Brendon Burns
MP for Christchurch Central

25 June 2009 Media Statement

Hide wins water moratorium and puts health at risk
Local Government Minister Rodney Hide had pre-determined the moratorium on new drinking water standards, says Labour’s water quality spokesman Brendon Burns.

Mr Hide and Health Minister Tony Ryall yesterday announced that the Government has delayed for three years the requirement for communities to meet new drinking water standards.

“That decision puts at risk the health of New Zealanders and foreign visitors.

Brendon Burns says Mr Hide has been publicly describing the standards as ‘ridiculous’ so Mr Ryall may have felt pushed into agreeing to the delay.

“In March, Mr Hide wrote to the Minister of Health asking for a report on the cost of implementing the standards. The report is entitled ‘Removal of Inefficient and Superfluous Regulation.’

“That’s got Mr Hide’s dogmatic paws all over it.

“Ministry of Health staff would never use such language. They know New Zealand has some of the developed world’s highest rates for sometimes fatal water-borne diseases like giardia and cryptosporidium.

“In February, the Ministry’s annual review of drinking water quality noted 27 outbreaks of waterborne disease involving 184 cases, all linked to drinking untreated or contaminated drinking water supplies.

“Mr Ryall should regard water quality as seriously as he takes swine flu. If concerns about New Zealanders’ health are not sufficient, he might consider the impact of a serious outbreak of water-borne disease affecting foreign visitors.’’

Brendon Burns says the Labour government put in place $136m in funding to help smaller communities upgrade water quality and the balance of it is retained in last month’s Budget.

“The government should continue working with local authorities to improve drinking water quality as a matter of urgency, not wash its hands of the serious health risks created by pushing the timeframe out to 2016.”

ENDS

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