by Geoffrey Churchman

As those who have lived here know, the KCDC’s proposal to install domestic water meters throughout the district circa 2013 was hugely controversial and as long-time readers of WW know, Eva and I have been fierce opponents of them. In fact it was the main issue that prompted me to stand for the council in the 2015 Waikanae by-election. Particularly crazy in my view was the decision to waste over $22 million combined on both the water meters and the “recharge” system at the water treatment plant, when the same amount of money could have been used to build a water reservoir on a tributary of the Waikanae River, for which the council actually bought the land.

In the last few days the Wellington City Council seems to have adopted this meter way of thinking with reports that Mayor Tory ‘Tipsy’ Whanau is saying they have “a commitment to water meters as one of the tools to conserve water.”

But do they actually do that? As we have said for 9 years now, big users and potential wasters of water — such as people used to having half-hour showers rather than 5-8 minutes — may be deterred by cost, but the charges need to be high. From what we gather from our editorial group the typical water bill for a 2-person house in Kapiti is about $100 a quarter, and we can say that in our case our water use habits have not changed since they were installed — except that we put in 2 x 800 litre storage tanks from the spouting with which to water the garden in summer with non-chlorinated water (which plants much prefer). The rest of the year normal rainfall does that more than adequately.

Unlike Kapiti, Wellington has reservoirs for water supply in case of drought — so what happens to the water that people conserve in Kapiti? Does it stay in council water storage? Of course not, it flows straight down the Waikanae River and out into the Tasman Sea. None gets stored by KCDC.

So did the water meters serve any useful purpose? Well, they did help to identify pipes that were leaking, most of them in council property, and after 10 years, surely it’s now job done? Aren’t the replacement pipes, that KCDC has been digging up roads in that time to install, meant to last 50 years at least?

Media release from Sean Mallon of the KCDC a couple of weeks ago:-

While parts of the Wellington Region are facing water woes, Kapiti Coast residents are enjoying a water-restriction-free summer thanks to sound investment in the district’s water infrastructure and water metering.

Kapiti Council Infrastructure Services Group Manager Sean Mallon says Council supplies safe drinking water to approximately 20,000 connections for household and commercial use, so it is critical that we actively monitor and identify leaks, and continue to invest in maintenance and renewals and projects to increase the resilience of our water supply network.

“The introduction of water meters in 2014, coupled with the Waikanae River Recharge scheme and ongoing investment in the district’s water supply network means we have enough water to manage long dry conditions.

“That being said, we continue to encourage people to use water wisely and to have an emergency water supply on hand should a natural hazard/disaster disrupt our systems. We recommend households have an emergency supply of at least 20 litres of water per person, per day for seven days (140L per person).”

Mr Mallon said Council is continuing to work with Kapiti Coast communities to ensure people in the district have reliable access to clean water, now and in the future.

“Current projects to increase the safety and resilience of the district’s water supply network include the construction of a new water reservoir in Ōtaki and a $22 million upgrade of the Waikanae Water Treatment Plant to increase its earthquake resilience and replace aging equipment.”

“Work is also underway to renew a number of aging pipes across the district and complete upgrades of existing bores.”