National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water

The National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water (NES for Drinking Water) came into effect on 20 June 2008 and is currently being reviewed by the Ministry for the Environment.  It is intended to reduce the risk of contaminating drinking water sources such as rivers and groundwater. It does this by requiring regional councils to consider the effects of activities on drinking water sources in their decision making.

The NES for Drinking Water requires regional councils to ensure that effects on drinking water sources are considered in decisions on resource consents and regional plans. Specifically, councils are required to:

• decline discharge or water permits that are likely to result in community drinking water becoming unsafe for human consumption following existing treatment
• be satisfied that permitted activities in regional plans will not result in community drinking water supplies being unsafe for human consumption following existing treatment
• place conditions on relevant resource consents requiring notification of drinking water suppliers if significant unintended events occur (eg. spills) that may adversely affect sources of human drinking water. ^{b24d3597-e7c3-48bc-8072-e59efdaad0b4}
  

Councils may impose requirements which are more stringent that those set out in the NES for Drinking Water.

The Users’ Guide provides guidance on how the NES for Drinking Water is to be implemented.

Water Services Reform

Territorial authorities manage the delivery of drinking water, stormwater and wastewater services commonly referred to as “three waters”.

Currently, these services are regulated by two main laws. First, the Taumata Arowai - Water Services Regulator Act 2020 established Taumata Arowai – an independent national regulator to oversee water services.

The second is the Water Services Act 2021, which established a drinking water regulatory framework and provided Taumata Arowai with regulatory tools to enforce drinking water standards.

Water services underwent a period of reform under the previous government, including changes to regulation, environmental performance standards and service delivery. Some of these changes have been repealed and are now subject to further reform, including the introduction of a new framework called Local Water Done Well that aims to set a new approach to water services management and oversight.

Three Waters Review

In 2016 a waterborne disease outbreak occurred in Havelock North where 5,500 residents became ill, 45 were subsequently hospitalised and four deaths were linked to the disease. The Havelock North Drinking Water Inquiry was established to determine the causes of the outbreak and to recommend measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. It was found that the disease outbreak was caused by contaminated drinking water. ^{b88f0a8b-cad9-410d-9816-3ed7e4f72242}

The Inquiry prompted the establishment of the Three Waters Review, a cross-agency initiative led by the Department of Internal Affairs. The Review aimed to assess whether current local practices and system oversight were fit for purpose and to improve the service delivery of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater. The initial findings of the Review were consistent with many of the Inquiry’s findings, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the three waters regulatory regime.

Three Waters Reform Programme

In 2020 the Labour Government announced the Three Waters Reform Programme to address issues with the delivery and funding of three waters assets and services.

Two pieces of legislation were enacted to reform the regulatory system for water services: Taumata Arowai – the Water Services Regulator Act 2020 and the Water Services Act 2021. Taumata Arowai was established as a Crown entity in charge of administering the drinking water regulatory system and provide oversight on the regulation, management, and environmental performance of the drinking water, stormwater and wastewater infrastructure. The entity took over from the Ministry of Health as the new national drinking water regulator. ^{4cb40537-d78d-45ed-b0d3-030161fa0a1a}

The Water Services Act 2021 established a drinking water regulatory framework and provided Taumata Arowai with regulatory tools to enforce drinking water standards, working alongside regional councils.

Other legislation was enacted to reform the entities responsible for delivering water services:

• Water Services Entities Act 2022: This Act initially established four new water services entities to oversee drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services and infrastructure. These entities were intended to take over the management of water infrastructure from the 67 district and city councils previously responsible for providing water services. The entities would have been co-owned by territorial authorities in their service area and governed by regional representative groups. Later changes increased the number of water services entities from four to ten.
• Water Services Legislation Act 2023: This Act conferred functions and powers on the new water services entities, as well as monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.
• Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Act 2023: This Act provided for the independent economic regulation of water services with oversight from the Commerce Commission.

