You know what the most clever trick in the 3 Waters Culture War is?
It’s not how commercial agricultural interests have funded culture war groups to denigrate the debate into ‘Maaaaaaari is stealing da water’.
It’s not how Iwi had a whole bunch of fish hooks added into the guts of the legislation that give them veto powers in the The Te Mana o Te Wai statements.
And it’s not how Chinese Business Banks have led delegations to Scotland to copy their water structures which ultimately make them easier to privatise.
Oh no.
It’s none of those tricks (although those tricks are neat), No. The pure genius of 3 Waters is the total focus on pipes and drains which amount to 1% of water ways. All the streams, lakes, rivers that are heavily polluted aren’t really part of this.
This won’t make those water ways safer.
We have 10million cows in this country.
Each cow shits the same as 14 humans.
That’s 140 humans pissing and shitting into every water way we have throughout NZ.
3 Waters focuses only on the existing infrastructure of water in this country, that does jack shit to stop the agricultural industry from polluting everything else.
We have been tricked into arguments over water infrastructure ownership without dealing with the current waste being pumped into our waterways.
Which is the way the corporate agricultural industry wants it!
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That’s ok, it won’t make the pipes and drains any safer either. Regulation on limits and practice were always to be made elsewhere, by a new entity already brought into existence – 3 water entities just manage ownership/costs and arrange the lego. There’s nothing in 3 waters that can’t be done by councils now that we have a water regulator.
Seems to get by the mods pretty much every time. Is that you, Damien?
Who?
Not always, and it can take awhile. Anyway it’s more about owning my comments and not changing my handle at this point. Not comfortable attaching my real name, however.
Ok. 10million pissing and shitting cows that still earn billions every year for NZ. Regulate more then that revenue suffers. 3waters has about as much to with that as I do.
A chippy led govt is slowly realising thats where the next election is at.
Ideologically driven lets be kind climate changing ban cow poo theory is not practical or popular. Just ask the Hawkes Bay agriculturalists and farmers. They along with middle NZ dont care. They want stability and a govt that isnt driven by academic city dwelling activist groups and theories. 3waters is about money. Pure and simple. Not pollution or water quality and safety. Just a different way to send revenue to central govt. Thats all.
mods, the point isn’t improving infrastructure it’s about facilitating sales to foreign companies who have no interest in kiwis or NZ just profits..see how well that’s worked out for the uk
And Peru. And Bolivia. And a few cities in the USA…
That’s because 3 Waters only covers drinking water, wastewater & storm water, that’s why it’s mainly about pipes & infrastructure. If you want to add in surface water, groundwater, geothermal water & seawater, then you need a new name & a greatly expanded remit & budget. Co-governace of that would really stir up a hornets nest.
Keep up…those are already included in the extended legislation
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/479301/government-moves-to-address-three-waters-confusion
Which is why no one is happy with Labour’s “3 Waters”, because it was never about pipes & infrastructure, and that’s why they were so cagey when asked to explain or provide details on their plan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_poisoning
or
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_the_well
Whichever way you put it – it sounds scary. F..k leave our wells alone! And just leave them as they are. Do we need a mental condition task force than can put the pollies and their runners under lockdown while their eyeballs get inspected? Plus their financial totals.
Jacinda: Guys, let’s keep our political partners happy by spinning it about filthy water everywhere. All of NZ has poo water yes?
Chippy and Blobbertson: Yes Perfect, and Nanaia can sell it to the punters with this award winning ad campaign.
Jacinda: Love it. Great cartoons. Next, let’s talk light rail. People will love us over light rail, the answer to climate change.
Blobbertson: Exciting, we can prove how good we are at spending taxpayer money.
Luxon..I’m in TePuke.
Seymour. .. our water infrastructures fine, well at least until we sell it off to the highest bidder..
Luxon…I’m so pleased be can form Co governance with ACT.
Water should be free for communities with no ethnicity attached to decision making and ownership – it should be owned by those that live there and need the water – NEED being the operative word, not for tourist golf courses etc and bottled water rather than local sustainable food crops and living. Thus areas of high iwi will get their say as they live there, and not be sold off with a few iwi benefiting and ownership and decisions made in other parts of the world for profit!
Water polluters should be banned and heavily regulated and fined – apparently there is going to be a whole heap of trouble with the floods in Napier and Gisborne because so many industrial chemical plants were flooded (I think Ravensdown flooded). In Japan they are releasing all the radioactive water back into the Pacific from their nuclear power – their tsunami pollution is now everyones problem.
Plastic has taken over and does not break down, kills and is bad for all life as endless micro particles.
How our love affair with plastic is fouling a national park
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/131400830/how-our-love-affair-with-plastic-is-fouling-a-national-park
In NZ nobody learns because if a developer might lose money, it is ok to sell it to someone else and make it a community and ongoing insurance problem for everyone else by building developments that flood up to 2.4meters!
If flood plains get developed into concrete, that water then goes somewhere else to the neighbours – it doesn’t just disappear – it creates more destruction to others who did not buy cheap land on flood plains!
Auckland storms raise concerns about housing development alongside flood plain in Grey Lynn
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-storms-raise-concerns-about-housing-development-alongside-flood-plain-in-grey-lynn/L7FMD4TPRZHPFFL43UMXYVLICQ/
“An Auckland property developer plans to build 12 homes in a Grey Lynn neighbourhood inundated with water and severely damaged in the January 27 floods.
The architecturally-designed townhouses and a single detached house will be built in mostly off-white brick, dark-stained weatherboards with brushed nickel-coloured balustrades and windows to appeal to buyers in the trendy inner-city suburb.
But there’s a catch – the homes sit on garages that will act as storage for water and flood up to 2.4m in height during a one-in-100-year flood event, according to a November 2022 report attached to the resource consent application being considered by Auckland Council.
The 1597sq m site sits partially on a mapped flood plain.”
When houses get damaged it is more resources and pollution to rebuild everything – in NZ the builders and resources are in short supply, pity our laws are so pathetic resources are used to build houses that will be less likely to last because they are built in flawed areas that should be used to mop up water not push through wastewater to someone else.
The on-going issues in West Auckland with flooding every few years now, should be stopping the same intensification because Auckland can not cope with every square meter being concreted and the wastewater and insurance costs being put onto others in flood plains!