Dunedin's all-hands-on-deck response to this week’s downpour could be hard to replicate if co-ordination is harmed under Three Waters reforms, it is feared.
Dunedin City Council Three Waters staff contributed to a nimble response from the Moray Pl civil defence bunker on Tuesday evening, when some evacuations were needed.
It is unclear how aspects of civil defence will work in the post-reform set-up and some council staff could have their services called upon in the establishment phase of large water entities due to start operating in 2024.
"If there is a high level of staff secondment, it is likely there could be poor co-ordination," city councillor Jim O’Malley said.
He expected some calls might need to be made out of Christchurch and he was not sure Dunedin’s best interests would be served by that.
Cr O’Malley said the Government’s merger of polytechnics was a debacle and he predicted its contentious Three Waters reforms would be worse.
Mayor Aaron Hawkins said the city council and the Otago Regional Council had invested significantly in recent years to boost infrastructure capacity and much more work was planned.
"Where it is directly relevant to Three Waters reform is our nervousness around managing civil defence situations, when we don’t have the authority to manage or direct staff in those areas."
In the past two years, the city council had spent $101 million upgrading infrastructure, through new capital spending and renewals, a spokesman said.
"Our current 10-year plan also includes another $177 million for wastewater renewals and $90 million for stormwater renewals, in addition to $36.7 million budgeted specifically for work in South Dunedin," he said.
"In addition, we have also worked hard to improve our civil defence response to such incidents, and the results were demonstrated in this week’s weather event."
City councillor Jules Radich said he was quite nervous of a Government-driven Three Waters takeover.
"I have seen little evidence of centralised bureaucracy proving more efficient and more responsive than local stakeholders.
"The recent stories about polytechnic dysfunction reinforce that observation."
The Otago Daily Times asked the council about how the responses to two downpours this month differed from one in 2015, when there was widespread surface flooding.
A near-record 175mm of rain fell in 24 hours in the June 2015 flood and much of it was concentrated in South Dunedin, the spokesman said.
"It was always going to overwhelm our stormwater systems — even if they had all been working perfectly.
"By comparison, the two most recent weather events delivered far less rain over a longer period of time, concentrated in other parts of the city.
"We have already publicly taken responsibility for our part in the infrastructure failings in 2015 and learned ... from the experiences in the 2015 flood."
Mr Hawkins said it was difficult to draw direct comparisons between storms.
He labelled this month’s downpours close calls.
"This is the new normal, and cleaning up after them will be expensive," Mr Hawkins said.
It demonstrated the importance of infrastructure upgrades and work aimed at boosting South Dunedin’s resilience.
It also highlighted the importance of the incoming council committing to meaningful climate action, he said.
Cr Radich said he believed lessons were learnt from 2015.
"However, I would like to see further structural improvements in the South Dunedin stormwater system. There are still constrictions that can be removed, such as pipes that narrow down instead of widening out as they get closer to their destination."
