950827

NZ willing to sell

water to Mideast

WELLINGTON: New Zealand's blustery capital could earn the title of Wet Wellington if the regional council gets its way with plans to export water by the tanker-load to the Middle East.

The council has been studying the feasibility of selling its excess water for the past two years and is negotiating with Saudi Arabia and other unidentified countries in the region.

"The opportunity we are offering is for somebody with their own tanker to come alongside the wharf here and we'll turn on a tap, fill it up, and they can write us the cheque," council chairman Stuart Macaskill said.

Wellington Regional Council, which covers a population of 411,000, hopes to earn NZ$4 million to $5 million (US$2.6 million to $3.2 million) per month by shipping 40,000 tonnes of water to the Middle East.

The region only uses 160 megalitres of the 190 available per day, with the daily surplus being the equivalent of one tanker.

One shipment per month is planned for 10 months of the year, excluding February and March. Weekly shipments would be feasible if a market for them was available.

The council's main aim is to offset the price of supply to its domestic customers by an estimated NZ$5 per cubic metre, 10 times the local market price.

However, many can't see the beauty of the plan, especially when citizens have the threat of water meters hanging over them. The council has tried hard to reconcile the two issues of selling excess water while urging people to conserve it.

Some are wary that Wellington could one day suffer a drought, as Auckland did in the summer of 1994. But Macaskill said local consumers would always have first priority.

The council's water rights are protected until 2001 by an act of parliament. After that, the amount of water it can take will be reassessed.

But the act only allows sales to the four cities in the region, not to anywhere else in the world. The council is going to ask for a law change in the next two or three months, which will decide if the project can go ahead.-Reuter