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Local Water Done Well

Waikato river

Water Matters

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.

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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. 

The Watercare operations and maintenance contract will remain in place until 30 June 2028.

This allows us more time to transition smoothly to the new model and removes the need for us to find an interim solution. 

We signed a joint Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO) with Hamilton City Council in May. The CCO was named IAWAI - Flowing Waters in June.

We are required to present a Water Services Delivery Plan to central government by September 2025. 

Timeline

  1. 13 December 2024
    Preferred option identified
    Aiming for Council to have a preferred option from: joint with Hamilton City Council, joint with Waikato Water Done Well, or continue with a contractor model.
  2. April 2025
    Consultation begins
  3. May 2025
    Consultation completed
  4. May 2025
    Hearings
  5. June 2025
    Decision adopted
  6. September 2025
    Plan sent to government
    Water Services Delivery Plan to be submitted to central government
  7. June 2028
    Watercare contract ends
    We have the option to withdraw earlier from this contract if an alternative model can be in operation sooner.

FAQs

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. 

Council is very strongly focused on ensuring affordability of our water services. This is a top criteria that we will be using when assessing any options for new models of service delivery. 

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. 

The WSDP will include a range of information about the current state of our water network assets, as well as long range financial projections and any proposals for changes to our water services delivery model needed to ensure financial sustainability by 2028. 
The law says that it has to be submitted to the Ministry by September 2025, however it has to be adopted by council first. So, June is a realistic target date for adoption, post consultation, along with the Long Term Plan. 
Yes, the final recommendations will be included in consultation, with the community given the opportunity to feed back during April and May 2025. 

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.

  • Stormwater
  • Drinking water
  • 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.

Last updated 24 July 2025, 03:42 pm

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