Iain Rabbitts: Improving our municipal water supplies is taking too long 30 Nov, 2018 5:00am 4 minutes to read
There is no change in the risk to public health around the country.
There may be a few suppliers on the edge of compliance whose status will improve, but it is unlikely any improvement in testing will make a real difference to the level of public health risk from drinking water.
A white paper published on Tuesday signals significant change is coming.
Within the industry there is much support for reform.
As David Cull, president of Local Government NZ and mayor of Dunedin, said, "We accept change is needed – our 20th century service delivery model cannot cope with current and future population and land use pressures."
I doubt any organisation or water professional would disagree, or with the proposal for an independent regulator — one with broad powers to ensure both compliance with the drinking water standards and the accountability of decision makers.
I believe there is also general agreement that the capability and capacity of water suppliers across the country needs to be improved, and that funding for infrastructure needs to be significantly increased.
Given all this agreement, why is there so much angst over water reform?
We must have all opinions out in the open and have an adult discussion about what is the best way to ensure that all New Zealanders have access to safe drinking water.