Minutes of Hawke's Bay Drinking Water Governance Joint Committee

MINUTES OF A meeting of the Hawke's Bay Drinking Water Governance Joint Committee

Date: Wednesday 4 September 2019

Time: 10.00am

Venue:

Council Chamber

Hawke's Bay Regional Council

159 Dalton Street

NAPIER

Present: G Cowie – Chairman

P Bailey – HBRC

T Belford – HBRC

S Hazlehurst – HDC

K Watkins – HDC

A Apatu – HB DHB

K Price – NCC

K Wise – NCC

C Lambert – WDC

In Attendance: L Lambert – Group Manager Regulation, HBRC

J Graham – Presenter

C Edmonds – Manager Policy and Planning, HBRC

M Miller – Manager Consents, HBRC

M Davidson – CE, CHBDC

C Thew – HDC

S Nixon – HDC

I Sharp – CHBDC

C Lambert – WDC

A Roets – Governance Administration Assistant

1. Welcome/Apologies/Notices

The Chairman, Garth Cowie welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Resolution

DWG25/19 That the apologies for absence from Mr Nick Jones, Councillors Shelly Burne-Field, Charles Lambert, and Tim Atkins, Mr Kevin Atkinson and Mrs Barbara Arnott be accepted.

Nixon/Apatu

Carried

2. Conflict of Interest Declarations

There were no conflict of interest declarations.

3. Confirmation of Minutes of the Hawke's Bay Drinking Water Governance Joint Committee Held on 11 April 2019

DWG26/19

Resolution

Minutes of the Hawke's Bay Drinking Water Governance Joint Committee held on Thursday, 11 April 2019, a copy having been circulated prior to the meeting, were taken as read and confirmed as a true and correct record.

Nixon/Price

CARRIED

4.	Call for Minor Items of Business Not on the Agenda
	There were no minor items raised.

Jim Graham – Study Tour Feedback

The Chair invited Jim Graham, Principal Advisor - Water Quality, Water NZ to make his presentation about his study tour of The Netherlands and Denmark. Discussions highlighted:

· the study tour to looked at water suppliers and the challenges they have with aquifers and distribution networks, particularly water supplies that don’t use chlorine, including how those are managed and why these countries chose chlorine free water

· Chlorine is a substance, used across the globe to manage risk in water supplies, and is a very effective tool for managing most micro-biological risks, relatively low in cost and simple to administer.

· It is possible to have a water supply system without using Chlorine, and there are examples of this in The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Canada and the USA.

· If choosing to have a water system without chlorine, one needs to have other procedures and systems in place to manage the public health risk water supply is about managing risk.

· Surface water in The Netherlands is treated extensively through a five filtration system.

· Key factors in the Danish systems include government funded research, comprehensive source water risk assessments, continuous monitoring of bore levels, groundwater discharge/recharge, network flow and pressure, meticulous management of storage, and volumetric charging.

Cr Kirsten Wise left at 11.06am.

DWG27/19

Resolution

That the Hawke’s Bay Drinking Water Governance Joint Committee receives and notes the “Dr Jim Graham – Study Tour feedback” presentation.

Bailey/Belford

CARRIED

HBRC TANK Plan Change Process Update

Ceri Edmonds, Manager Policy and Planning, and Mary-Anne Baker, Senior Planner, provided an update on the TANK Plan Change. Discussions traversed:

· In April 2019, staff received and reviewed the feedback from pre-notification consultation which raised significant issues.

· Staff suggested a number of amendments to refine the plan as a consequence of the feedback, noting that Drinking Water Source Protection Zones was not one of the issues raised.

· The Regional Planning Committee deferred decision making in respect of the TANK Plan Change to the 3 July 2019 meeting, then further deferred from 3 July to 14 August where unfortunately quorum wasn’t achieved, resulting in the notification decisions now being presented to the 18 September Regional Planning Committee meeting.

· A workshop held in advance of the 3 July 2019 meeting essentially raised four more issues relating to Stream flow enhancement, groundwater allocation and limits, provisions for tangata whenua (sections 6e, 7 and 8 RMA) and Alignment between the Outstanding Water Bodies Plan Change (PC7) and the TANK Plan Change.

· Staff have recommended to RPC that the Heretaunga Plains numerical model be used to determine the Source Protection Zones, and for Napier bores an analytical model be used.

· The 18 September RPC meeting will be asked to make decisions to enable notification of the proposed Plan Change.

DWG28/19

Resolution

That the Hawke’s Bay Drinking Water Governance Joint Committee receives and notes the “HBRC TANK Plan Change Process Update” report.

Watkins/Bailey

CARRIED

Joint Working Group Activities Update

Liz Lambert gave an update on the activities and work plan of the Joint Working Group with discussions highlighting:

· Since the last Governance Committee meeting, the Joint Working Group has met three times.

· The JWG continues progressing the priority actions in its work plan and around TANK Plan Change and the Source Protection Zones (SPZs).

· In process of finalising the Arsenic Communications Protocol

· Outlining potential contaminant (Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substance) risk for groundwater at Hawke’s Bay airport and the Hastings Fire Station. Testing for PFAS has found no detectible levels in soil and sediment sampling at the airport and the Hastings Fire Station.

· The Group’s focus is moving towards the development of a more integrated and collective work programme, involving the sharing of good practise, the potential for vocational training and continuing strong engagement across the entities.

· The Hawke’s Bay Drinking Water Assessor presented to the JWG on his annual implementation audit update and updated the group on what is working well and what opportunities there are for further improvements.

· Areas for improvement include work around asset management.

DWG29/19

Resolution

That the Hawke’s Bay Drinking Water Governance Joint Committee receives and notes the “Joint Working Group Activities Update” staff report.

Watkins/Apatu

CARRIED

Regional Three Waters Update

Toni Goodlass, Programme Manager for the Hawke’s Bay Regional Three Waters Review, gave an update on the status of regional and national reviews under way.

· Review by the five Councils has been completed, noting that there were significant changing factors in regulation and some further questions to respond to before presenting the recommendations to the Chief Executives and to each Council.

· A fund subject to the approval of the Minister of Local Government and the Minister of Finance has been made available to provide up to $1 million (each) to assist regional initiatives. Government has not defined the process as yet and a meeting between Ministers will be held on 12 September.

· Expressions of Interest to the Department of Internal Affairs to access the funding for the next phases of the review will be made this week.

· Expect to complete a formal application once process has been finalised by DIA.

· Funding will allow to complete the second phase of the project without requiring co-investment by Council.

Craig Thew, Hastings District Council provided a National Three Waters update, noting:

· Government went through a number of issues relating the Three Waters Skill.

· One issue was setting up of a regulator – further cabinet paper due next month which will formulate that entity and how it will be resourced.

· In terms of Legislation level – minor (but important) changes in what’s currently in the Health Act which effectively will become a Water Bill.

Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst left at 11.50am.

DWG30/19

Resolution

That the Hawke’s Bay Drinking Water Governance Joint Committee receives and notes the “Regional Three Waters Update” report.

Belford/Bailey

CARRIED

9.	Discussion of Minor Items Not on the Agenda
	There were no minor items for discussion.

Closure:

There being no further business the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 11.54am on Wednesday, 4 September 2019.

Signed as a true and correct record.

DATE: ................................................ CHAIRMAN: ...............................................