Below are submissions made by Porirua City Council on central Government policy since October 2019.
Porirua City Council supports the intent of the package. The health of Te Awarua o Porirua harbour is a very important issue for the people of Porirua, particularly our Mana Whenua Ngāti Toa Rangatira.
However, we have serious concerns about the ability of
the local government sector to deliver desired outcomes.
We understand that the Government has commissioned analysis that indicates $3 billion worth of investment is required to improve the quality of wastewater discharges to bring receiving water bodies up to a swimmable level.
We have estimated we need up to $1 billon just for our
relatively small city to meet the community’s desired levels of service for
wastewater overflows across our entire network, as well as meeting E.coli
limits being considered by the Greater Wellington Regional Council under the
National Policy Statement for Freshwater (under the Whaitua catchment planning
process).
This $1 billion is to reduce one contaminant, in one catchment in New Zealand.
Clearly this burden cannot be borne by ratepayers
alone. Central and Local Government need to work together to find solutions if
these reforms are to be successfully implemented.
Porirua's City Council submission on Action for Healthy Waterways
