Submission on Water Services Bill

SUBMISSION BY NZ OUTDOORS PARTY on WATER SERVICES BILL 2021 Prepared and lodged by Co-leader- Sue Grey LLB(Hons), BSc (Biochemistry and Microbiology), RSHDipPHI14 June 2020   This submission is lodged by the NZ OUTDOORS PARTY, a registered political party under the Electoral Act. The NZ OUTDOORS PARTY has a rapidly growing and active membership, who value freedom and New Zealand, including its people, tikanga and environment. The NZ OUTDOORS PARTY promotes connection of New Zealanders with each other and with nature. The OUTDOORS PARTY promotes:

• democracy where people play an active role in decision making, knowing their views are valued and will be listened to.
• freedom from excessive government and international interference in the lives of New Zealanders;
• more self-sufficiency for New Zealand and New Zealanders,
• better care of our water, land, soil, wildlife and of our people.
• natural and organic regenerative approaches to agriculture to promote community wellbeing and thriving rural communities and local businesses.
• “localism” to encourage and empower local people to support their local communities and have an active role in decision which affect the health and wellbeing of their community;
• food and body sovereignty;
• transparent representation and informed decision making which will promote a long-term vision for protecting and promoting the interests of all New Zealanders, our children and grandchildren.

The NZ OUTDOORS PARTY wishes to be heard in person on this submission by the Select Committee. SUBMISSION The NZ OUTDOORS PARTY opposes the Water Services Bill. In particular the NZ Outdoors Party: *opposes the centralisation of decision making about local water supplies; * opposes the requirement for registration of private water supplies and in clause 54 for registration of individual water supplies * opposes the requirement in Clause 55 for annual registration for private water supplies¹ The common law and statutes such as the RMA (in Part 3) have for time immemorial recognised that water cannot be owned and that everyone is free to take water for domestic and stock use. The requirement for annual registration of payment of a fee is an unlawful expropriation (without compensation) of long established private property rights and an abuse of state power. * opposes the use of misleading and deceptive language and in particular opposes the redefinition of “safe” in clause 7(1) from its commonly understood meaning of safe, ie “free from harm”, to the artificial construct “free from serious risk of death, injury or illness” as is proposed in the Bill². * opposes any promotion of disinfection of water. The focus should be on keeping all freshwater water clean, rather than trying to clean and disinfect contaminated water. Acute and chronic exposure to chemicals including disinfectants and other water treatment agents may cause adverse health effects and unpalatable tastes particularly to more sensitive members of the community;

* opposes provision in Clause 28 for the water supplier to require end point treatment or to transfer the costs of any such treatment to a user ³

* opposes any steps which facilitate the addition of fluoride to public drinking water and/or which reduce the opportunity for affected person to be consulted on the addition of medications or other chemicals or contaminants to their drinking water. Fluoride is a neurotoxin which can have serious short and long term adverse health effects. There are many better ways of promoting oral health including reducing sugar and fizzy drink intake and teaching children to clean their teeth through public health programmes as have been adopted in Scotland; . * opposes the assumption that contaminants can safely be added to public drinking water provided the levels comply with gues-timated levels in various government advice. The NZ Outdoors Party gives notice that it would like to be heard in support of these submissions and that it intends to file further supplementary submissions at or ahead of the oral hearing. Sue Grey LLB(Hons), BSc (Biochemistry & Microbiology), RSHDipPHI Co-leader NZ Outdoors Party

1^ 55Duty to renew annual registration and notify changes

(1)The owner of a registered drinking water supply must, in each 12-month period, during a month allocated for the purpose by Taumata Arowai, apply for a renewal of registration of the owner’s supply. (2)At the time of applying to Taumata Arowai for renewal of registration of a drinking water supply, the owner of the drinking water supply must—

(a)confirm that the information provided under section 53(2) is correct at the time of registration renewal; and

(b)confirm that the drinking water safety plan is still current and, if not, lodge a new or amended plan.

(3)The owner of a drinking water supply must immediately notify Taumata Arowai of any change to the information provided under section 53(2). (4)An application and a notification under this section must be in an approved form. (5)An application under this section must be accompanied by the prescribed fee or levy (if any). 2^ 7(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, safe, in relation to drinking water, means drinking water that is unlikely to cause a serious risk of death, injury, or illness,— (a)immediately or over time; and (b)whether or not the serious risk is caused by— (i)the consumption or use of drinking water; or (ii)other causes together with the consumption or use of drinking water.

3^ 28Duty to ensure end-point treatment

(1) If a drinking water supply includes end-point treatment, the drinking water supplier is responsible for the installation, maintenance, and ongoing testing of an end-point treatment device. (2)A drinking water supplier may,—

(a)install an end-point treatment device and require the owner of the premises to reimburse the supplier for the cost of installation, maintenance, and ongoing testing of the device; or

(b)require the owner of the premises to install, maintain, and test an end-point treatment device that incorporates a verifiable monitoring system that complies with an acceptable solution or verification method under section 49.

(3)A person who installs an end-point treatment device must take all reasonable steps to ensure that it operates in a way that does not compromise the operation of any automatic fire sprinkler system connected to the drinking water supply.