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Doing the right thing with wastewater
In a debate where black and white are all too
often the colours of choice it is very apt that we
call much of our wastewater "grey" water. This term really sums up the nature of much of
the debate about the future of wastewater
disposal for Christchurch. Grey water is what is left after we have done
the household jobs
like washing dishes,
clothes, and of
course, ourselves. Unlike much of the
world we do not
even have to think
about washing the
whole lot at once
because, in a global
context, we have a
luxurious supply of
fresh water at hand. It is a situation that
we have enjoyed all
our lives. In many countries
grey water
increasingly is used
many times over. They do not have the
luxury of choice;
water has become too valuable a commodity not
to be used to the maximum possible point. Here in Christchurch we are still developing a
wastewater strategy that will take us into this new
century in a healthy and sustainable fashion. Which is, in part, why the term "grey" water
takes my fancy so much for summing up the
nature of the debate we still need to be having. In a way it sums up where we really are at the
present point in the debate about how we
dispose of our waste water, sewage included. It is an issue, or rather set of issues, where, once
again as the debate shifts, we will hear huge
efforts to again convince us that it is all a very
black and white matter. It isn't. Just as life persists in refusing to act like the
movies so too does the business of good
governing refuse to obligingly line up in terms of
black and white decisions. Most of the time in the adult world we find the
rash decisiveness of our youth makes way for the
reality that a lot of the time we are dealing in
shades of grey. Part of that involves
being prepared to
listen to advice. I believe that our
decision to drop our
Estuary outfall plans
in favour of an ocean
discharge application
is a sign of political
and administrative
maturity for this
Council. In the simplest
terms, when science
shifted the goalposts
we accepted that we
were now in a new
game. Some of the old
rules do still apply. We still need as a
city to resist any
efforts to rush us in the journey toward arriving
at the best possible decision. This is the once-in-a-century decision that we
have to get right. We will all have to be prepared to do the right
thing, not the cheap or politically expedient thing.
I believe that the vast majority of the public
understand and support this position. It is a case where I hope you will not opt to be
silent and let the debate again be clouded by
those who would shout the loudest in order to
prevail. The evidence pointing toward our need to use
the ocean is now much stronger than it was
before. While we need to move ahead to respect that
evidence we also need to make sure we leave
ourselves the flexibility to adjust to changes and
opportunities that may arise along the way. Just as we need to acknowledge the new science
that has led to our change of position we must
also keep an open mind to
other changes science may
provide in future. It will all prove a careful
balancing act where the
voice of the public must be
heard as we proceed. I'll be keeping my ears open. Gary Moore
Te
Kerei’s Poem |