*Right to Water Press Release For immediate release 22 September 2010

Water supply recommendations troubling, says Right to Water *

* *The Land and Water Forum's take on water supply management is troubling says Right to Water. The Forum's report /A Fresh Start for Fresh Water/ was released today and contains a section dealing with reticulated water supply. / /

"We commend the Forum for recognising the need to refer decisions about water supply issues to a group of wider stakeholders. The Forum, however, fails to listen to its own advice and goes ahead and advocates for water metering and volumetric charging," said Right to Water spokesperson, Maria McMillan.

"The Forum accepts claims made by advocates of water commercialisation that metering and volumetric charging lead to reduced water use. It is not clear what this is based on. Previous statistics promulgated by groups advocating for water meters have been cherry-picked, misleading and incorrect. We are concerned that members of the Land and Water Forum might have accepted statistics from water industry groups without thoroughly scrutinising them," said McMillan.

"While we support the report's call for water utilities to remain in public ownership, we're somewhat confused because the report then suggests enlarging water utilities and removing them from council control," she said.

"The report makes no mention of how such utilities would be governed. Given the warmth with which the current government is treating the concept of private sector control of public services, these proposals are worrying. If adopted they could lead to a serious reduction in democratic control of water utilities, and the use of commercial models of governance that ignore community interests,' she added.

"Globally it is recognised that the most efficient and sustainable use of resources happens when communities are directly involved in the management and control of those resources."

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