In 2024, the National-led Coalition Government announced the introduction of the Local Water Done Well framework which is being implemented in three legislative stages:

1. The Water Services Acts Repeal Act 2024 was passed into law in February 2024, repealing the three above mentioned Acts. The Repeal Act reinstated previous Acts related to the provision of water services (including local government legislation) and ended the 10-entity model of water services. The Northland and Auckland Water Services Entity – the only entity that had been established under the Water Services Entities Act 2022 – was disestablished.
2. The Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024 was enacted in September 2024. This Act establishes a framework for local government to manage and deliver water services by requiring territorial authorities to prepare water services delivery plans.
3. The Local Government (Water Services) Bill is intended to outline arrangements for the new water services delivery system, introduce a new regulation and consumer protection regime for water services, and make changes to the water quality regulatory framework and the water services regulator.

For further details and updates see https://www.dia.govt.nz/Water-Services-Policy-legislation-and-process 

Taumata Arowai-The Water Services Regulator Act 2020

This Act establishes a national water regulator in the form of a single Crown entity, – Taumata Arowai. In a nutshell, Taumata Arowai has been established as a water services regulator, responsible for managing the delivery and quality of drinking water and overseeing the wastewater and stormwater systems in New Zealand.

The entity became fully operative as the drinking water regulator when the Water Services Act 2021 came into effect (see below). While the Ministry of Health is no longer the country’s core water regulator, it remains as the organisation in charge of drinking water policy and will work in coordination with Taumata Arowai. ^{88eb90e9-b1dd-4ec5-af2d-f79d96a96304}

Taumata Arowai’s main objectives are to protect and promote drinking water safety, effectively administer the drinking water regulatory system, give effect to Te Mana o te Wai, and provide oversight, advice, regulation and management of wastewater and stormwater networks.

Its key functions are as follows: ^{961499ce-db16-4d3e-909e-b6151c050014}

• Provide national-level oversight, leadership, communication and coordination in relation to drinking water safety, including the management of risks to sources of drinking water.
• Provide national-led oversight for the environmental performance, management and regulation of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater networks.
• Identify and monitor matters that affect the safety of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater networks.
• Develop and consult on standards and compliance rules that relate to drinking water composition. This means that the regulator must establish guidelines specifying which substances can be present in drinking water and in what amounts.
• Provide oversight of, and information to, central and local government in relation to the development, operation, and effectiveness of standards and regulations for wastewater and stormwater.
• Compliance with, monitoring of and enforcement of standards and regulations, in relation to water infrastructure.
• Identify and prepare national guidelines and best practices that relate to drinking water, wastewater and stormwater networks and operators.

The entity is comprised of a chief executive, a board and a Māori Advisory Group whose members are appointed the by the responsible Minister. 

Water Services Act 2021

The purpose of the Act is to ensure that drinking water suppliers provide safe drinking water to consumers by: ^{e97250b2-0c60-487f-ba81-f65f1bda21fa}

• Providing a regulatory framework that is consistent with internationally accepted standards and best practices
• Providing a source water risk management framework that, together with the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, enables risks to source water to be identified, managed and monitored, and
• Providing mechanisms that enable the regulation of drinking water to be proportionate to the scale, complexity and risk profile of each drinking water supply.

The Act defines what a drinking water supply means, which is the infrastructure and processes to abstract, store, treat or transport drinking water for supply to consumers or another drinking water supplier.

A drinking water supplier means any person who provides drinking water through a drinking water supply. This includes the owner and the operator of the drinking water supply system, and any intermediary supplier. However, it excludes domestic self-suppliers. This means that the legislation applies to private water schemes as well as any public water supply, excluding any stand-alone domestic dwelling that has its own supply of drinking water. For instance, it applies to commercial and community facilities with a drinking water supply, such as restaurants, hotels, schools, recreational facilities, councils, and conference centres, among others.

