Watercare: The Story

By now, most of you are aware of the Watercare plan to bring a wastewater pipe from the northern developments down through the center of town via Elizabeth Queen and Baxter Street to the pumping station in Lucy Moore Park.

At the time of writing this, Watercare has not definitively confirmed this as the option, but if I were a betting man, I would bet my house on it. I do believe that for Watercare, this has been the preferred option all along. One Mahurangi has been fighting this for two years. Myself and our two Co-Chairs, Dave Stott and Bevan Morrison, have met with Watercare on a number of occasions to discuss their options.

When we first met with them, we told them that the option to bring it through the town was absolutely a no-go. At another meeting, we were told that there was a 95% chance it would not go there. At our last meeting, approximately three weeks ago, we were told that it was very likely that the main streets were going to be the preferred route. We were also told at that point that to assist them with their decision-making, the cost was assigned 60%, but only 8% on impact to the community, which quite frankly, we found to be insulting!

I believe that one of the problems is that for Watercare, this is the cheapest option as they want it to be gravity-fed. We believe that if it is pumped, then this opens up a number of other options. The option that we prefer is a pumped solution that brings the pipe down the river, ideally hard against the bank. This is a shorter route and bypasses the retail area completely.

Our concern, and one which we have suggested to Watercare with force and passion, is that should they come through town with works that will last for a minimum of twelve months, possibly closer to eighteen months, then we risk losing at least 90% of the businesses in town. This means businesses closed, widespread unemployment, mortgagee sales when homes are used as collateral for a business, and everything from relationship breakups to mental health issues. Plus, we run the risk of killing the center of our town!

We have a letter co-signed by most of the businesses in the center of town to the mayor, asking him to intervene and ask Watercare to relook at the pumping option. We are asking the Mayor for a meeting to formally present the letter to him. We have a petition, which is in a number of businesses in town, which we hope that most of the people in town will sign.

This petition will be presented to both the Chairwoman and CEO of Watercare so that they can see that the whole town is against their option. (See link to the online petition here).

If none of this works, we will go to national media, putting our side of the story and trying to put pressure on Watercare to consider the human cost of their decision. Failing that, we may have to resort to civil disobedience.

Let us be clear on one thing: we are not against progress. This pipe needs to be installed. We want progress, but not destruction. Let's all work together to save our town. This is one of those times when we really are Stronger Together.

Murray Chapman

One Mahurangi Manager

[email protected]

www.onemahurangi.co.nz

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