and wastewater services. Meanwhile, antiquated pipes are losing 20% of the water we’ve gathered.  Meanwhile, most of our cities and towns have done a good job in collecting and distributing the water we’ve collected and disposed of the waste we’ve produced.  But the other half has not done a good job and it’s inherently due to underinvestment.  They have underinvested because either their rating base is too small or their electorate cannot see the benefit in higher rates or water charges to fix pipes they can’t see. So, we need to fix them. Why the Government has made it such a minefield is anyone’s guess. The government’s answer is to gather up all the ass