Kāpiti Council says it will include water meters in the draft Annual Plan for 2011/12 in a move “designed to give more certainty that water consumption and leak reduction targets will be met.”
Council has a significant Water Supply Project underway that has two separate but related streams.
“One is to provide a long-term secure water supply to Waikanae, Paraparaumu and Raumati residents. The other involves a number of conservation and educational initiatives aimed at reducing peak consumption to 400 litres per person a day,” said Mayor Jenny Rowan.
“The level of capital investment involved in the first stream is based on the assumption that we can reduce peak consumption to 400 litres per person a day. Peak consumption, however, is running at up to 560 litres a day and in some areas, more than 700 litres.”
Council had a number of innovative schemes underway aimed at reducing consumption. One was Plan Change 75 that required all new dwellings to have rain water tanks or diversion systems. It is about to introduce an interest-free loan scheme to fund rain water tanks for existing homes.
“However, during preparation of the Draft Annual Plan, it has become clear there are considerable advantages in extending the coverage of water meters district-wide.
“At present staff estimate 5,200 tonnes of water a day is being lost from the network. That is a phenomenal figure. Leak detection suggests the biggest loss is on private property. One leak found recently totalled 30,000 litres a day.
“The installation of water meters will provide detailed information about what is being consumed and where, and what is being lost.
“There are clear fairness reasons as well to support universal water meters. At present low water users are subsidising large water users. Many of these low water users are elderly on fixed incomes.
“The current annual fixed charge masks the true cost of water to individual households. Under a metered system, the cost will be transparent.
“At present, householders have no control over their bills and no ability to reduce them. Meters will also give Council more certainty about outcomes.”
Corporate Business Committee chairman Councillor Ross Church said there were two major concerns with water meters privatisation and cost.
“Under the Local Government Act, Council cannot sell its water assets to a private company, but it can transfer the management, delivery and operations of its water assets to another local government entity, it can contract out all or part of a water service operation for up to 35 years, or it can set up a public/private joint arrangement while still retaining control over pricing and policy.
“Councillors, like many Kāpiti residents, are very sensitive about this issue. Given this, we will be considering a change to our Standing Orders to require a 75% vote before any changes to the operations, management and not-for-profit nature of our water supply systems are possible in the future. We want to lift the bar as high as possible to protect our water interests.”
The cost of water to individual households was another major issue.
“We are mindful there are considerable issues around charging under water meters how the pricing regime will impact on the elderly, families, people with large gardens. Given this, we are keen to set up a separate Charging Regime Advisory Group to look into different charging regimes. The former head of the State Services Commission and current head of the Water Supply Technical Advisory Group Don Hunn has already agreed to chair such a body, which is fantastic.”
Councillor Church said there would be plenty of opportunities for residents to debate the issue of water meters.
“The decision to introduce water meters triggers our Policy of Significance. This means there will be specific consultation on this one particular policy change. We see this running parallel and at the same time as consultation on the Draft Annual Plan.”
Councillor Church said the installation of district-wide meters was expected to result in a 25% reduction in peak residential water usage.
This would enable Council to defer some parts of the Water Supply Project. The $10 million saved would fund the cost of installing meters, estimated at $8 million.
