Jon Lamonte, the new CEO of Water-care, New Zealand's largest and most corporatised water utility, is pretty fresh in his role, having just made the move across the Tasman Sea from Sydney, where he had been CEO of Sydney Metro, Australia's largest public transport infrastructure project. Lamonte, whose CV includes the RAF and transport roles in London and Manchester, has come on board at a challenging time. Watercare, which serves the needs of around 1.6 million people, or a third of New Zealand's population, faces challenges on a number of fronts: a rapidly growing population; sustained drought, which has tested its ageing infrastructure; reliance on ageing dams that have barely managed to reach 50% capacity lately; pollution from that same inadequate infrastructure; a pandemic-related funding crisis, which has seen it announce a 7% price rise from July; and a nationwide reorganisation of water provision, which will see the establishment of an independent water regulator and likely consolidation of water utilities.
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