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Mark Kunath
The budget for Queenstown's "chronic" water and
wastewater system is expected to blow out by $800,000 this
financial year, to the concern of councillors.
Queenstown Lakes District Council infrastructure services
general manager Mark Kunath said the council's water and
wastewater budget was $2 million for the year to June.
However, the council had spent $1.6 million in just six
months.
"It will take a long-term investment to reduce operating
costs. It is chronic because it is ongoing. We are starting
to form ways to address this for the long term," he said.
The amount of investment needed had not yet been finalised,
but proposals would be put to councillors in the next few
months, he said.
A report to yesterday's council utilities committee says the
council's water and wastewater services for Queenstown are
running "significantly" over budget.
"We think the overrun will be in the vicinity of $800,000,
which can be viewed as the true costs of running the
Queenstown systems," Mr Kunath said.
The council had spent a "huge amount of money" fixing faults,
including three major pipe breakages in Fernhill in July and
August, not caused by freezing temperatures.
"Not enough care was taken when they were installed 20 years
ago. We'd expect a much longer life than that," he said.
The Queenstown system was a lot older than others in the
district and assumptions about maintenance, and in some cases
renewal, had needed revisiting as a result of better
information.
He said a significant push to improve the council's knowledge
of the ageing water network had come at a price.
Property development high above the lake level had also put
"high" pressure on the ageing system, he said.
"At the time the pipes were put in, the engineering knowledge
was not as good as it is now and the result is a higher
degree of wear and tear than forecast," Mr Kunath said.
Another factor was the discovery of sections of old
asbestos-cement pipe, which was found to be at, or close to,
the end of life.
A new asset management software system for gathering
information about the network had been a necessary
investment.
"In turn, that would also ensure that in the future the
council could be in a position, short of an act of God, to
operate a proactive rather than reactive service," he said.
Contractors had reduced inspections and CCTV work to cut
costs.
At the utilities committee meeting, councillors expressed
concern about the cost increase.
"Overspending by $800,000 is absolutely unacceptable.
"The council will need to see a full report with an analysis
of this cost. I am unconvinced the current contract will
deliver a solid result," Cr Vanessa van Uden said.
Mr Kunath told the comm-ittee the extra expenditure would
have to be taken from the budget for infrastructure renewals.
"This is the second year where we need to dip into the
renewal budget. I realise it is not ideal. It is something we
will have to address when the next budgets are determined,"
he said.
