Hamilton residents face shake-up in how they pay for water

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hamilton residents are facing a shake-up in how they pay for water.

National water reforms meant the city had to move away from the way residents had always paid for water – through their rates based on capital value – to either a set charge or a user pays model.

The new local water authority, Iawai, hoped a water meter trial, due to start in part of the city, would help find a way forward.

Carla Johnstone’s busy Hamilton household tried to think about their water use.

“I grew up really trying to conserve water in Australia,” she said.

They took simple steps such as turning the tap off when brushing their teeth, while balancing it with enjoying life.

“It’s quite nice to have come here and not have had to worry about it so much, and having two young children who like to play outside with the hose, it’s nice to not have to be so conscious of it,” she said.

As the city did not have water metering, she really didn’t know what her household used – but she soon would.

Her family was one of hundreds taking part in a water metering trial in Hamilton East.

Johnstone was generally supportive of the idea that the city might introduce metering.

“It could be beneficial to people and the city,” she said, citing the role metering played in helping identify leaking pipes.

Andrew Parsons from Iawai, the new water authority set up by Hamilton City and Waikato District, said metering water in the area of Hamilton where the Johnstones lived would come with many challenges – which wasn’t a bad thing.

“The good part for me about Hamilton East is that it’s an older area, there’s established trees in the berm, there’s a mix of pipes under the ground,” he said.

That more challenging infrastructure environment would hopefully mean the trial collected lots of helpful data.

Parsons said doing a trial did not mean a decision to move to water metering had been made.

“This is not a decision to roll out meters across the whole city, it is more an information gathering phase so we can understand the costs, what works from a customer perspective and what might work from a business perspective.”

The alternative to user paid water metering, however, was a fixed price model, which Parsons said could come with some poor financial consequences.

Under that model every household would pay the same amount for water, whether they were a single person in an apartment or a family of six with a pool and spa.

Wintec principal civil engineering academic staff member (water) Maryam Moridnejad said metering was fairer than both the current way of paying and a set price.

“You’re paying for water anyway at the moment, you are paying through your property rate. If the meters go ahead you are going to pay based on your actual usage,” she said.

It would also be expected to lead to water conservation – making the water Hamilton had go further.

“People will be surprised with how much water they use per person,” she said.

Moridnejad said data showed people in Hamilton used 1.5 times more water per person than residents of Tauranga – where water had been metered for several decades.

She said the country needed to face up to its water challenges and treat water as a precious resource.

“In New Zealand we are going towards water scarcity in future; we have been ignoring our water resources and the infrastructure of water for so long and they are now at a very critical point.”

Andrew Parsons from Iawai said they were looking forward to the results of the water meter trial and would soon consult with the public on a 10-year water services strategy.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand