Water Directorate Submission to the Local Water Utilities Inquiry
2 May 2008
The Water Directorate has made a submission to the Inquiry into secure and sustainable urban water supply and sewerage services for non-metropolitan NSW.
We have made five strong recommendations in our submission:
The Water Directorate supports four of the models outlined in the ISF Options Paper because we believe that they would maintain local control and ownership, utilise economies of scope through integration with other council functions, enable integrated resource planning and water cycle management, and so optimise whole of community outcomes, provided that each regional grouping of councils retains the ability to choose its own preferred model.
The Water Directorate recommends that the State Government conducts a review of the regulatory environment including of departments such as DWD, DLG, DoH, DECC, DoP, CMAs and Statewater in conjunction with the current Local Water Utilities Inquiry.
The Water Directorate recommends most strongly against the introduction of IPART into the regulation of water supply and sewerage pricing across regional NSW, and requests retention of the current system of light-handed regulation of prices via DWE's Best Practice Pricing Policies.
The Water Directorate has the potential, with expanded capacity, to provide a focused and comprehensive form of technical assistance to councils regardless of which of the four preferred models is chosen.
The Water Directorate would be pleased to assist the structural review and the proposed legislative review where possible. We recognise that the solutions are not straightforward and that 'one size fits all' will not be satisfactory.
If you would like to view a full copy of our submission please click on the link below. Overall the Water Directorate would value a closer relationship with the State Government and we look forward to being able to continue providing comprehensive technical assistance to LWUs in NSW.
