The City of Onkaparinga has delayed a decision on the future of its water assets until 2023 following community feedback.

The council has been investigating both divestment and the retention of its Community Wastewater Management System and the Recycled Water

Business and conducted community consultation during June and July. 

Possible outcomes include a sale or lease of assets, joint or part ownership, joint or part operation, or a combination of approaches as well as retaining the assets in council ownership.

Councillors were set to decide whether to proceed to the next stage of the divestment process at the 23 August council meeting.

More than 600 people and organisations made submissions to council during the community engagement process and a petition was presented,

The council says this demonstrates the community’s desire for additional information to make a more informed decision on whether to divest.

The submissions called for more information on the water assets’ financial history; ownership options; any future impacts to customer pricing and rates; and environmental impacts and water security.

City of Onkaparinga Acting CEO Julia Grant says the question of whether to divest has long-term ramifications for residents across the city, so it’s a decision that requires careful consideration.

“The community has raised valid points that they need more information. This was outlined in the community engagement report as well as the community deputations during the Council meeting,” she says.

“The Council has listened to those voices, which means undertaking a further round of engagement addressing the specific concerns raised by the community.

“The aim of this process is to deliver the most efficient service outcome for customers while seeking an appropriate return for council and ratepayers, but we also need to address the lack of wastewater services in parts of our city. 

“This includes potential public health and environmental problems, while also looking at ways to increase the amount of recycled water available for the irrigation of parks, schools and sports grounds.

“I’d like to thank everyone who has provided feedback so far and thank everyone for their patience as we progress through this complex decision.

“We’ll now work through the key issues raised by the community as part of the next phase of stakeholder engagement.”

The outcomes will then come back for a decision in 2023 from the newly elected council members following the November 2022 local government elections.

Southern Vales ward councillor Wayne Olsen says the council’s Your Say survey results showed the community was overwhelmingly in favour of retaining ownership of the water assets.

“Council should be looking for efficiencies and cost down in operations, not selling these valuable assets to private enterprise for maximum profits.”

He says the divestment process should be stopped, rather than delayed

“Unfortunately the majority of the Chamber voted for ‘further due diligence and engagement with stakeholders’ and the process will now continue on to next year.