Carried out by Coopers and Lybrand, the audit surveyed the performance of 14 water suppliers nationwide, with Christchurch ranking above average on 23 out of 25 criteria, compared to the others supplying to domestic, industrial and residential water consumers.

Christchurch City Council water supply manager Bruce Henderson says Christchurch has a number of natural advantages, however the results of the audit suggest that, even discounting these, the local service would compare favourably with water from anywhere else on the two crucial considerations of quality and cost.

"Our aquifer system gives us adequate fresh water, meaning the quality of Christchurch water is hard to beat and the cost of water treatment is virtually nil. However, because most of Christchurch is flat, the cost of distributing our water could be higher than in other centres, since we have to pump all our water, rather than using gravity, which is possible elsewhere. In spite of this, Christchurch residents still receive water supply that gives us a comparative advantage on cost efficiency criteria," he says.

Christchurch water supply also scored above average in dealing with customer complaints within three days and below average in the cost paid for water by consumers.

Bruce Bennett checks
water pressure at
Wayne Priest's place

the quality of
Christchurch water is
hard to beat and
the cost of water
treatment virtually nil