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Kia ora, welcome to the Local Water Done Well project page. Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about the project, including frequently asked questions, latest updates, and a timeline of upcoming steps. Check out the information on the right-hand side of this page for all this and more.
“Local Water Done Well” is the Coalition Government’s plan for managing water services delivery and infrastructure following the repeal of Water Services Reform legislation (Three Waters) in February 2024.
"Local Water Done Well" is a new legislation aimed at addressing concerns about New Zealand’s water quality and water services’ infrastructure investment, while keeping control over water services and assets local. The legislation also sets new financial thresholds that councils must meet to ensure long-term sustainability.
What are we doing right now?
We're exploring new models for water services delivery as part of the legislative requirement to submit Water Services Delivery Plans by 3 September 2025. These plans must outline future water services delivery arrangements, and a commitment to an implementation plan.
The options being considered include continuing with the status quo or the creation of a new standalone entity responsible for water, either independently or in collaboration with Tauranga City Council and potentially other councils. Such collaboration would aim to ensure the financial and operational sustainability of water services while maintaining local control.
To guide a future decision, we've been looking into the current state of the District’s water services, and our ability to deliver into the future based on Government’s new water standards, whilst meeting the stringent new financial sufficiency requirements. Early findings suggest it will be challenging to maintain the status quo and that changes are necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of water operations, particularly considering population growth and the increasing demands on infrastructure.
Further analysis is required to consider all options and determine which one we think will best serve our community and meet legislative requirements into the future. Council will continue modelling different scenarios to assess financial and operational impacts.
We pride ourselves on the mahi we’ve done investing in water infrastructure and in turn providing a good service to our community. But it's unlikely we will be able to retain the waters services functions within our current structure because we won’t meet the sustainable financial thresholds and debt caps as set out by the Government.
This means that our choice of future delivery structure to achieve financial sustainability could be limited and a new standalone entity would need to be established either by ourselves or in partnership with other councils.
Where to next?
Over the coming months, we will continue analysing the various options, with a focus on maintaining local control and ensuring the long-term resilience of our water services.
Any proposed changes will be subject to public consultation to ensure community engagement and input.
As we move forward, we will keep everyone updated on key milestones, including the development of a new council-owned water services entity.
Kia ora, welcome to the Local Water Done Well project page. Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about the project, including frequently asked questions, latest updates, and a timeline of upcoming steps. Check out the information on the right-hand side of this page for all this and more.
“Local Water Done Well” is the Coalition Government’s plan for managing water services delivery and infrastructure following the repeal of Water Services Reform legislation (Three Waters) in February 2024.
"Local Water Done Well" is a new legislation aimed at addressing concerns about New Zealand’s water quality and water services’ infrastructure investment, while keeping control over water services and assets local. The legislation also sets new financial thresholds that councils must meet to ensure long-term sustainability.
What are we doing right now?
We're exploring new models for water services delivery as part of the legislative requirement to submit Water Services Delivery Plans by 3 September 2025. These plans must outline future water services delivery arrangements, and a commitment to an implementation plan.
The options being considered include continuing with the status quo or the creation of a new standalone entity responsible for water, either independently or in collaboration with Tauranga City Council and potentially other councils. Such collaboration would aim to ensure the financial and operational sustainability of water services while maintaining local control.
To guide a future decision, we've been looking into the current state of the District’s water services, and our ability to deliver into the future based on Government’s new water standards, whilst meeting the stringent new financial sufficiency requirements. Early findings suggest it will be challenging to maintain the status quo and that changes are necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of water operations, particularly considering population growth and the increasing demands on infrastructure.
Further analysis is required to consider all options and determine which one we think will best serve our community and meet legislative requirements into the future. Council will continue modelling different scenarios to assess financial and operational impacts.
We pride ourselves on the mahi we’ve done investing in water infrastructure and in turn providing a good service to our community. But it's unlikely we will be able to retain the waters services functions within our current structure because we won’t meet the sustainable financial thresholds and debt caps as set out by the Government.
This means that our choice of future delivery structure to achieve financial sustainability could be limited and a new standalone entity would need to be established either by ourselves or in partnership with other councils.
Where to next?
Over the coming months, we will continue analysing the various options, with a focus on maintaining local control and ensuring the long-term resilience of our water services.
Any proposed changes will be subject to public consultation to ensure community engagement and input.
As we move forward, we will keep everyone updated on key milestones, including the development of a new council-owned water services entity.
