The wide-ranging reforms of our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater will impact on New Zealanders up and down the country and of all walks of life. To date however, much of the conversation has focused on implications for the rural sector, with limited dialogue on what it all might mean for our cities and urban development. 

To address this, Kensington Swan and Beca co-hosted - ‘Not a cow to be seen’ - an event on 4 November to discuss the issues facing our cities and regions struggling with growth with a panel of five leading industry experts;

• Andrew Chin - Water Portfolio Manager, Auckland Council
• Ilze Gotelli - Head of Major Developments, Watercare
• Paul Gardiner - Principal Advisor (RMA, Consents and Environment), Wellington Water
• Geoff Mason - Market Manager Water, Fletcher Construction Company
• Roger Seyb - Technical Fellow: Water Resources, Beca.

The event was an opportunity for the audience and panel members to share a broad range of views, and identify key areas of the reforms and urban themes that need greater attention.

Key themes from the panel discussion

• People and communities need a way to maintain close connections to their local waterways, with appropriate engagement with Mana Whenua and an approach that reflects Te Mana o te Wai (that we respect the mana of our freshwater).
• Opportunities exist for greater integration between Councils, the private sector and other parties – with the need for more partnership and accountability.
• In some areas the sense of urgency in confronting water quality is only now becoming apparent, with attention tending to follow specific adverse issues such an E.coli outbreak. It was also noted that people often don’t appreciate how dirty our beaches, lakes and waterways are, even just from stormwater flows.
• Equity is vital in the way the water reforms are implemented in urban versus rural communities - which can have very different land usages, and very different issues. An example was given of consent requirements for agricultural land in Pukekohe - the breadbasket for Auckland - and perceived fairness in relation to cost for land owners versus wider community benefits.
• Equally, all urban areas are not the same, with for example Wellington and Auckland facing different challenges, from each other and from Hamilton, Christchurch and other cities, towns and regions.  
• Auckland’s ongoing population growth and urban sprawl presents challenges and issues, with a key tension between urban development, protection of freshwater resources and protection of productive land.
• The reforms must not be too prescriptive in the sense of a ‘lot by lot, form by form’ approach. Requirements need to be flexible, adaptable, and equitable.
• An emphasis on ecological values in our communities needs to be retained. It was noted that around 76 per cent of New Zealand’s 51 indigenous freshwater fish are classified as threatened with or at risk of extinction (see Stats.govt.nz).
• Monitoring proposals are expected to deliver new attributes for monitoring ecosystem health, however they currently appear onerous and it is unclear to what extent they are practicable. The current proposed methods are not resilient or flexible, we need an adaptive approach over time, to allow for new ways and mechanisms to measure and address water quality.
• Climate change is a massive challenge, compounded by aging infrastructure and ongoing growth. The Government’s Zero Carbon Bill will have many flow-on effects in the way large infrastructure projects are built and maintained.  Together, we need to do things smarter and more efficiently – which includes a fairer allocation of risk to support infrastructure delivery and support resilience in the industry.
• Investment in urban growth and development is never just for one outcome and needs an integrated approach to housing, water quality, transport, public space and amenities.  There also need to be underlying principles of water sensitive urban design and low carbon form embedded in any design process. 
• Funding implications were discussed across the board – i.e. what will it all cost, who is going to pay, who should pay, what is covered now, and what is not?  Ratepayers and taxpayers will be the two broad groups paying for the reforms, but different parts of the country and in particular smaller communities, are already burdened with a high rates to household income ratio. User pays approaches to water use and smart metering may also provide opportunity. 
• We need to think ahead and plan infrastructure investment in the long-term, including costs for future maintenance and upkeep in the face of growth demands and climate change effects. Comment was made that it can often be tempting to put off the costs of today, as a problem to solve tomorrow – and that resilience is never valued until the day after the 100-year flood.
• There are significant projects underway which will have an impact, such as the $1.2 billion Central Interceptor in Auckland.  When completed, the Central Interceptor and western isthmus strategy will reduce overflows in central Auckland by up to 80 per cent.
• Watercare also recently announced the Enterprise Model, which sets ambitious sustainability, cost-efficiency and safety targets (40/20/20).
• Beyond built infrastructure, and conversations on the financial and carbon costs, there also needs to be an emphasis on behavioural change and what this might mean.

These improvements to our water environment will – like all infrastructure – require human resources as well as material resources and funding. While it’s an exciting future for many in this space, the “water industry” is under-resourced, but the reforms are expecting Central and Local Government (Councils) to act together to address these resource needs in the next suite of Long Term Plans.

Overall the panel agreed that the current reforms provide less opportunity for flexibility and innovation to address the constraints faced in meeting the reform targets, in areas of high growth. In addition, to meet the challenge of climate change it is necessary to explore low carbon ways to deliver the necessary infrastructure. It was agreed that the conversation needed to change to “what matters”.

For more information on the Government’s proposed water reforms and what this might mean for you, please get in touch with Andrea Rickard or Roger Seyb at Beca, Marija Batistich or Christina Sheard at Kensington Swan, or visit the Ministry for the Environment website.