Looking at water through a different lens

Looking at water through a different lens

By Rod Naylor, Chair of Water Advisory Group, Infrastructure Sustainability Council 

This article was first published in the November/December edition of Water

The Te Mana o te Wai philosophy rests on the notion of restoring and preserving the balance between water (wai), the wider environment (taiao), and people (tāngata). But how do we measure this philosophy in real world outcomes?

A healthy population cannot be separated from the health of our water. Each of us instinctively understands this. But most water infrastructure is also hidden from view and that makes it much easier for governments to be recognised for expenditure on swimming pools and parks than on pipes. This public attitude has led to significant under-investment in water infrastructure over many decades.

On the other hand, the delivery of water infrastructure is hyper-local. A new road may be on the community’s doorstep, but water is piped into people’s homes in the developed world. While the infrastructure sector is major project driven, the water industry is largely sustained by programs of capital investment. The work of delivering water never stops. It is, as Sue Murphy, the former CEO of Western Australia’s Water Corporation astutely observed, a “forever business”.

How does a forever business evolve its practice to ensure it is delivering sustainable outcomes forever, and that those outcomes are valued by the communities that they serve?

Aotearoa New Zealand’s reputation as a verdant and water-rich country is under threat as climate, rainfall and water availability patterns shift. Climate change is already influencing the liveability and security of cities and towns, cultural, agricultural and environmental practices and the long-term security of the country’s most precious resource.

The Three Waters Reform Programme aims to address the country’s mounting water woes across drinking, storm and wastewater. Everything from ageing infrastructure and historical under-investment to source water contamination and climate change impacts are under the microscope.

Super-sized projects, like Watercare’s Central Interceptor in Auckland, are delivering exceptional outcomes for human and environmental health. The Central Interceptor – the design of which has been verified as ‘Leading’ by the Infrastructure Sustainability Rating Scheme – is intrinsically about sustainability. The 14.7-kilometre tunnel will reduce the wastewater and stormwater that currently flow into Auckland's urban waterways and beaches. But its impressive sustainability achievements are both macro and micro, ranging from whole-of-life energy and water reductions of 41% and 40% respectively, to a laundry service that ensures employees don’t take potentially contaminated PPE home.

Since it was launched in 2012, the Infrastructure Sustainability Council’s IS Rating Scheme has transformed the way infrastructure is designed and delivered in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. More than $220 billion worth of assets like the Central Interceptor have undertaken an IS rating and delivered best practice, helping shift the benchmarks for sustainability performance.

But few water projects are of the magnitude of the Central Interceptor. On both sides of the Tasman, the dollar value of water projects is more commonly measured in the millions – cumulatively, they amount to billions of dollars of investment. In Aotearoa New Zealand – where an estimated 80% of publicly-funded infrastructure projects have a capital value of less than $100 million – benchmarking tools need to be accessible, scalable and cost-effective. So how do we systematise, standardise and simplify processes that deliver consistent sustainable outcomes on a small scale?

The IS Council has established a Water Advisory Board, which I chair. Together, we are exploring the applicability and sustainability benefits of IS ratings. Our goal is to prove the return on investment to the water sector and drive large-scale transformation of sustainability performance. Among our biggest challenges is supporting the water industry embrace assured performance measurement to enhance every program, rather than see it as a one-off cost only for the “hero” projects.

Most of the water industry’s capital expenditure aligns with its purpose and impact. But how does a water utility validate pillars of liveability, resilience and contribution to communities? How does a water utility show the communities it serves that it is delivering more for them than the bare minimum required by the regulator?

When pursuing sustainability in infrastructure, it is tempting to chase points and plaques – but the value of integrating the IS Rating Scheme into planning delivery and operations is not to receive a certificate but to influence thinking at the front end of projects, and systematise the practice. The IS Council challenges teams to identify opportunities that drive more sustainable outcomes – and then provide a mechanism to demonstrate, during the operational phase, that a project lives up to its promise.

IS Essentials will be the secret weapon to help the water industry validate their contributions to community. With investment from the Westpac NZ Government Innovation fund, the IS Council is streamlining the IS Rating Scheme for infrastructure programs and projects with a capital investment of less than $100 million. This includes digitalising the rating process and developing an embodied carbon calculator especially for Aotearoa New Zealand infrastructure.

Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Living Standards Framework, IS ratings can help government agencies, private asset owners and investors to measure, improve and report on the economic, environmental, cultural, and social impact.

Return on investment analysis undertaken in 2020 found the Scheme is set to deliver up to NZ$2.6 through improved materials efficiency, reduced energy emissions, and better environmental, social and cultural outcomes.

We are currently piloting IS Essentials with 20 projects on both sides of the Tasman, including five water projects. From this process we hope to better understand how to deliver cost-effective and efficient assessment and to uncover new sources of value for water infrastructure.

We know a radical shift in mindset will be required to transform the water sector. Sustainability is not a box to be ticked or a certificate to be framed. It is a collaborative continuous improvement journey across the planning, design, construction and long-term operation of infrastructure.

New Zealanders are already known for thinking differently about water. In 2017, the Whanganui River became the world’s first waterway to be granted legal personhood. Aotearoa New Zealand’s third-longest river could then be represented in court by guardians appointed to speak on its behalf. This powerful example shows that, when we look at our most precious resource through a different lens, it changes the way we value it.

This article first appeared in the November/December edition of Water.  You can read the full edition on Issuu.