Water meters report to be deep dived
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is the underlying message from a report on the water meter trial in Methven.
And what comes next will be examined in depth at a council workshop in August.
The Ashburton District Council was presented with the initial results of the water metering pilot trial in Methven on Wednesday, along with a recommendation to re-prioritise the work programme to accelerate pipeline renewals on the town’s water supply.
Mayor Neil Brown moved to leave the item on the table and “pick it back up after we have had a workshop on the report”.
“There is a lot of information in there we would like to get a better understanding on, and we just haven’t got the time today."
Deputy mayor Liz McMillan supported the motion.
“There is a lot of information in there and I think it’s going to be really beneficial to work through it quite slowly and go through everything.”
She also requested the Methven Community Board be invited to the workshop.
Chief executive Hamish Riach said that as the report was presented at an open public meeting, the workshop would also be open to the public.
The council had allocated $1 million for a pilot water meter trial in Methven 2021, which was identified as the scheme with the highest water loss.
After some Covid- related delays in the supply chain, most of the 1213 water meters were installed by the end of 2022.
The trial aimed to analyse the benefits of universal water metering for asset and demand management, without plans for future volumetric charging, in anticipation of a future rollout of meters in Ashburton and Rakaia.
That rollout was not included in the long-term plan as the data from the Methven trial wasn’t available in time.
The report tabled on Wednesday concluded that most water loss in Methven occurs in the public network and highlighted the need for regular leak detection and rep
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‘Excessive’ road cone use sparks cost concerns
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Mid Canterbury farmer Ray Logan says he's fed up with the "over-the-top" use of road cones.
Driving past road works at the Ashburton Domain, where a new replacement kerb and channel is being installed, he said he couldn’t understand why the road cones stretch the entire length of the worksite “almost touching each other".
“It’s just excessive, and I see it as having no respect for the ratepayer's money,” he said.
“It’s already fenced on both sides, so really you only need a few dozen cones as the fence is the barricade but then you have this long line of I don’t know how many road cones.
“The number of cones is completely unnecessary.”
He said he had no problems with the work being done, as the kerb and channel needed replacing, and the health and safety aspects were part of that - “but it needs to be within reason”.
Roading contractors were wasting too much money on over-the-top safety measures, especially road cones, he said.
“It certainly needs to be looked at.”
Ashburton District Council contractors have been renewing the kerb and channel on Walnut Ave, between Oak Grove and West St/SH1 since May 20.
Council infrastructure and open spaces group manager Neil McCann said the project costs of $180,000 included about $4000 (2.2%) for cones, fencing, and temporary pedestrian crossings.
“Given that this work involves large heavy machinery, an open trench, and is also well used by Ashburton College, domain users and a rest home, the thorough safety measures to protect the public and the construction are appropriate and necessary.”
The work is being carried out in three segments, starting at the Oak Grove end in late May.
The new kerb and channel are not as deep as the old one, but will be higher than a standard kerb to make it difficult for vehicles to be able to drive up onto the Ashburton Domain, McCann said.
Logan's observations come after Transport Minister Simeon Brown put NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) on notice over the cost of its traffic management.
Brown told a Budget scrutiny select committee last month it was "unacceptable" that NZTA did not know the costs of what is spent on temporary traffic management.
On top of making NZTA start to measure the costs from September, a new less prescriptive code was coming in that should be more efficient, he told MPs.
"I've received advice that in some cases where traffic management's been proscribed, it's actually more dangerous putting out the road cones than it is actually doing the work," Brown said.
"So we actually just have to take a safety at a reasonable cost approach, rather than a safety at any cost approach."
He added a recent NZTA study found that, at many sites lots of road cones were being left out unnecessarily, frustrating motorists.
"There's been an infestation."
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