The Act outlines a series of duties for drinking water suppliers, including: ^{e9d6f717-0206-4621-a45a-08c5550fa271}

• Ensuring that the drinking water supplied is safe.
• Ensuring that the drinking water supplied complies with the drinking water standards.
• Registering their drinking water supply.
• Taking the steps to supply drinking water that complies with the aesthetic values (include appearance, taste, or odour) issued by Taumata Arowai.
• Providing sufficient quantity of drinking water to each point of supply. This mean that the quantity of drinking water supplied is adequate to support the ordinary drinking water and sanitary needs of consumers at the point of supply. Exceptions apply, for instance, when the water supplier considers it is necessary to interrupt the supply of drinking water to maintain the infrastructure or when public health is at risk due to water contamination.
• Notifying Taumata Arowai, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, and the local authorities in the area where the water is supplied, of any imminent risk for any reason to the ability to maintain a sufficient quantity of drinking water.
• Ensuring that the supply arrangements is protected against the risk of backflow. This means the supplier needs to ensure that the system is adequately set up to prevent unplanned reversal of flow of water or mixtures of water and contaminants into the water supply system.
• Only using end-point treatment of a drinking water supply if it is used to satisfy and acceptable solution or verification method. End-point treatment is the treatment used for drinking water at the final point of the supply where the consumer can consume, use or collect drinking water.

A water supplier owner is also responsible for preparing a drinking water safety plan and submitting it to Taumata Arowai for review unless the water supplier registered under the Health Act 1956 before 15 November 2021. Generally, the plan must identify any hazards that relate to the drinking water supply and any risks associated with those hazards, detailing how they will be managed, controlled or eliminated to ensure that the drinking water is safe. The plan must also include how the drinking water supply will be reviewed and monitored, including the procedures to make sure that the plan is working effectively. ^{b3c773f1-dfad-47c0-84b5-116a9199d55e}

A water supplier must also prepare a source water risk management plan as part of the drinking water safety plan. The plan must identify any hazards that relate to the source of water, including emerging or potential hazards, assess any risks associated with those hazards and outline how they will be managed, controlled or eliminated.

The plan must also have regard to any values identified by local authorities under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management that relate to a freshwater body that the supplier uses as a source of a drinking water supply. ^{881ea89e-5bd1-471e-9678-35f348715a5f}

Regional councils are required annually to publish and provide Taumata Arowai with the information on source water quality and quantity in their region. They must also assess risks or hazards to source water in their regional at least once every three years. ^{51d5f864-da19-4b6c-9786-fc8662bc9730}

Taumata Arowai is empowered to develop Drinking Water Standards, Drinking Water Quality Rules, Aesthetic Values and Acceptable Solutions.

Drinking Water Standards establish maximum and minimum allowable values for a range of contaminants that can affect the safety and quality of drinking water. They are based on guideline values determined by the World Health Organisation. The current drinking water standards were listed by regulations on 14 November 2022. ^{f2776f4f-a12c-429b-bbd1-887b7fc378c8}

The standards are linked to the National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water (NES-DW) established under the RMA. The NES-DW requires local authorities to consider the effects of activities on drinking water sources when making decisions on resource consents and regional plans to ensure that health criteria are met ^{9972d95b-01dc-4d38-9112-1fe5ef6e36b3} . Both regulations are complementary, working together to ensure water is safe for consumption.

Drinking Water Aesthetic Values provide for minimum or maximum values for substances and other characteristics that relate to the acceptability of drinking water, such as appearance, taste, or odour. ^{2dbcddbe-3859-4848-96eb-78bda7e49c32}

Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules set out how drinking water suppliers must comply supply safe drinking water. The new rules came into effect on 14 November 2022. ^{6ec54ba0-1224-4d86-aa00-67ffd1e3d0fc}

Acceptable solutions or verification methods for drinking water are a range of options to assist waters suppliers meet their compliance obligations under the Act. They apply to specific supply types and situations. So far, Taumata Arowai has developed these for roof water supplies, spring and bore drinking water supplies, and mixed-use rural water supplies. ^{02214863-07c1-4bdb-905d-9d896e5d7542}

Taumata Arowai is also empowered to declare a drinking water emergency if it believes, on reasonable grounds, that there is a serious risk of public health. In such cases, Taumata Arowai can exercise special powers to take immediate actions that will prevent, reduce, or eliminate the risk. ^{99173eb0-af03-49f3-b9c3-446aabc94549}

There are also requirements for certain public network operators to monitor and report on the environmental performance of their drinking water, wastewater and stormwater networks. These requirements only apply to: ^{4745e1a4-2036-40f6-842f-caaeae78c236}

• networks operated by local councils or council-controlled organisations
• government departments such as Department of Conservation, Ministry of Education Department of Corrections and the New Zealand Defence Force
• people who operate a network on their behalf.

