Haast residents campaigning to get chlorine out of their water are asking Taumata Arowai to waive the hefty fee it would charge to consider the option.
The water regulator can exempt a supplier — in this case the Westland District Council — from chlorinating a community water supply, if it was impractical or too costly, and there was a safe alternative.
But the council would have to apply for the exemption and pay an application fee of more than $6000.
Westland mayor Helen Lash had been less than enthusiastic about the move, saying the fee was not cheap, and the council would be liable if chlorination stopped and the water became contaminated.
Resident Paul Elwell-Sutton said that possibility was extremely remote.
“We never had a single episode of contamination before chlorination – the water comes from bores under the Haast River in a catchment of virgin forest, it’s UV-treated, and the pipes and reservoir were renewed two years ago.”
Elwell-Sutton said Taumata Arowai was already extracting $36,780 a year from the Westland District Council for its services.
“The ratepayers are already funding them; they’re getting $20 million a year from councils around the country and we shouldn’t have to pay extra to ask for an exemption,” he says.
The Haast man said he has written to Taumata Arowai on behalf of the tiny community, asking it to reconsider the fee.
West Coast district councils pay Taumata Arowai a total of $138,140 a year in levies for its services.
In response, Taumata Arowai’s head of operations, Steve Taylor said the levies cover the standard functions performed by the Authority.
“That is mainly about the assurance we provide to communities that their water is safe to drink, the supply is reliable and that we are driving improved system performance over time for their benefit.
Exemptions involved unique solutions and had to be evaluated, and the fee for that was set under the Water Services regulations, Taylor said.
“It would be unreasonable to expect all consumers to pay for bespoke solutions that only benefit a small number of consumers. The charges are intended to cover the actual costs of assessing the application. This function is not covered by the levies.”
But the charge could be waived if the Authority’s chief executive was satisfied it was unreasonable to recover it, he confirmed.
“If Westland District Council intended to apply for an exemption, we would arrange a pre-application meeting with the Council and discuss the fees at that time,” Taylor said.
Elwell-Sutton said he was hoping for a meeting with Lash, or southern ward councillor Brian Manera, to talk through the options, in the near future.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
