NZ Herald Friday January 21 2000

Nasties flow as pressure mounts

By Scott MacLEOD

 Beleaguered staff at Metrowater have received faeces in their mail and death threats as the battle with residents opposed to wastewater charges gets nastier.
And in another twist, Auckland Health Care warned yesterday that dangerous bugs could enter the city’s supply through pipes that protesters have dug up and reconnected, although protesters are claiming their own hygiene standards are better than Metrowater’s.
  A Metrowater spokeswoman Sharon Buckland said accounting staff found the faeces with a cheque when they open a parcel that a former protester had sent by courier.
 It was sent in reply to a letter posted to customer on December 23 telling them that the High Court had confirmed Metrowater’s right to charge for wastewater.
 Sharon Buckland said some of Metrowater’s 100 staff had received death threats, offensive faxes and phone calls. Others had been chased down streets and had dog set on them while trying to read meters.
 “Staff say they are feeling stalked. It’s really taken a toll on them. We have taken security measures.”
This week Metrowater sent a team of subcontractors to cut water supplies to 16 homes where residents had refused to pay their bills.
However, a group of protesters called the Turn-On Squad had reconnected most of the houses concerned by late yesterday.
The reconnections sparked a warning from Auckland Healthcare that amateur effort could let giardia and other diarrhoea-causing bugs enter water pipes.
The medical officer of health, Dr Donald Campbell, said he was no happy with protesters breaking into pipes and urged Metrowater to take action. The bugs could spread to other homes.
Sharon Buckland said Metrowater was boosting testing of water in the areas where protesters were active.
A Water Pressure spokeswoman Penny Bright, denied that the protesters posed a health risk or that her group had made threats or posted faeces.
“It’s not our style, so maybe Metrowater should look at the way they are treating people. They are bringing it on themselves through their corporate thuggery.” She urged health watchdogs to forget about protesters and look at Metrowater, which “butchered” fittings and copper pipes when cutting water supplies
Another spokesman Jim Gladwin said the Turn-On Squad used a team of at least three people working at least four hours each time it reconnection a water supply.
 

Protest making waves

 NZ Herald January 21, 2000
NZPA

 Aucklanders fighting Metrowater are making an international splash.
 The Water Pressure Group says its “turn-on squads” have been contacted by people staging similar fights in South Africa, Canada and England.
 The Group wants Metrowater dumped and water and wastewater restored to full city council control.
 Spokeswoman Penny Bright said “the battle against privatised water is an International fight and in some ways we are leading the way.”