New government reform confirms council ownership and control of water infrastructure and services. We, like councils across the country, are working to understand how this will impact service delivery and infrastructure.
The legislation, introduced in stages, provides councils with greater flexibility to determine how they will deliver their water services. It encourages councils to work together, potentially forming larger regional enterprises to achieve better economies of scale.
We are working through a number of options, including with other councils, to ensure ongoing availability of affordable, reliable and sustainable water services in our district. The new legislation requires councils to submit a detailed Water Services Delivery Plan by September 2025 and for the new model to be operational by 2028.
Further detail about the legislation is available on the Internal Affairs website here.
Delivering safe, affordable and reliable water services is an important part of what Council does. Making the right decisions for how we manage this for the future matters.
Water affordability
Council is mindful of affordability of water services under any proposed new solutions and is actively working with the relevant government departments and potential local partners. This is a vital consideration in our decision-making.
Watercare contract
The Watercare operations and maintenance contract will remain in place until 30 June 2028, or sooner if it is replaced by a new water service model.
This allows us more time to transition smoothly to the new model and removes the need for us to find an interim solution.
We have been exploring options for the structure of the new water services model and developed the following short list to investigate further.
The new waters legislation, released in stages, encourages councils to work together, potentially forming larger regional enterprises to achieve better economies of scale.
The decision was made in December 2024 to present the joint CCO with Hamilton City Council as our preferred option when we ask for community input.
Background on all options will be included in public consultation in March and April next year, including joining the regionally-focused partnership of councils within the Waikato Water Done Well group or retaining the existing contracted supplier model.
We are required to present a Water Services Delivery Plan to central government by September 2025.
We are reviewing potential partnerships with other Councils to establish a combined waters organisation following a Council-Controlled Organisation model (CCO) with a view to improving the level of service to our waters customers and delivering better value generally.
An asset-owning CCO would own all of the water and wastewater assets that are currently owned by the Council. This would give the CCO greater power (and responsibility) to manage the operation, maintenance and regular replacement of network components that have worn out over time. An asset-owning CCO would also be responsible for setting fair charges for the services that they provide, and in the case of water and wastewater, this will be subject to checking by the NZ Commerce Commission.
There is no new government funding available to assist us with the Local Water Done Well changes, but we are able to use some remaining funds from the previous water reforms process.
However, one new factor is that the Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) will now be able to lend significantly more money to new Water CCOs, and this might help us to spread the debt for new projects over longer timeframes.
We can change operations over to the new model whenever we like. The government requirement is that our model is financially sustainable by September 2028.
If we are ready to get the new CCO underway before our contract with them ends in June 2028, Watercare will allow us to end the contract early.
There are 3 ‘waters’: stormwater, drinking water and wastewater.
Stormwater is categorised differently from drinking water and wastewater. This is largely because stormwater can't be charged volumetrically, so it's harder to set a user charge rather than a rate.
One option that we are looking at is for the stormwater assets to stay owned by Council, but for a Water Services CCO to manage the operation and maintenance of the stormwater system.
Is the information on this page helpful?
Last updated 17 March 2025, 02:43 pm
Use the Antenno app to tell us about things that need our attention, like potholes, graffiti, or broken streetlights.
More about Antenno