2.3 Who Are Our Customers The expression ‘customers’ is a concept widely understood in the free enterprise economy. It has been less readily adopted to describe the relationship between the rate payer and the council. The reluctance is partly due to the monopoly the Council has over many services, the charging mechanism through the general rates and the provision of regulatory functions that is beyond the normal concept of purchasing goods and services. The Council has a more complex role to play than a simple purveyor of services. They also have a statutory duty to provide certain services and a regulatory function to control the free market. This is particularly relevant for stormwater services and for this reason it is probably more accurate for this section to consider all of the stakeholders. Commercial properties and domestic households connected to the stormwater reticulation are more traditional customers. All properties within the urban zone can expect to benefit from the stormwater drainage system and developers of the urban area will be required to make a stormwater development contribution towards Council owned infrastructure if a proposed subdivision causes a drainage issue. Central government is an important stakeholder in the provision of stormwater services as much of the legal regulation in drainage matters is devolved to local government to enforce. The legislative framework is outlined in 2.4 What Customers Want. Industries and businesses are heavily reliant on stormwater drainage to protect both their buildings and the productive areas surrounding them. The commercial sector may also represent a significant threat to stormwater quality. It is common for businesses to have an area of hard-standing as a storage area, car park or loading area that is connected to the stormwater system. There are many industrial processes that use or generate materials that are hazardous to natural receiving environment. It is part of the Council’s duty to protect the receiving environment from potential pollutants being conveyed through their stormwater infrastructure. Council may need to regulate activities within businesses’ properties in order to control the source of potential contaminants. Environmental groups such as Forest and Bird, Guardians of the Sounds, Kaipupu Point Inland Island, Grovetown Lagoon Working Group and iwi have a strong interest in the quality of waterways. The same is true for the many recreational users – swimming, angling, boating, shell-fishing, etc Iwi have a special cultural relationship with the environment which is an important element to consider in the abstraction and distribution of water and construction of related infrastructure. 2.4 What Customers Want The levels of service and the subsequent performance measures are derived from the fundamental objectives of stormwater drainage - • Safeguard of the community from urban flood hazards. • Minimise damage to urban property from floodwater. • Facilitate commercial and residential development. • Protect the aquatic environment through the management of the quality of urban stormwater discharges. • Provide the service at an efficient and equitable cost. In practice there is a tension between the provision of the first four objectives and the perceived value and hence the willingness to pay for the service. Some of the standards included in the Page 15