Each of the new water delivery standards take precedence over Te Ture Whaimana (the vision and strategy for a healthy river), says the Hamilton City Council. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Libby Kirkby-McLeod
The government's proposed new water delivery legislation over-rides Treaty of Waitangi settlement obligations and will be "problematic" for the ongoing protection of the Waikato River, according to one of the country's largest local authorities.
But whether or not Hamilton City Council will formally raise concerns over the new national standards in the Local Government Water Services Bill will be up to elected members.
The council's proposed submission on the Bill, which must be made by 23 February to the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee, highlights concerns the new framework cuts across the Waikato River Settlement.
Council chief executive Lance Vervoort wrote in the submission - which requires approval from councillors - that the Bill creates three new national standards in the future delivery of wastewater, stormwater and drinking water.
"As they currently stand in the Bill, each of the new standards take precedence over Te Ture Whaimana (the vision and strategy for a healthy river) which is problematic," Vervoot wrote.
"Hamilton City Council cannot support the diminution of the mana, standing, and operation of the Waikato River Settlement and Te Ture Whaimana."
Vervoort said the council was also concerned consultation requirements relating to the new standards did not recognise the mana and role of Waikato-Tainui in relation to the awa.
He said the iwi's relationship with the river and their respect for it lies at the heart of their spiritual and physical wellbeing as well as their tribal identity and culture.
The submission recommends the Select Committee reword the framework so it "appropriately recognises the commitment the Crown has made through Treaty Settlements" and does not undermine the Waikato River Settlement and Te Ture Whaimana.
It also recommended the framework for any new standards required the decision-makers developing or approving them to ensure they were proportionate, practical and affordable, and the benefits outweighed the costs of implementing them.
The Bill, which had its first reading on 17 December, is the final of three with the previous two repealing Labour's Three Waters legislation and establishing preliminary arrangements for the new water services system.
Decades of under-investment by councils in water services was to be replaced by Three Waters, but now the government is implementing Local Water Done Well, with a requirement for councils to show they're responding to the much-needed increase in investment with a Water Services Delivery Plan by September this year.
In a letter on the issue in December, Te Arataura Te Wakakitenga o Waikato chairperson Tukoroirangi Morgan said the Waikato River Settlement was a solemn covenant between Waikato-Tainui and the Crown enabling the co-management of the river including restoration and protection.
He pointed out the Waikato River was a source of drinking water as well as receiving the discharge of waste and stormwater.
Morgan said specific provisions relating to Te Ture Whaimana had been included in Te Taumata Arowai and was reflected in previous water services legislation, and Waikato-Tainui's expectation was that it must be included in Local Water Done Well.
Waikato River Authority chief executive Antoine Coffin said the thrust of the Bill was good because it enabled councils to established council-controlled organisations to manage water services.
However, he said the new national standards in engineering design, and wastewater and stormwater environmental, took a "one-size fits all" approach and the language should be consistent with Treaty settlements.
Coffin said there was no mention of the Waikato and Waipā river settlements or Te Ture Whaimana which was needed to give trust and confidence in the Bill.
Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate said the council supported reform of water services and was working closely with the government, and the submission was to make it aware of any anomalies or areas for improvement in the Bill.
"And that's what we're simply trying to do here is to remind the government that under Te Ture Whaimana or the Waikato River Settlement there is an obligation that is already founded in law, so they can't really do anything that's inconsistent with that already agreed piece of legislation without considering that."
Councillor Louise Hutt said Te Ture Whaimana currently had standing as a national policy statement under the Resource Management Act.
"And so if you're applying for resource consent, if you're wanting to build stuff or if you're wanting to impact on the river in any way whether that's through taking water out of it, putting water back into it, that vision for the quality and the wellbeing of the awa sets out what you can and can't do.
"For this Bill to basically create national standards which over-ride it, and over-ride something that comes out of a Treaty Settlement which has been to address breaches of Te Tiriti, that to me is really dangerous and sets us up to be complicit in a Treaty breach."
Hutt said it would be difficult for the council to maintain a relationship with iwi if the Bill became legislation as it stands.
The draft submission would be discussed at a council meeting on Tuesday morning.
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