January 21, 2015
New vision for water security
The New Zealand Maori Council says it's time the country faces up to future demand for water and puts a halt to creeping privatisation.
In the wake of its challenge to the way the Crown sold down its interest in hydroelectricity generation companies without making provision for Maori interests, the council has proposed a new regime for water allocation and management that puts the public interest ahead of commercial considerations.
Co-chair Sir Taihakurei Durie says they system would be overseen by a commission whose first priority is to ensure there is a natural flow to meet environmental interests with enough left over for free domestic use.
What’s left can go for commercial use, which will be levied to cover the cost of the system.
"The second part of this commission’s function is to encourage the development of private water collection systems, that is the introduction of tanks for the storage of water for individual houses, in the Maori case a focus on marae and papakainga, and funding of people to be able to develop their own water systems, that’s both blue water, drinkable water, and grey water, water that has been used for domestic purposes but can still be put back to the earth rather than put down a drain and out to sea," Sir Taihakurei says.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH SIR TAIHAKUREI DURIE CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjU1NzY=
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