Local Water Done Well

The new  government has repealed the previous 3 Waters legislation and developed its replacement model under ‘Local Water Done Well’ policy. This allows Councils to consider the collective benefits/impacts of joining up with one or more neighbouring Councils or the option of going it alone (in-house status quo or our own Council Controlled Organization (CCO), while retaining ownership of our assets and decision-making, subject to meeting Department of Internal Affairs criteria.

This means Council water infrastructure assets will not be transferred to government mandated entities. Councils now have choices about how we deliver water services in the future, provided we meet the new rules for quality standards, investment, income to borrowing ratios and pricing. There will also be a new regulator overseeing compliance with these rules.

The inclusion of stormwater services under any joint model is fully optional, but under new legislation, Council must retain legal responsibility and control of stormwater services regardless of what delivery mechanism we choose.

Tight timeframes have been set for these legislative requirements, with our Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) due in to government for approval before September 2025. Councils must demonstrate that delivery of water services under our proposed delivery model will be financially sustainable and will meet regulatory quality standards. The WSDP must set out the process to deliver the proposed model and include details to ensure financially sustainable water services provision by 30 June 2028.

The government’s new rules and standards are expected to increase the cost of compliance for end-users (the ratepayers), whether our Council continues to go alone (status quo in-house) or join up with some or all of our neighbours. However Government has signaled they propose changes requiring Taumata Arowai (the water regulator) takes a proportionate, cost effective and efficient approach in its functions and duties. In other words, gold plated standards with no additional public health benefit is not wanted.

Our aim is to minimize these potential increased costs and find the best water services delivery model options for our ratepayers. The 6 Councils that are part of the Horizons Region have been working on the viability of a fully joined up regional model. First indications show that a full regional model financial case is marginal, so further work is being done on a sub-regional approach to see if joining together with any other Councils, reduces the impact of higher overheads and compliance costs for our ratepayers.

Whatever approved option we as a community finally agree on, it will take time (maybe several years) to implement and bed into place. And what ever model is chosen, all funding (expenditure and revenue) for 3 Waters must be ‘ring fenced, separated from the rest of Council’s finances.

Councils across the country have tough decisions to make about how we will manage and fund our 3 Waters assets over the next 10 to 30 years. By the end of this year, our Council needs to recommend option/s for the future management of our 3 water assets in order to discuss and engage with our community on this important topic, in the New Year.

Mayor Helen's piece was published in the Feilding Rangitikei Herald on 3 October 2024.