The decision to align the new water authorities with generations-old iwi boundaries highlights the challenging role for iwi Māori in the new water authorities' governance
There's are things that Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau general manager Corey Hebberd doesn't agree with the local council on – like whether his iwi or neighbouring Ngāi Tahu has manawhenua and manamoana to oversee restrictions on vehicle access to Marlborough's eastern coastline, uplifted by the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake. The Marlborough District's mistaken acknowledgement of the neighbouring hapu was "deeply hurtful", he told them.
There are probably just as many things on which his iwi and Jacinda Ardern's Government don't see eye to eye.
But with the announcement yesterday of four big new water authorities, they have found some common ground. Aligning some of the boundaries of the new Three Waters authorities with established iwi boundaries highlights the critical and sometimes contentious role for iwi Māori in their governance.
In particular, Cabinet has agreed that the boundaries of the southernmost water entity will match those of the big Ngāi Tahu takiwā – slicing a line through the more recent geographical creations that are the districts of Marlborough and Tasman.
In those districts, some ratepayers will pay their water bills to Wellington; their neighbours will pay them to Christchurch. An example is the Awatere Valley, fertile wine country across the hills to the east of Blenheim.
The historic community of Seddon was established after the Starborough estate was bought in 1899 by the Liberal government led by long-serving Premier Richard Seddon, and subdivided into smaller farms for the closer settlement scheme.
The biggest town on state highway 1 until you get to Kaikōura, Seddon will have its water services provided by the same lower North Island authority ("Entity C") that also services Blenheim, Picton and Nelson. But all the surrounding farms and hamlets will be services by the South Island's Entity D.
Murchison and its neighbouring communities will comprise a similar patchwork quilt, over in Tasman District.
As far as Marlborough mayor John Leggett is concerned, it's ridiculous. "What is the logic in this?”
Certainly, it seems confusing.
But, intimates Hebberd, the fabric of the patchwork doesn't actually matter too much.
What matters is how it's stitched together. It illustrates a move away from the hard and arbitrary lines of statute law to a willingness to compromise and collaborate, case by case. Ngāi Tahu and Rangitāne will both have a say in the governance of the water services for Awatere Valley, alongside Marlborough and other councils to the south. Most likely, Seddon and Murchison''s water services will be contracted back to Entity C.
The reverse may happen for the Chatham Islands; because the islands don't fall into the Ngāi Tahu South Island takiwā, they will instead be part of the Wellington-centred Entity C. But Environment Canterbury already performs regional council functions for the Chatham Islands Council, and it's possible that the Christchurch-centred water entity may be contracted to provide the 600 islanders' water services.
Arguably, this breakdown of hard and fast, black and white hierarchies and reporting lines reflects similar changes to business management in recent decades. Working practices like Agile and Lean operate more flexibly and fluidly across organisations, in business and government.
"It remains in public ownership. I would argue that for all the rhetoric around the community, with iwi having 50 percent presence around the governance table, that actually provides an additional safeguard against privatisation." – Corey Hebbard, Te Rūnanga a Rangitāne o Wairau
"It wasn't our preferred option necessarily," Hebberd says. "But in the context of the wider reform program, the reforms provide a safer, more equitable and improved quality of our Three Waters infrastructure. And it provides for a greater partnership approach for iwi to be able to have their role as a Treaty partner recognised, so we're supportive of the Three Waters decision.
"To my knowledge and understanding, it is the first time we are seeing co-governance being truly tested, and truly coming to fruition for us.
"This is historic. It recognises the unique Te Tiriti relationship between Crown and Māori. It provides an opportunity for Maori to have a say – a meaningful say – in how our Three Waters infrastructure is managed. And that's for the entire community's benefit.
"You know, there will be improved water quality outcomes. You know, there will be financial savings for communities based on the aggregation of the entities. So yeah, it is historic, but not just for Māori. It's historic for everybody. And we see some real collective good from it.
"It remains in public ownership. I would argue that for all the rhetoric around the community, with iwi having 50 percent presence around the governance table, that actually provides an additional safeguard against privatisation."
A vexed mandate
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta confirmed this week that the Government would push on with its Three Waters reforms, passing a law to transfer the water assets of all 67 city and district councils (and Greater Wellington Regional Council, which owns some reservoirs) to four big new regional authorities.
