Council asks residents: “Water your thoughts” about Government’s water reforms

Hutt City Council asks residents: “Water your thoughts” about Government’s water reforms 

Today Hutt City Council launched an engagement survey on the Government’s proposed three waters reforms.

Three waters services (drinking water, waste water, and storm water) are the responsibility of, and currently delivered by, individual councils across New Zealand. In Wellington, the region’s councils – including Hutt City – jointly own Wellington Water, which manages these services on our behalf. The Government is proposing to consolidate the country’s water services into 4 publicly-owned entities instead.

“Although we have limited influence over the decisions Government will make on these reforms, it’s important for Council to understand how people in our community feel about these proposals,” says Mayor Campbell Barry.

“The reform proposals are complex, which is why we have included a range of helpful information on our engagement platform to support residents to understand what the reform proposals mean generally, and what they mean specifically for Lower Hutt.”

Results from the survey will be analysed and reported back to Council.  Insights from the survey will be used in the development of Council’s submission to Parliament once water reform legislation is introduced.

Mayor Barry says that while Council’s engagement is helpful to understand local sentiment, people should also consider submitting directly to Parliament when the time comes.

“Three waters reform is a Government proposal, and people may wish to express their views directly to Parliament to influence the legislative process.  When the select committee process opens, we will notify people on how to make a submission,” Mayor Barry says.

The survey is live at hutt.city/threewaters, and will be open until 7 April 2022.