Why Local Water Done Well
Central government water reforms
The Government has introduced its Local Water Done Well legislation, replacing the previous government’s water reform programme.
Local Water Done Well aims to:
- Address how waters infrastructure across New Zealand is funded and delivered in a financially sustainable way
- Introduce a new regulatory regime for water services delivery, which sets out increased environmental, economic and human health standards and regulations.
Local Water Done Well provides options to councils on how they will meet the government’s new requirements.
Those options include keeping water services in-house or creating a council-controlled organisation. A council-controlled organisation could be owned by one council alone or created by several councils banding together. Local Water Done Well encourages councils to work together where that will create better community outcomes.
Councils are required to deliver a Water Services Delivery Plan to Government by 3 September 2025. The plan must outline how the council is going to implement Local Water Done Well.
Councils will need to:
- Ensure water services are financially sustainable (self-funded through water charges)
- Invest in infrastructure upgrades and meet new compliance standards
- Set fair pricing reflecting the true cost of delivering water services.
- Develop a Water Services Delivery Plan for Government approval. The plan must include a current and long-term assessment of our water infrastructure, the investment we need to make in water services to provide for growth and development and detail how we plan to finance and deliver this plan.
Process for councils
Local Water Done Well requires councils to:
- Analyse a minimum of two options for water services delivery
- Choose a preferred option
- Consult with their communities on the preferred option
- Receive feedback and make a final decision
- Include the decision in a Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) together with the timeline for implementing that decision
- Submit the WSDP to the Minister of Local Government by 3 September 2025
- Start implementing the WSDP from 1 July 2026
Changing the way we deliver water services
Local Water Done Well will change the way Taupō District Council’s water services are currently delivered.
Like all councils, we face a number of complex issues when it comes to delivering water, wastewater and stormwater. Providing water services that comply with government regulation is also going to become more expensive.
Taupō District Council has put significant investment into water services in recent years and more is planned. We want to maintain or improve what we have and protect our people and our environment today and into the future.
Water Services Delivery Plan
A Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) must:
- include detailed information about water services operations, assets, revenue, expenditure, future capital expenditure, and how councils plan to finance and deliver their preferred model
- demonstrate how the water services will be financially sustainable by June 2028. Financial sustainability means water services revenue is sufficient to meet the costs of delivering water services
WSDPs are for a minimum ten-year timeframe but can be up to 30 years.
Timeline