There have been oft-heated discussions about the reforms, some of them vile and racially abusive.
Most of New Zealand's councils accept that the existing model by which they fund and provide drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services is not working in most places.
"Our biggest issue with the reform is that it confiscates the accountability that all residents should be able to demand from their local authorities. When a pipe bursts in someone’s street or a stormwater drain is blocked, our residents know who to call. And if we don’t fix the problem then our residents also know who to blame." – Nigel Bowen, Timaru mayor
Many networks have fallen into disrepair.
Thousands of people got sick and some died from a contaminated water outbreak in Havelock North; the Far North has only just scraped together funding to get four of its wastewater plants up to consent standards, and now it must find money for four more; in Kaipara only one in four households is connected to town supply; in Auckland Watercare has announced it will double rates because like many council water authorities, it's hit its borrowing limit.
In Porirua the state highway was blocked by streams of leaking sewage; in Wellington there have been wastewater geysers; in Clutha, none of the 12 wastewater plants were compliant and they've been prosecuted by the regional council for sewage discharges; north of Dunedin, communities had to boil their water because of lead contamination this year.
But for all the problems, almost all the councils have serious concerns about the alternative: a loss of governance oversight and accountability entailed by Mahuta's reform proposal. And they are angered by her announcement this week that the reforms would be mandated; they could not "opt out" as she had previously assured them.
Timaru District Council, whose vote to opt out is now rendered meaningless, resorted to the rhetoric of raupatu. “Our biggest issue with the reform is that it confiscates the accountability that all residents should be able to demand from their local authorities," said mayor Nigel Bowen. "When a pipe bursts in someone’s street or a stormwater drain is blocked, our residents know who to call. And if we don’t fix the problem then our residents also know who to blame."
And these reforms are even broader than much of this public discussion; they go beyond municipal supplies and wastewater plants and pipes. There are between 75,000 and 100,000 private or rural water supplies that are not hooked up to council networks. Any two houses who share a water tank quality as a water network, and will be to some extent (yet to be confirmed) subject to water quality regulation.
Getting all these public and private networks up to scratch is estimated to cost $185 billion over the next 30 years – that's a bill that can't be paid through rates and home-owners dipping into their own pockets.
"Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has suffered historically from raw sewage overflows at its historic village when the city sewer pump discharged in front of the Ōkahu papa kāinga and urupā. There are still periodic overflows in heavy rains. Water reform will enable greater rapid investment in infrastructure to clean up our beautiful Waitematā while ensuring affordable and safe drinking water across the whole Ngati Whatua tribal lands from Maunganui in the north to Tāmaki." – Ngarimu Blair, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Trust
The Government promises the economies of scale of the big water authorities, and the separate balance sheets allowing them to borrow for upgrades without the encumbrance of other short-term council investments, will help keep water rates downs for households. Hebberd welcomes that – because as he points out, Māori around New Zealand are typically on lower incomes.
And they also pay for the upkeep of their marae, many of which are also on private supplies. Hebberd tells of his own Ūkaipō marae on the northern outskirts of Blenheim – it's on bore water.
"And we had issues several years ago, where the marae for a period of time wasn't meeting drinking water standards," he recalls. "We went through a period there where people got sick, because that water supply wasn't well treated or treated sufficiently. We were in a fortunate position to be able to afford to replace and install new treatment options for the marae, but not everybody has that ability.
"And a lot of our marae are rural, they aren't connect to town supplies. And so a water supply entity opens up greater options to get some of those properties into a scheme that that will provide a bit of water quality, and better health outcomes – not just for our Maori communities but for everybody."
The soft-spoken voice of Māori
There have been forthright allegations from some central and local government politicians that Māori are getting a bigger voice than is justified by their numbers.
National Party leader Judith Collins told a party conference in Queenstown that the Government was proposing South Island water assets be co-owned by Ngāi Tahu. That was incorrect, but the claim gathered momentum.
Westland mayor Bruce Smith claimed the reforms would give Māori "the right of veto in perpetuity".
Thus far, though, the voice of Māori has been soft, almost inaudible. In the face of criticism, some iwi have been reluctant to speak out – but those approached by Newsroom have been supportive of the reforms.
