Tom Dyer is leading the science programme for the Otago Regional Council, after changing jobs last month.
The former city council group manager of Three Waters — drinking water, wastewater and stormwater — will help develop crucial water plans for his new employer.
The regional council has to have a comprehensive draft land and water plan ready by the end of 2023.
Mr Dyer (35) will contribute to that work, which is about setting clear environmental expectations and rules.
The council and Ngai Tahu are seeking views from communities about their waterways and the Government goal’s is to improve water quality within a generation.
Mr Dyer has a science degree from the University of Otago and he was employed by the city council for 11 years in roles that included asset planning and management.
He had four and a-half years as Three Waters group manager and much of his last year in the role was focused on responding to what had seemed to be a problem with elevated lead readings affecting the Waikouaiti, Karitane and Hawksbury water supplies.
In the end, an extensive investigation with Mr Dyer’s name on it found some elevated readings were probably caused by lead leaching from pipes and fittings in customer connections, not from the wider city council drinking water network.
Lead in sediment or material from the sample tap was the likely cause of a high reading at the Waikouaiti raw water reservoir.
The city council concluded there was no widespread lead in its drinking water network.
A city council drive to modernise its ageing network of pipes began when Mr Dyer was employed there.
The Waikouaiti lead scare and the Government’s Three Waters shake-up were not significant factors in his career move, Mr Dyer said.
He had felt a time for a change had been approaching.
The Government proposed to strip councils of control of water assets, but the reforms have been unpopular and their final form has yet to be confirmed.
A recruitment process to replace Mr Dyer at the city council was in its final stages, a spokesman said.
The role is being covered in the meantime by network, catchment and maintenance manager Mike Perkins.
