The annual stormwater conference, run by Water New Zealand’s Stormwater Group, was held in Tauranga from the 12th to the 14th of May and Cato Bolam sent several representatives to keep up to speed with what is happening in the stormwater sector.
There have been a lot of changes in the water sector recently and there are still a lot of changes to come. Some of the major changes to date include:
- the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater,
- the Three Waters Reform Program,
- the formation of Taumata Arowai,
- the passing of the Water Services Bill later this year,
- the response to the underspending on infrastructure for the past 30 years
- and the proposed replacement of the RMA.
A common theme throughout the conference was the changes that the industry is going through and the concept of Te Mana o te Wai, which we will be hearing a lot more about as it is brought into legislation and the philosophy of Taumata Arowai.
The concept of Te Mana o te Wai is a hierarchy of obligation where the health and wellbeing of water come first, the health and needs of people (such as drinking water) come second and the ability of people and communities to provide for their social, economic and cultural well-being comes third. This hierarchy comes from the thought that if the water is healthy, the people will be healthy and if the people are healthy the community will be healthy.
The implementation of Te Mana o te Wai is already coming through in reforms such as the NES-FW and as consultants, we need to design solutions that meet these requirements while also achieving economical and practical solutions to our clients. Cato Bolam will be watching closely how these changes will be implemented through central and local government and what effect they will have on the development sector.
You can read more about the stormwater conference at this link
