Water dispute boils over

DON SCOTT/The Press

WATER PROTEST: 200 protesters heckled people entering the Copthorne Hotel to hear a speech by Environment Minister Nick Smith in Christchurch last night.

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An angry protest greeted Environment Minister Nick Smith in Christchurch last night before he announced that up to 11,000 big users of water will be forced to use meters.

About 200 protesters chanted slogans such as "We want Nick out" outside the Copthorne Hotel in central Christchurch before Smith delivered the annual Jenny Shipley Lecture about 8pm.

Protesters heckled and booed everyone entering the hotel for the lecture.

A police cordon prevented the crowd storming the hotel entrance, and police arrested one protester after he allegedly threw water bombs at them.

Senior Sergeant Paul Reeves said the protesters were generally well behaved.

The protest was directed at the Government's sacking of Environment Canterbury's 14 councillors over alleged mismanagement of the region's water. It continued inside the hotel, where a man interrupted Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker as he introduced the speakers.

Labour Christchurch Central MP Brendon Burns, Green Party MP Kevin Hague and Christchurch city councillor Yani Johanson were among the politicians who addressed the protesters.

Former ECan councillor Jane Demeter was present, on what she described as "an incredibly dangerous day for Canterbury and New Zealand".

Chants included "We can't drink money", "You can't steal our vote and get away with it", "One- term Bob" and "Don't pay your rates".

Smith said only about 250 domestic users would be affected, and the rules would be progressively introduced, starting in two years.

The move would affect businesses, farmers, industry and municipal companies that hold permits to take at least five litres of water a second, requiring resource consent under the Resource Management Act.

It was estimated the regulations would affect 11,000 consents, costing consent-holders $40 million. That would include capital costs of $2855 to $9635, depending on the amount of water taken, and an annual cost of $200 for handling data from the meters.

Users would also face average calibration costs of $425 to $2200 every five years.

"We can't even begin to manage water properly in New Zealand when we have so little information on how much is extracted and when," Smith said yesterday.

"It is estimated that only 31 per cent of water taken nationally is metered."

Councils would face costs of up to $2m to implement the regulations.

They would come into force on July 1 and ensure 92 per cent of water was metered by 2012, 96 per cent by 2014 and 98 per cent by 2016.

All water takes of more than 20 litres a second would be metered within two years, takes of more than 10 litres a second within four years and more than five litres within six years.

Smith said it was "quite reasonable" for the Government to require those who used water to pay for measuring and reporting how much.

"Economic analysis shows that water use is worth more than $5 billion per year to the economy, and only a small improvement in efficiency makes this investment in improved information well worthwhile."

It was more efficient to put in place a national regulation than leave it to individual regional councils, he said.

Northern Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive Alasdair Thompson said he supported the plan "in principle".

"Sometimes it's just uneconomic to put in meters for all users, but when it comes to business, especially large water users, so long as the pricing of water meters is economically rational, then we would support it," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News