Soper Lesley: Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Soper Lesley: Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:642;Page:11928] 
LESLEY SOPER (Labour) 
: 
 I rise as a member of the Health Committee which over a fairly lengthy and careful period dealt with the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill in order to support its passage. 
The bill was introduced to deal with the risk posed to over half a million New Zealanders receiving water from community drinking-water supplies that do not meet the New Zealand drinking-water standards. It was introduced to ensure that all New Zealanders have access to safer drinking-water—the water they deserve—and because the current situation with purely voluntary standards had reached its limits. 
There has been on the one hand a series of carping speeches from members on the National benches who under Mr Ryall have taken the unbelievable position of opposing this bill as unnecessary. On the other hand the National Party has done another flip-flop. Dr Smith has suggested that a high percentage of our drinking water is unsafe but Dr Coleman and Dr Blue have said that we have the best standard of drinking water in the world and that this is a problem that does not need fixing. So it appears the National Party is both very concerned and deeply unconcerned about the quality of New Zealand’s drinking water. 
Darren Hughes 
: That’s before Jacqui Dean’s position! 
LESLEY SOPER 
: And that is before Mrs Dean’s position. 
I say to National members that this bill addresses a very serious issue and my part of the world illustrates it. In February this year there were two separate incidents where sewage leaked into Lake Wakatipu the drinking-water source of New Zealand’s premier tourist destination. There were two other known spills in 1984. In 2006 the Cardrona ski resort suffered an outbreak of disease when sewage contaminated the drinking-water supply causing over 200 known cases of gastroenteritis. 
In my former life when I visited schools throughout Southland and South Otago I as a lifelong water drinker was often warned in those rural schools not to drink the water unless it was thoroughly boiled. I well remember only a few years ago several visits to one particular school in South Otago where the risk from water was so high that the school almost closed on more than one occasion. 
The National Party may pretend not to acknowledge it but the fact is that New Zealand has on average 17 water-borne disease outbreaks a year that affect up to 200 people. Then there is the much larger problem of individuals getting sick from their water which the Institute of Environmental Science and Research estimates at up to 34000 cases every year. 
Since the bill was introduced in June last year the select committee and officials have had an intense period of submissions and discussions that has led to improvements in this bill. Some local councils and Local Government New Zealand had concerns over planning processes priorities and costs and sterling efforts were made on all sides to work through the issues to reach the point we are at now. One of the key amendments recommended by the select committee was around the duty of suppliers to take all practical steps to comply with New Zealand drinking-water standards. After consultation the select committee recommended provisions that give suppliers more certainty. The bill says that if suppliers have a public health risk-management plan and if they are implementing that plan they are deemed to be taking all practical steps. 
Another really important amendment that addressed concerns was the amendment to the date on which suppliers become subject to the legislation’s legal duties. Smaller suppliers obviously need more time. Local Government New Zealand was concerned about the compatibility of the dates in the bill with planning processes under the Local Government Act 2002. The select committee recommended an adjustment to those dates giving suppliers between 1 and 2 additional years. Another important amendment was to allow for the special circumstances of rural agricultural drinking-water suppliers—the suppliers providing most of their water for irrigation or stock and only a small portion for domestic use. 
Finally the Government has instituted a Drinking-water Assistance Programme which will supply some $154 million towards meeting the costs of improving the quality of water. I am sure that the Clutha District Council in my area was very pleased to hear about that. It was I am sure even more pleased to tell the scientific truth about the cost of new drinking-water infrastructure for Owaka. Mr Key the leader of the National Party cited a cost of $750000—I repeat $750000—for 200 ratepayers in Owaka. He made that statement at the Local Government New Zealand conference in Dunedin—very publicly. The Clutha District Council the actual operator of the supply estimates that the cost to comply fully with the standards will be between $10000 and $55000. Enough said.