Auckland and Christchurch propose a sensible Three Waters model

Stuff reports:

Auckland’s mayor Wayne Brown has teamed up with his Christchurch counterpart to try to launch a new version of the Government’s proposed Three Waters reforms.

Brown and Christchurch’s Phil Mauger have gained the backing of Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon, and are seeking further support for how local body water supply operations should be reformed.

A key feature of their plan for Regional Water Organisations (RWO) is that they would be owned and governed by the participating councils, and not by a co-governance body, as in the Government plan.

The new plan would allow regions to decide how big their new entities would be, rather than the four regional entities proposed nationwide.

This is similar to what I have mooted:

• Regulator sets standards for water companies
• Councils decide between themselves the boundaries for each (possibly the Govt could set a minimum population size of say 500,000)
• Councils own (not fake own) and appoint boards of water companies

“The new proposal would maintain crucial aspects of central government’s existing plan, including the new water regulator, Taumata Arowai, while maintaining local ownership, control and accountability and allowing for meaningful roles for mana whenua,” the two mayors said in a statement.

A meaningful role is good. Control is not good. Control must be through democratic accountability.