National’s policy, unveiled with much fanfare by Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, promised to keep water assets in local hands while enforcing strict quality standards and financial sustainability. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? But the devil’s in the details...or rather, the lack thereof.
By repealing the Three Waters legislation in February 2024, National scrapped a framework that, while imperfect, was designed to consolidate water services into ten publicly-owned entities. The cost? An estimated $120-$185 billion over 30 years to fix our ageing pipes, with households facing rates of $800-$1,640 by 2051, according to government sources.
Now, National’s alternative hands the problem back to councils, forcing them to create Water Services Delivery Plans by September 2025, at their own cost. These plans must ensure financial sustainability. However, there's a major problem: many councils are already at their debt ceilings and cannot borrow more. Without the borrowing capacity of Labour’s regional entities, they’re left with two grim options...hike rates or defer maintenance on already broken water infrastructure.
Labour’s Kieran McAnulty warned that National’s approach could see rate increases of up to 90% in some councils over 30 years, with ratepayers now footing the bill instead of taxpayers sharing the load through Three Waters’ government funding.
On Tuesday, the NZ Herald reported:
Kaipara council’s demise feared amid water reforms
Government plans for drinking water and wastewater services delivery could spell the end of Kaipara District Council, Mayor Craig Jepson says.
“That’s one of the fears.”
His comments come as Kaipara District Council (KDC) consults on the future of its water services.
Councils have until September 3 to confirm their regionally generated plans for managing drinking water and wastewater with the Government.
National’s claim that their plan avoids Labour’s “$3 billion blowout” is pure sleight of hand. The $1 billion increase in Three Waters’ establishment costs were a one-off, dwarfed by the long-term savings from economies of scale, streamlined procurement and long-term investment.
National’s policy, by contrast, fragments responsibility across 67 already cash-strapped councils, losing those economies of scale and ensuring Council's (through third parties) incur more debt, likely causing their credit ratings to be downgraded. That means interest on Council debt goes up, and so do rates.
Smaller districts like Kaipara, already struggling with $2,360 annual water costs, could see rates skyrocket to $8,690 by 2051 without reform. How is an elderly person receiving around $27,000 pension each year meant to afford that?
And don’t forget the $280,000 a day National accused Labour of spending on consultants...yet their own technical advisory group, chaired by Castalia’s Andreas Heuser, looks like another gravy train for National's troughing mates.
The real sting? National’s insistence on “local control” ignores the reality that councils have under-invested in water infrastructure for decades, leading to 35,000 Kiwis sickened each year by substandard water and even some people's deaths.
Labour’s plan, for all its co-governance controversies, aimed to centralise expertise and funding to tackle this crisis head-on. National’s patchwork approach risks leaving ratepayers drowning in costs while pipes keep on leaking.
In short, “Local Water Done Well” is a triumph of ideology over pragmatism. It's a stunt to make National look good while communities, mainly in the regions, continue to suffer from substandard water. National’s ditched a workable solution for a fragmented, expensive mess..a leaking mess that doesn't look like it's going to be fixed anytime soon.