The Act also establishes significant offences. For example, if a supplier fails to supply drinking water that is safe, an individual can be fined up to $300,000, and a body corporate or unincorporated body can be fined up to $1.5 million. ^{2c7dd83c-dee8-4709-b17e-363fc03f0643}

If a person contaminates any raw water or drinking water, knowing the act is likely to contaminate the water, the person is liable upon conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to a fine not exceeding $600,000, or both. ^{dd9896ef-bf78-4d1e-9421-9b0472b7e244}

A supplier who fails to notify Taumata Arowai of a notifiable risk or hazard is liable to a fine not exceeding $50,000; for a body corporate or an unincorporated body, a fine can be up to $200,000. ^{401bade9-48de-44fe-b66b-44b3c7dcaec7}

Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024

This Act establishes a framework for local government to manage and deliver water services, primarily by requiring territorial authorities to prepare water services delivery plans by September 2025.

A water service delivery plan must: ^{12731f3f-28ee-4ff9-a3e2-7e613a3c3c31}

• Identify the current state of the authority’s water services; and
• Demonstrate that the territorial authority is committed to delivering water services in a way that is financially sustainable, meets all regulatory quality standards, and supports housing growth and urban development.

The Act outlines the contents of a water services delivery plan, including among other requirements; a description of current levels of service, whether these comply with the current regulatory requirements, capital and operational expenditure required to deliver the water services, and financial projections for delivering water services over the period covered by the plan. ^{23035c14-7016-49f1-9137-5192a060a302}

Territorial authorities may collaborate with neighbouring authorities to enable more efficient resource allocation. In such cases, territorial authorities may submit a joint water services delivery plan covering the joint service area under a joint arrangement. ^{3461fd90-3131-4162-801e-299ab3087a9f}

The joint plan must include all the elements of a single water services delivery plan, along with additional requirements. For example, it must specify whether it is anticipated that water services will be delivered by a joint water services council-controlled organisation (WSCCO) or through a joint local government arrangement as established in the Local Government Act 2002. ^{d9b4d2db-ec53-4eec-b15d-80620c35f8ae}

A water services delivery plan must cover a period of 10 consecutive years, with detailed information provided on the first three years. ^{ca07a597-bf3f-4887-bcf7-c52ae60667fa}

The plan is submitted to Secretary (for local government) for acceptance. ^{b49965d8-2ca9-4511-9339-36de74a29fb5}

The Act establishes streamlined consultation and decision-making processes for setting up future water services delivery arrangements, particularly WSCOOs. ^{78948d3c-39c2-4fbe-ac23-69cc03a02be4} These streamlined arrangements are voluntary for councils to use as an alternative to some of the standard requirements under the Local Government Act 2002.

Ministerial assistance

The Act provides powers to the Minister (of local government) to assist territorial authorities in different cases, including:

• Appointing a Crown facilitator if the territorial authority is unlikely to submit its plan to the Secretary or is having difficulties agreeing on the terms of a joint plan.
• Appointing a Crown facilitator if the territorial authority or the group of territorial authorities has not given effect to its water services delivery plan. ^{82cd145b-af4b-4b4d-9921-d954500a83f4}
• Appointing a Crown water specialist if a territorial authority or group of territorial authorities fails to submit its water services plan in accordance with the Act or submits a plan that does not comply with the requirements. ^{d030f2f7-f322-49b6-b904-c7d4209850f5}

Last updated at 4:41PM on January 31, 2025