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei is one that has been active in protecting its manawhenua in Tamaki Makaurau; it went to court this year to stop the Government setting aside property in Auckland for another iwi's settlement.
Ngarimu Blair, the iwi trust's deputy chair, says Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei supports reform of the water sector.
"Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has suffered historically from raw sewage overflows at its historic village when the city sewer pump discharged in front of the Ōkahu papa kāinga and urupā," he explains. "There are still periodic overflows in heavy rains.
"Water reform will enable greater rapid investment in infrastructure to clean up our beautiful Waitematā while ensuring affordable and safe drinking water across the whole Ngati Whatua tribal lands from Maunganui in the north to Tāmaki."
He hopes the reforms will also provide an important opportunity for greater input into decision-making that affects the health of the iwi's people and their environment. "We have suffered greatly from decisions made without us – we look forward to having a greater say in future."
"Historical underinvestment and an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach to crucial infrastructure has led to mass illness, contamination, and literal eruptions of waste in the streets. It has also led to negative impacts on our rivers and streams, particularly in urban areas. These are issues that Ngāi Tahu and councils, and indeed all South Islanders, have a common desire to address.” – Te Maire Tau, Ngāi Tahu
It is in the South Island that the debate about Māori co-governance has been most emotive. But here, too, iwi leaders like Corey Hebberd and Ngāi Tahu's Dr Te Maire Tau are beginning to speak up.
Tau, the co-chair of his iwi's freshwater group Te Kura Taka Pini, says the government’s reform of three waters will help ensure water services for communities that are safe, high quality, and equitable, while improving outcomes for the environment.
He points out that the southernmost water entity won't just align with the Ngāi Tahu takiwā, but also with water catchments. “It means that the impacts of water infrastructure on the environment of Te Wai Pounamu can be managed for the good of all our interconnected communities in an integrated way that reflects best practice.”
“And as tangata whenua of Te Waipounamu, Ngāi Tahu feel a responsibility to represent the interests of ratepayers and residents in all the council districts in our takiwā, and to ensure these reforms make work for everybody.
“This is our opportunity to get it right for our children and grandchildren, and we must put aside politics, and all unite in that effort.
“It is common ground that the status quo is unsustainable for the health of not only our people, but also our environment and waterways. Historical underinvestment and an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach to crucial infrastructure has led to mass illness, contamination, and literal eruptions of waste in the streets. It has also led to negative impacts on our rivers and streams, particularly in urban areas. These are issues that Ngāi Tahu and councils, and indeed all South Islanders, have a common desire to address.”
It's not just iwi who see the potential for more cohesive management of water, and other shared taonga.
Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel believes this is the first time the Ngāi Tahu takiwā has been used to delineate local government operations, and she suggests it could be applied more widely as an outcome of the Future of Local Government Review, which is presently underway. "Maybe it's the way of the future – maybe as part of that local government reform, there needs to be consideration of a closer alignment to iwi boundaries."
Newsroom has reported a proposal from the infrastructure commission Te Waihanga that the country revisit the bounds and boundaries of local councils' responsibilities, in a major public consultation about the future of the country's public networks and services. The commission's chief executive Ross Copeland said infrastructure decisions would be guided by the Treaty of Waitangi and in partnership with Māori.
Dalziel does not accept that the reform model is the right one; for instance shifting the delivery of stormwater services to the new water authority. But she is pleased at the model of co-governance with iwi that she, like Hebberd, describes as "historic".
They've already experienced such partnership in Christchurch, since the 2011 earthquake. That forced the city to rebuild much of its Three Waters infrastructure. "I'm probably speaking personally, not on behalf of the council, but to me that created the opportunity to fundamentally change the relationship between local government and Ngāi Tahu.
"There wasn't much good that came out of the Government's decision to take over the control of the recovery of the city after the earthquakes, but the one good thing was that they brought Ngāi Tahu to the table, and we've built on that relationship. And I think they have acted incredibly responsibly."
She hopes that the Government, iwi and councils can yet find a compromise model that enables them to get of with a job that needs to be done.
"People have been coming under pressure because of some of the things that some people have said about iwi involvement, which clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of the benefits that such a relationship bring."
