“Separating stormwater from the Three Waters reforms might be sensible but all of the problems with the legislation remain,” says ACT Local Government spokesperson Simon Court.

“Whether it’s Three Waters or Two Waters, ACT will repeal it in our first 100 days.

“With Labour determined to push ahead with this bad law making, it’s no wonder councils are doing anything they can to try to make changes.

“Stormwater is a public good that can’t be charged for. So separating it makes some sense. But it doesn’t solve the problem for drinking and wastewater.

“The worst aspect of the reforms is divisive co-governance. It's totally inappropriate to give iwi a seat at the table just because of who their ancestors were. All New Zealanders want clean and safe water, not just iwi. This issue isn’t solved by separating stormwater.

“ACT’s Water Infrastructure Plan would:

• Return asserts to Councils

•Provide for councils to enter into voluntary “shared services” agreements, gaining the benefits of scale, while retaining local ownership and control

• Establish long term 30-year Central Government-Local Government Partnership agreements to plan water infrastructure upgrades tailored to specific regions

• Establish a Public-Private Partnerships (through our proposed Nation Building Agency) to attract investment from financial entities such as KiwiSaver funds, ACC, iwi investment funds, etc

• Expand the exemption from domestic supply for a single dwelling to also include all small water suppliers sup plying fewer than 30 endpoint users.

“ACT’s plan will better balance community control of water assets alongside a plan for levelling up the necessary infrastructure to ensure safety and efficient water allocation. It won’t show contempt for taxpayers by using their money to force a policy they have rejected upon them.”

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