Auckland drought: Outdoor cleaners say water restrictions are costing jobs

Thursday, 2 July 2020

Rainfall at Wairoa Dam in the Hunua Ranges on June 1 was only 49.5mm.

Jobs are being lost and businesses are at risk due to the nature of water restrictions imposed in drought-hit Auckland, cleaning firms say.

Auckland Council subsidiary Watercare has banned most outdoor use of mains water in the first stage of mandatory restrictions which could last a year due to the region’s most severe drought ever.

Storage lakes have recovered slightly to 55.3 per cent full, but are 25 per cent lower than normal, and long-term forecasts are for spring to be dry.

External cleaning in Auckland is allowed only if non-mains water can be used (file photo).

The Exterior Cleaning Industry Association (ECIA) said about 200 firms across Auckland are hit and Watercare is treating them unfairly compared with other commercial water users.

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External Cleaning Industry Association members Henry Norcross, left,, Michelle Atwill, Brian Edwards and Sean White at Watercare's headquarters in Auckland.

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“We can see more job losses going forward if we can't find a better way through this,” Michelle Atwill, whose firm has six staff, said.

External cleaning, such as that of buildings, playgrounds and surfaces, is allowed only with non-mains water.

Watercare has made some supplies available to be carted to the job location.

The association said not only is that more costly, but it is impractical for larger cleaning jobs which are drying up.

“The big asset manager, those who manage multi-million dollar complexes like hospitals, they don’t want their building washed with non-potable water,” ECIA president Henry Norcross said.

“They want to know where the water’s been, is there going to be calcium build-up on the windows, has it got E. coli in – the whole commercial side has just gone on hold,” Norcross told Stuff.

The association wants Watercare to permit approved firms and require them to reduce their water consumption like other users rather than have the taps turned off completely.

Four members put their case to Watercare’s directors, arguing they should follow the path taken when Queensland had an extended drought. Properly-trained operators were allowed to continue even when dams fell to 26 per cent.

Norcross told Stuff that while some house cleaning was feasible with non-mains water taken to the job, many people had cancelled house cleans because of the stigma attached with using any water outside.

He said there was a knock-on effect happening across other trades.

“Painters can’t paint houses because we can’t prep them, paint shops aren’t selling paint and scaffolders aren’t hiring scaffolding,” he said.

Watercare’s assessment of the impacts of its stage one restrictions acknowledged the impact.

“[There is a] potentially greater impact on small water blasting businesses with minimal ability to change their processes,” a report noted.

Watercare’s board said it would respond to the group’s presentation.

An assessment by Auckland Council’s chief economist David Norman found at least 14,000 jobs could be hit in the city if the drought required significantly tougher prolonged restrictions.