Local Water Done Well is the Government’s plan to address New Zealand’s long-standing water infrastructure challenges.
The supply of safe quality water, the removal and treatment of wastewater, and managing stormwater have been the subject of much Central Government inquiry and legislation, repealed legislation, and now further advancing legislation.
In short, in a few years, how waters are managed will be very different.
Both the previous and current governments believe the increasing cost and the required higher standard of regulation make it essential to provide alternative governance, funding and operating models, and most councils agree.
As part of this process, we must provide the Government with an approved water service delivery plan by early September 2025.
Within this plan, we must identify how water, wastewater and stormwater will be delivered within the new legislation, what operating and governance model we believe is the best for Tasman residents, and the costs involved.
In Tasman, we have another level of complexity to work through – the variety of water delivery systems we currently manage.
The key question we will be asking our community in the first half of next year is what service delivery model to create that will deliver the best solution at a realistically sustainable cost.
The Department of Internal Affairs, the Government Department charged with delivering the changed water delivery environment, has provided five examples of service delivery models. These include a modified status quo (in-house), a water Council controlled organisation (CCO), a joint CCO with other Councils, and two varieties of Trusts.
Each of these models has different features, which may or may not be the best fit for Tasman and its current array of systems.
To help us make the decision, we are beginning a Newsline series introducing how our current water, wastewater and stormwater systems work. Look out for more updates on this page,
Read more about the legislation on the DIA website.(external link)
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