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Michael Tavioni: ‘I refuse to pay for water that comes from my lands’

Tuesday 8 October 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Editorials, Opinion

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Michael Tavioni: ‘I refuse to pay for water that comes from my lands’
Michael Tavioni BEM. SUPPLIED/24072901

Because of people coming to me and asking about what is happening with our water – plus the story in Cook Islands News last week revealing how much To Tatou Vai estimates it will earn from the water tariff – I feel it is necessary to address this issue again, writes Michael Tavioni.

The government is trying to force the people of Rarotonga to pay for water and this will not go away until the government is forced to repeal that legislation.

All the Rarotongan people are landowners and all of the water in our water system comes from their lands – and as such it is their property.

For more than 70 years the delivery of water to homes and other places where water is needed was efficiently maintained by all previous governments, including the colonial government. The colonial government in fact was responsible for establishing the pipe system around the island to facilitate the delivery of water everywhere.

The current government and To Tatou Vai have managed to convince the people that the tax (tariff) being imposed on water is to pay for the delivery of water to their homes, businesses and public places. But the infrastructure to deliver that water to the people was established more than 70 years ago, with maintenance and improvements always being paid from national government revenue.

Now, we have the front page of the Cook Islands News for 30 September 2024 saying that ‘TTV estimates $837,000 in water tariff revenue’ for the remaining nine months of the current financial year. From that figure we can estimate that the annual revenue would be just over a million dollars, give or take.

I find this insulting. For all this fuss, the government’s revenue from taxing the people for water is not worth talking about. It is a waste of time.

According to that same CINews story, the estimated cost of installing each water meter is $1000, with the government planning to install 6000 meters in total. Multiply that by $1000 and you get a total cost of six million dollars.

This exercise is not to create more water but rather to satisfy a foreigner’s advice that water is a commodity and therefore the government should sell it. This foreigner in the public meetings around Rarotonga kept telling the people that this is the only country where water is free. Who is this person who thinks that he can come here and tell our government to tax our people for water? Which by the way, does not belong to the government.

So what is the real problem?

The answer is simple – it is a question of supply and demand, not a question of delivering water.

I repeat, for more than 70 years we who live here had no problems with water being delivered to our homes.

Rarotonga usually has an indigenous population of about 8000. Today that number is made up by many of our people from the outer islands who migrated here, while some Rarotongans migrated to New Zealand and Australia. This number of 8000 is important because the SUPPLY of water has always been enough to satisfy their needs.

Then we witnessed the influx of 170,000 tourists to our country. Let us not con ourselves, the increased demand on water is caused by the tourist industry. We the native people did not create that problem; it is caused by the enormous need to cater for tourists.

That is why the tourists must be made to pay and not me and the people I represent.

Many people say that now they have no choice but to pay, but many more have said that they will not pay.

Imagine if the people refuse to pay for water – can or will our government stop the flow of life-giving water to its own people?

In the budget for this current financial year, our government has allocated 9.2 million dollars to tourism for the purpose of encouraging more tourists to come to this country.

The same government has also allocated only 3 million dollars to To Tatou Vai. So To Tatou Vai was not allocated enough money to ensure that there is enough water to sustain the tourist industry. For that mistake, we the people are being forced to cough up. Tourism has 9.2 million dollars to play with and To Tatou Vai only 3 million. Not enough.

The idea to charge the people is simply to get our people to be conservative in their use of the water in the hope that there will be enough water for the tourists. But just charging for water is the same as putting a band aid on a major infected wound. It will not solve the problem.

I have said this before but I will say it again – our government must impose a tax of $50 on every tourist at the point of entry to our country. With 170,000 tourists per year, the government should get an additional 8.5 million dollars.

Other countries are charging their tourists this same amount. This annual revenue of at least 8 million dollars is more than enough to finance the improvement of water reservoirs; to increase holding capacity; to enhance the delivery system; and to take care of maintenance problems.

This is not a difficult scenario – it is easy to execute and no burden to the people.

As for me, I also refuse to pay for water that comes from lands of which I am a part landowner.

But it is not because of the money we are required to pay.

As far as I am concerned, water is one of the few essential commodities needed for food security and for life itself. Like the air we breathe, it is free – and it should always remain so.

  • Mitaera Ngatae Teatuakaro Michael Tavioni BEM is a Cook Islands artist and writer. The views expressed in this article are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.