Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Gillian Blythe: Water New Zealand CEO on 21% of piped water being lost in the country's water infrastructure

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Gillian Blythe: Water New Zealand CEO on 21% of piped water being lost in the country's water infrastructure · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: New research is proving to be grim reading for our
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: water infrastructure. According to the latest briefing from the Public
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Health Communications Center, our pipes are leaking at a rate
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: far higher than leading European countries and it's wasting around
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty two million each year. Leakage levels
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and countries like the Netherlands and Germany are sitting at
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: five percent and six percent for us. In New Zealand
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: it's a twenty one percent. What in New Zealand. CEO
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Jillian Blythe joins me, Now, good morning.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Jillian, good morning.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: What's your reaction to this? You surprised at all?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: No, I'm not surprised. We have had decades of under investment.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: We have not spent enough money on renewing our pipes,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: and so that means when you don't spend the money,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: you are going to get the leaks of the levels
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: that we've got at the moment.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: You make it sound like a very simple problem, but
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: it's quite a complex issue, isn't it.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: It is. It is complex because it's not just about
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: finding an increasing of ways of investment. We know we've
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: got to lift the capacity and the capability of the
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: sector to do this. We need to be able to
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: look at the different technologies, whether it's different prench assessing
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: assessing sensing gauges, or thermal imagery or acoustic devices or
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: ground penet penetrating radar, all of those techniques to be
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: able to discover where the leaks are. Because it's not
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: just the water fountain that you see on a pipe
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: down the street, you know, or it's not just what's
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: on your private network, you know with the leaking tap.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: There are leaks throughout the system that need to be
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: fixed and we need to do this. We've got to
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: increase the investment in our networks, we've got to lift
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: the capability, and we've got to lift the capacity of
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the sector. But we also require improved oversight from the
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Commerce Commission, which will now be once we've got legislation
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: that's before the House. Once that's pasted, the Commisce Commission
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: will be providing economic regulation oversight to join the water
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: services authorities. So to matter, how do I in there
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: looking at the quality and the safety of our water.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: So, Julian, are these things that we should be doing
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: or are we just sitting and waiting for the Coalition
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Government's local water done well? Reforms to kind of fully kick.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: In counfuls every day that are delivering water at the
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: moment are looking at how do we how do we
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: detect leaks, and how do we improve that. So you've
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: got counsels at the moment that are introducing or beginning
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: the process of introducing water meters and looking towards volumetric charging.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: That makes a difference to you and I when we
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: are considering whether there's water that might be leaking on
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: our properties when we suddenly realize we're having to pay
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: for it. That we've got work that's going on at
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: the moment in terms of putting more censors into our
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: networks and understanding that and those other techniques I talked about.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: But we've also got things that are happening because if
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: you think about, you know, a busy street in any center,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: you know it takes time if you've got to dig
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: the road up. So that the work that's going on
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: in terms of TRENCHERSS technologies such that we can fix
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: those pipes in ways that don't destruct you and I
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: as much as they would do if it was just
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: digging up the road.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Jillian, it's always lovely to talk to you but I'm
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: always slightly apprehensive as well, because it feels like there's
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: never really good news. Do you got have you got
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: some hope that we're going to be able to get
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: this sorted?
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's totally something that we can address. But this
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: is because it's taken decades to develop the types of
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: problems that we've got. It's not an overnight face and
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: so we've got to keep our focus. And that's when
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I think one of the you know, some of the
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: attractions within the what's proposed by this government as it
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: was in the previous government, about having council controlled organizations
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: that will be focusing on one topic, which is water,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: recognizing that's drinking water and wastewater and the summer will
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: be stormwater. It's so important that you've got that laser
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: focus on it and that you are asking all the questions.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: You know that those those professional directors are asking those
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: critical questions at the Order and Risk committees that will
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: make a difference to to I think the water sector
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: moving forward.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Jillian, always appreciate your time. That was
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Water on New Zealand and CEO Jillian Life. For more
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge listen live to news
• 4:35
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• 4:38
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