Page 9 - Central Interceptor News Today

It's taken about 100 days each to get 200 foreign specialists into NZ and onto the site of the $4.5 billion City Rail Link.

"Watercare is a very big company, it has a big impact on Auckland and New Zealand so I dont know why they didnt advocate a lot harder to get them in," Northern Amalgamated Workers Union secretary Maurice Davis says. "If the Wiggles can get in, why cant these TBM operators get in." Davis says with one council project competing with another, its a bidding war for staff and there are big offers. "Its rumours [how much more theyre offering to pay], but its something between $20,000 to $100,000." Bu...

Two major Auckland Council projects in employment tug-of-war as shortage of specialist staff causes problems Newshub 5/02/2021 Melissa Chan-Green © Newshub. Watch: Aucklands Central Rail Link and a major Watercare project are in an employment tug-of-war as a shortage of specialist staff causes problems. An unusual employment tug-of-war has developed between two of Aucklands major building projects. The Central Rail Link and a major Waterare project both need the same set of...

Turning around rising carbon emissions is the biggest challenge facing Auckland’s political leadership, and it cannot take second place to Covid-related council financial housekeeping. The proposed budget climate programme is worthy but not transformational. Councillors have already opted for the smaller of two climate budget proposals, going for one which an options report said will “moderately accelerate climate action”. They voted by a majority against a plan that would have double...

Why Aucklands beaches are unswimmable every time it rains, and whats being done to turn it around 9 Jan, 2021 06:02 AM 8 minutes to read Home and hosed: Auckland water rules relaxed just in time for summer. Video / Will Trafford Social issues reporter, NZ Heraldmichael.neilson@nzherald.co.nz Ngarimu Blair has never swum in the waters of Ōkahu Bay, the ancestral waters of his hapū, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Its not because he doesnt want to, but because of an intergenerational fear of ...

Photo: RNZ / Claire Eastham-Farrelly Watercares board has approved recommendations in an agenda report to increase water rates by 7 percent - about $1.50 per week or $78 per annum - on 1 July this year and then again in 2022. Water rates would then increase by 9.5 percent each year between 2023 and 2029, then by 3.5 percent in 2030 and 2031. This meant waterbills for the average household would more than double during the decade, from $1069 this year to $2261 in 2031. This increase would also a...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the Auckland regions drought were the two main factors taken into account in the recommendations. The pandemic has punched a $1b hole in the councils revenue, while Watercare splashed out $209m in additional water sources and treatment. In addition to higher rates, the recommendations also included increases in infrastructure growth charges - the fee for connecting a new dwelling or property to the water network - of 12 percent from 1 July this year followed by an 8 pe...

Auckland mayor Phil Goff says Watercare decision to double water bills in a decade too drastic from some families 7 Jan, 2021 11:33 PM 7 minutes to read Home and hosed: Auckland water rules relaxed just in time for summer. Video / Will Trafford Social issues reporter, NZ Heraldmichael.neilson@nzherald.co.nz Auckland mayor Phil Goff says Watercare should have gradually increased water prices rather than the drastic changes that could see the average household paying $1200 a year more in less tha...

Auckland household Watercare water bills could double in less than a decade 7 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM 6 minutes to read Social issues reporter, NZ Heraldmichael.neilson@nzherald.co.nz Auckland household water bills could more than double in less than a decade after Watercare approved increases to tackle rising costs and settle its books. Watercare says it is the only way to raise funds needed due to borrowing limits, but an Auckland councillor has slammed the agency saying "years of underinvestment"...

Thursday, 24 December 2020, 2:40 pm Two fossil specimens of one of New Zealand’s most iconic invertebrates, the flax snail/pupuharakeke have been discovered in shell sand recently excavated from shafts at Watercare’s Māngere Wastewater Treatment Plant. The flax snail ( Placostylus) is one of New Zealand’s two largest land snails with specimens 7-10 cm long. The three living species have threatened status with populations now restricted to the Three Kings Islands, North Cape area, and in...