Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Gillian Blythe: Water New Zealand CEO on the threat to drinking water sources revealed in report into the state of water infrastructure

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Gillian Blythe: Water New Zealand CEO on the threat to drinking water sources revealed in report into the state of water infrastructure · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, the Water Services authorities very first national report
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is out. It's pretty grim reading, to be fair. On average,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: there are thirty one waste water overflows a day. Fifteen
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: percent of pipes are in poor shape. There's more trouble ahead.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Nearly half of drinking water consents need renewing in the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: next day. Some have already expired. Not to mention the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: fact that pipes of the water are not in good condition.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Jillian Blythe is the Water New Zealand Chief executive in
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: charge of monitoring this and telling us the problems, and
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: joins us now Jillian.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Hello, good morning, Andrew. How are you.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I'm very well. This is not at all surprising to me,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: but it's terribly disappointing, isn't it?
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: This report my lights, you know, in black and white,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: the information that people in the sector have known for
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: a long time that we need to continue to invest
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: in our water infrastructure.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you were formed to monitor it, but also
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: to sound the warnings. Do you feel that we will
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: be investing in our infrastructure the way we haven't for
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the past thirty years?
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: So just perhaps I held you there born in New Zealand.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: We're an industry association so we've got members from across
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the supply chain, so we're not being formed to monitor it,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: but we have members who are passionate about working in
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: the water sector and making a difference for everyday New Zealand,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: every day New Zealanders every day. So do I think
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: we need to invest. Absolutely. I think one of the
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: things that this report highlights to me is that we've
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: known we've needed to address our wastewader contents because there's
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: been a there's a bow wave of contents requiring renewal
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: in the next decade. But what this is highlighted is
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: that we've got a similar issue in terms of our
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: drinking water contents. Now it's sorry, carry on. Look, it's
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: absolutely vital that we ensure that the source water, which
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: is what's going into those treatment plants to make sure
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: that you and I can drink safe drinking water every day,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: is protected and as we are going through that consenting process,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: we need to make sure that the regulatory environment is
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: going to achieve that because if we end up with
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: some form of contamination in our source water, then that's
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: going to be obviously a lot more expensive to fix
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: than we would.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: This report basically child we have treatment plants that are
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: operating basically on expired consents. They're old and they've fallen
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: apart and they're still working, but they've got expired consents.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: So we really need to get a riggerl on, don't.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: We We do. We need to be able to make
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: sure that we are putting the investment in the areas
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: where we need to to fix those plant or those
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: types that are need or in poor conditions. But we
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: also need to make sure that the regultory environment is
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: bit for purpose. So obviously with the new Natural Environment
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: and Planning bills that are going through the House at
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: the moment, we need to be we're looking at those,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: but also looking at whether the instrument, the regulatory instruments,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: like the National Policy Statement for infrastructure, whether that works
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: for the water sector, because if it doesn't, this is
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: the right this is the time to fix it, to
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: make sure that we can get resource contents at work.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: But the other thing, of course, we had three waters
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: proposed for a while which got shot really because of
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the co governance. We've got now local water done well,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: which is kind of the same three waters, though it
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: puts the onus on councils to do it voluntarily. Can
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: local Water Done Well councils getting together and to raise
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: money to actually attack these problems? Can it fix the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: problems that this report actually highlights.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: I think one of the important pieces of the local
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Water Done Well that is now being you know, is
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: in the process of being implemented. We've got six counter
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: controlled organizations, with another thirteen being set up by one
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: July next year, and then we'll have twenty in house
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: business units. So all of those, whether you're an in
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: house business unit or a counter controlled organization, you have
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: to do a water services strategy and that is something
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: that's you know, obviously, if you're a CECIO, it's going
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: to purely be focused on water. In the old world,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: if you were part of the council, you're the long
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: term plan might have you know, two or three pages
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: on water. So the in house business unit is now
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: going to have to produce its own ten year plan
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: and looking beyond is also up to thirty years in
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: terms of looking at water, and that's really important because
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: if you're focusing on that, you know, on that one
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: thing in this place, sprinking water, waste water and stialm water,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: you know you are going to you will end up
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: understanding more about your assets and being able to put
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: the money where you need to.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Absolutely till your buys from what do you see them?
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: The TV secutive. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,
• 4:33
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• 4:36
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