The health and wellbeing of our communities and businesses is underpinned by access to safe and affordable water supplies. All communities will have access to safe drinking water, including decentralised suppliers who are supported to ensure their water is safe. Infrastructure funding is carefully thought through to ensure affordable charges, incentivise efficient use, penalise pollution, and provide support for customers experiencing economic hardship or exposed to flood hazard.
Protection of our water bodies is a shared responsibility that requires the co-operation of all; minimising water abstractions and protecting the environment from pollution will not be achieved by the water sector acting alone. Māori have long understood water to be a precious taonga over which they exercise kaitiakitanga. Engendering a similar appreciation within all New Zealanders would provide a paradigm shift so we all desire to celebrate, protect and restore our water environment.
Kaitiakitanga gets blandly thought of as stewardship or guardianship but its more than that. Its not only the way you care for something, its the way it cares for you. its the interaction, its not you doing something thats out there. John Reid, from the mutually binding nature of Kaitiakitanga (Smith, J., Hutchings, J., Taura, Y., & Whaanga-Schollum, D., 2019)
Water service providers engender community co- operation though trusted relationships. This requires communities to have transparent, accessible, and easy to understand information about who delivers our water services and how. Empowering communities with knowledge on risks, costs and benefits of different water service delivery options enables them to participate in decision making and contribute to stewardship of the water environment.
"Not all communities are the same. How you communicate with them needs to be tailored to improve transparency and their understanding of what we do." Hamilton workshop participants
No two communities have the same water environment, challenges or values. The National Policy Statement of Freshwater Management 2020 provides a clear mechanism for tangata whenua and communities to articulate visions and objectives for their waterways. Giving effect to these communities aspirations needs to be at the heart of water services operations. By ensuring local knowledge informs water services delivery, communities will receive services that are the best fit for them.
"Health and wellbeing of water equals the health and wellbeing of communities. We are talking about a changed relationship between people and their communities having a changed relationship with water. They have a changed view of water, driven by increased literacy. Changing how people value water will drive the changes in how people behaves"
Hamilton workshop participant