After another sweltering weekend with many of us seeking the shade of a big old tree, or taking a trip to our favourite rivers, lakes and beaches; it’s so sad to see Wellington suffering with poor leadership.

Poor old Wellington. My favourite city in New Zealand. Usually, the leaks in Wellington come in the form of proposed ministerial policy of one party or another, but not Wellington. When the capital city does something - she does it with full fireworks and fanfare.

Not only are Wellingtonians suffering at the hands of an inept council, but the ongoing unfathomable cost to replace their network of sewerage and water pipes - those problems now exacerbated by the biggest leaks of all. Fresh water leaks.

Wellington's water use and their need for enforced water restrictions isn't because of Dorris and Derrick out there in the dead of night watering their petunias, well over 40 percent of Wellington's water use is down to the city councils own pipes leaking.

So now the government's involved. The Minister of Local Government Simeon Brown has written to Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau and Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy to formally request further information on how these councils are addressing water leakage and water shortage issues. It's taken a while to get to this point, but I guess it's better late than never right?

You may well be thinking - great! Now we're getting somewhere. What mayor anywhere would have the arrogance to ignore the Minster of Local Government? Well Wellington and Hutt have two of them.

The Minister of Local Government, wrote to the Chair of the Wellington Water Committee to ask what actions shareholder councils are taking to reduce the possible water shortage.

Both mayors failed to respond to the Chair of the Wellington Water Committee’s request for this information by the 17 January deadline. Why? On holiday? Didn't get the email? Don't have the answers? Don't really care? Who knows.

Minister Brown has now used the powers under the Local Government Act to formally request information that those councils are 'taking their obligations to residents and ratepayers seriously, and are implementing all mitigations necessary to avoid cuts or limits on water supplies'.

Rate payers need to demand more from their mayors. Perhaps the three waters policy that so many misunderstood, wasn't such a bad idea after all right?

It would appear that in light of the complete lack of action and accountability demonstrated by some in power within the Wellington regions councils; the government will inevitably step in to save the day anyway.

It's obvious to me that you can call it what you want to: Three Waters, Handles Water Music, Six Months in a Leaky Boat, Watership Down… whatever. Ultimately, your councils are letting you down in Wellington and Upper Hutt.

Good luck at keeping your garden and lawns green this Summer. Once again, in light of the complete inadequacy shown here by Councils who should be expected to do better, New Zealanders will foot the bill for another poorly maintained chunk of infrastructure