Dear Editor, The register of stakeholders who participated in April 2024 water tariff meetings includes Te Aponga Uira and Vodafone (Cook Islands organics group challenges incoming water tariffs, calls for meeting, July 10).

On the surface of it, neither are big water users. They’re also unlikely to contribute meaningfully to the water authority’s bottom line.

But no Ministry of Agriculture.

And none of the many, active, grower groups. No farmers – none of the mamas and papas growing flowers for church and community, no organics, no permaculture, not even the export hopefuls?

Instead, the tariff consultant’s engagement with the grower community of Rarotonga comes from technical reports. Dating back to 2000, these documents are the data source for water-use volumes, the number of agricultural connections, and estimates of waste.

Something seems to have been lost in translation en route from Texas (twice).

In the Cook Islands, growing is more than a means to earn a living, it’s a way of life.

The 2021 Census of Population and Dwellings supports this claim:

“Of those (70 per cent of) households actively engaged in agriculture over 80 per cent were for home consumption only a mere 1 per cent was for sale or commercial purposes.”

To Tatou Vai CEO Apii Timoti’s attempt to quell criticism – by asserting that meetings are best held after the meters go in – holds no water. The tariff report has already rolled out fixed service fees, detailed connection types, and anticipated the income that TTV will earn from each customer class.

Within five years, growers are expected to fork out $1.3 million, more than the Tourism sector. This burden must be added to the domestic charge to determine the true socio-economic impact of user-pays. But figuring this out sounds like more consultant-work, far simpler to change the law.

Keep Our Water Free.

Andy Kirkwood

Turangi