An interesting situation arose recently with the extension of the water mains in Braidwood to service the Braidwood Showgrounds. Under Section 552 of the Local Government Act 1993, properties within the statutory distance of 225 metres of the water mains may be subject to water supply access charges, regardless of whether or not those properties are supplied with water. This is not generally a problem in urban or village areas, but this extension resulted in a mains being run in a rural area.
The mains extension exposed two problems. The first was simply that a number of rural dwellings, that had established, local water supplies, fell within the 225m ‘catchment’, and became liable for the water access charge, even though they had no need for ‘town water’, or indeed any interest in being connected to the mains.
In this case, Council felt that, while unfortunate, it would create an unmanageable precedent to allow consumers to opt out of paying the water access charge. The view was that the cost of infrastructure such as the water mains should be borne by all who can benefit from it, regardless of whether or not they choose to.
The present policy also guarantees a single connection charge ($1,162 in 2011/2012) for any resident, within the 225m ‘catchment’, regardless of the works required to effect the connection, unless such works involve an extension of the mains.
The second problem then was that, due to the path followed by the mains, even though some properties were within the statutory 225m, they could not actually be connected without further extending the mains.
In this case, Council agreed that it was unreasonable to levy the water access charge, which carried with it the reasonable expectation of being able to connect to the mains for the set fee, but then to demand that a resident also bear the cost of mains extension.
To remove this latter anomaly, Council resolved to amend the current policy so that, the statutory 225m distance notwithstanding, only those properties that had a boundary either on, or across the road from the mains, and that could be connected to the mains, at or close to a right angle, via a standard 20mm service, would be liable for the water access charge.