By Maria McMillan
This morning RNZ published comments from Massey academic Dr Jeff McNeill stating that clause 117 of the Water Services Entity Bill, to be introduced as part of Three Waters, would allow for “de facto” privatisation.
This clause has also been bugging me. The clause allows for the four new water entities to contract out any aspect of running a water service. The government has claimed Three Waters will prevent privatisation but long-term contracts are the most common form of privatisation in the world. Ownership might stay in-house but management and profit-generating aspects of water service get contracted out.
Long-term contracts in water bring a host of environmental, public health and social justice risks. The public lose control and transparency wanes. Internationally many of the places that initially loved the idea of private sector involvement in water have now shifted away from these kinds of arrangements. Paris, for example, once the darling of water privatisation zealots, brought water back into public control in 2010 because of concerns about corruption, lack of transparency and skyrocketing water bills. In 1993, Buenos Aires, granted a 30 year contract to a Suez subsidary that increased water bills by 88% while failing to meet its contractual obligations. After Argentina broke the contract in 2006 Suez successfully sued the country for $405 million dollars.
I know that we do need major reform to the way water is managed in Aotearoa. Across the country many of our waterways have been trashed, infrastructure is failing and some people don’t have access to safe water. But if the government wants to make good its promise that Three Waters will prevent privatisation it needs to relook at clause 117 and be really clear about the kind of investment it will permit. Naive water laws could mean global water giants eyeing up New Zealand looking to see how they can make profits from a taonga that people can’t live without.
Maria McMillan is standing for a district-wide seat on Kāpiti Coast District Council. She is a long-time water issues campaigner and in 2003 wrote an academic dissertation on the water industry and the human right to water.
