Water use falls in Christchurch as residents fear new charges
From reporter Tina Law:
Christchurch residents are using less water as the threat of being chargedhits home.
The city council says water use has decreased by more than 10% since charges for using too much were introduced, saving millions of litres.
The council introduced an excess water charge in October after making the decision to push ahead with the scheme in 2021.
The first bills are due to be sent out later this month, but people have already been reducing how much they use.
According to figures supplied by the council, the average daily water use per household has consistently dropped each month since April, compared to the same period the previous year.
Last month, residents used on average 645 litres of water, compared to 767 litres in January 2022, a 16% decrease.
May saw the biggest monthly year-to-year drop so far, of 26%.
Under the new rules, people will be charged a fixed rate of $1.35 for every 1000 litres they use over the 700-litre limit, which is the equivalent of 100 toilet flushes.
Bills will not be sent out for $25 or less, so people will have to use more than 900 litres each day over 90 days to receive a bill. Once a bill goes above $25, the person will be charged for all usage above 700 litres.
It is not yet known how many people will get a bill, but the average charge is likely to be $83 and the maximum about $400.
A council spokesperson said it was great to see the reduction in water use across the district.
“Millions of litres of water have been saved since we started a campaign to encourage residents to check and reduce their water use.”
Some of the savings are due to residents finding and fixing leaks on their properties.
“Some of these leaks were resulting in hundreds of thousands of litres of water being wasted each week.”
The council hopes water use will continue to decrease over the coming months.
However, some residents have labelled the charge as unfair, especially since almost a quarter (25,295) of Christchurch households will not be charged because they share a meter with their neighbours.
Mayor Phil Mauger has publicly labelled the charge “unfair”.
During an interview with Newstalk ZB last week, Mauger questioned the need for water charging now that many leaks had been fixed, including his own. He found he was using 3000 litres a day due to a leak.
Mauger, who in 2021 voted against the introduction of charging for excess water use, said he thought the matter should be referred to the annual plan and the public consulted again.
Cr Sam MacDonald has also expressed support for this to happen.
But Cr Sara Templeton said the charges were consulted on twice, with the proposal tweaked in between to make it more fair.
“Re-consulting continuously until you get the result you want seems a waste of council time and ratepayers' money.”
She said 20% of properties use 50% of the city’s water supply, meaning they were effectively subsidised by the 80% who use less water.
“It is simply not fair that a small unit in Linwood using little water subsidises a large, lush lawn in Fendalton.”
Templeton said the charge had proven that people did not reduce their water use or check for leaks without financial incentive.
“Without the reduction in use we will have to spend more money as a city drilling more bores and putting in more pump stations to keep up with use, putting rates up further.”
$50 garden centre vouchers!
Our winners this week have won $50 to spend at a local garden centre.
Congratulations to:
Cassie Arauzo from Cockle Bay
Elizabeth Williams from Hillcrest
Luke Shamy from Hornby
Mitchell Hopping from Wallacetown
Get in touch with our helpdesk team here if you're on this list! If you're not a winner, check back next week just in case.
Kalle
"Sports and travelling run in the family, and that's kind of what's led me to come to New Zealand."
"I grew up in a small town in Finland. My dad was involved with sports all his life, he was a shot putter, discus thrower, powerlifter, we traveled quite a bit when I was a kid. He never mentioned much of the rugby days. He just said he broke both of his shin bones playing rugby, so he said, ‘never play the sport, It's crazy.’
I started playing when I was 18. I played my first cap for the Finnish national team in 2014, we won the Finnish championship with my club. Rugby is not a big thing in Finland.
I moved here to play rugby in 2017. The club that wanted me to come over was Methven Rugby Club. They got me here and they were like, ‘what do you do for work? I’d just finished chef school in Finland. ‘We'll get you a job at Mount Hutt as a chef, you can do that while you play rugby with us.’ I said, ‘Perfect. Yeah, I'm in’.
I've always loved food. My mum was an amazing cook, and still is. When I was studying tourism I worked in some hotels in Finland, and I saw how the chef's worked. I just loved the kitchen vibe and I was like, Yeah, that’d be something I'd love to do.
I've had more of a culinary journey In New Zealand than in Finland. I started at Mount Hutt, after that I worked at The Dubliner in Methven. I worked as a senior pizza chef at Sal’s for maybe six months then worked as chef de partie at Cellar Door. At Eliza's Manor, I worked myself up to a junior sous chef. Then the opportunity came to work my first head chef job at Moon Under Water.
We're privileged to have a busy atmosphere, we can try new things and get a bit creative. There are no TV’s, just come here with your family or with your mates, play board games, to socialise.
I really want to drive the local food and ingredients through the menu. We don't mind spending more for quality ingredients as long as it's supporting New Zealand businesses. We just love to use local. And it's pub food, but I feel like it's elevated.
I play club rugby here for the Christchurch Football Club, the oldest club in New Zealand and I still play regularly for the Finnish national team, whenever they can fly me over to play."
- Kalle
View more stories, or nominate someone: @humansofchch
www.humansofchch.org......
Poll: Is it okay to grocery shop in your PJs?
I'm sure you've seen it while doing your weekly shop... In fact, it may have even been you.
What do you think about people heading to the supermarket in their pyjamas?
-
14.3% It's fine!
-
75% It's questionable
-
10.6% Other - I'll share below
Loading…
