Fact or fiction on water meters

A number of statements need to be challenged in the article “Water meter reforms a waste”. (Mercury February 2011).

From the first statement to the last, there are holes you could drive a water truck right through. 

In sweeping statements the author suggests -- without evidence -- that most people in Hobart oppose water meters, that lawns will dry up and that there is naught to be gained from the government’s water reforms. It is also suggested that flats and apartments cannot be individually metered. The article suggests that the reforms will reduce equity.

Whilst I agree that there is much improvement to be had in the top-heavy water and sewage corporations and Onstream, the approach to knobble the government by certain Hobart Aldermen is no solution to these water woes.

There is now a Parliamentary Select Committee looking at the water and sewerage corporations. Its findings are due soon, and should place plenty of pressure on the government to change direction. The Premier after all has recognised the folly and the electoral damage to the Labor Party that has resulted.

What the article effectively points out through its hyperbole is that there should be more information available on water reform and its likely implications. That was the primary reason I supported Monday’s Council resolution to hold a public forum and poll ratepayers to get their opinions on the matter. Currently there is no evidence to suggest that the majority of people in Hobart are against water meters. It is also highly unlikely that on this and other reforms there is ever going to be consensus.

The most productive thing that Council can do at this stage is to not waste money on an injunction, to provide expert analysis on water reforms so that ratepayers and councillors can be properly informed, and to stop pretending that the reform is overwhelmingly opposed on the facts.

Ratepayers need rational decisions by an informed Council in order to improve the water delivery so that there is fairness and a sustainable approach to water and sewerage infrastructure -- not just in our city but in the rest of Tasmania as well.

Whilst there is massive room for improvement in the current water corporations and Onstream, I do not believe that constant harping and scaremongering is the sensible approach for residential and business ratepayers alike.

I look forward to a robust report from the Parliamentary Select Committee, to deliver recommendations that the government cannot ignore, in order to improve ratepayer services for a good overall result for our environment.

Every time we turn on the tap there is a cost of infrastructure maintenance and of delivering the water in a potable state. We as a Council shouldn’t be wasting ratepayers’ money on pursuing legal injunctions. We should be looking at the situation objectively, and for ways the government can pursue in order to get lasting solutions to water woes rather than convenient political hobby horses and scaremongering.