Local Water Done Well - Update

The future delivery of water and wastewater services in South Taranaki

The delivery of good quality water and wastewater services is vital to our health, environment and economy. However, decades of underinvestment in water and wastewater infrastructure across New Zealand has prompted successive governments to reform the sector.

Local Water Done Well (LWDW), is a programme of changes introduced by the Government in February 2024 that replaced what was previously known as Three Waters Reform. This is the Government’s plan to address New Zealand’s long-standing water infrastructure challenges. It recognises the importance of local decision-making and flexibility to determine how water services will be delivered in the future. Councils can choose to deliver water services either by themselves or with other councils providing they can show that their choice:

Will be financially sustainable, – meaning that the income from water services delivery covers all costs, including those to provide the service as well as investment and finance costs.
Ensures sufficient investment needed to replace and renew existing infrastructure and build new to meet future demand.
Is cost-effective and affordable, with prices that reflect the costs of delivery.
Is ringfenced or completely separate from the rest of Council’s income and expenditure.
Meets other new financial and regulatory requirements

STDC votes to keep water services In-house

On Monday 21 July South Taranaki District Councillors rejected a proposal to join a Taranaki regional water entity and instead voted unanimously to adopt an in-house business unit as the future model for delivering water and wastewater services in the district as part of the government’s Local Water Done Well reforms.

The decision came following extensive public consultation, which saw 726 submissions made with 92% support for keeping water services in-house.

South Taranaki District Mayor Phil Nixon, whose comments echoed those of his Councillors, praised the community’s participation and said it showed that councils do listen to the feedback presented to them.

“Our initial proposal was to join a Taranaki regional water entity with New Plymouth and Stratford District Councils but based on the quality and quantity of the submissions we received it is clear that we have the backing of our community to do this ourselves.”

Councillor Andy Beccard, who seconded the motion, said that STDC had managed its water infrastructure well and was more than capable of continuing to do so. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

The main themes of the discussion included:

The strong mandate from the community
The Council’s capabilities to meet current and future legislative requirements
Financial sustainability and the Council’s ability to effectively manage debt and borrow for future infrastructure
Keeping decision making, oversight and expertise local
Support for continuing to identify ways of working with other councils if it’s beneficial to South Taranaki ratepayers.

South Taranaki District Council (STDC) chief executive Fiona Aitken says the process is not yet over. “Council must now submit our In-house Business Unit Water Services Delivery Plan to government by September 2025, which still needs to be approved by the Department of Internal Affairs,” she says.

You can read our In-house Business Unit Water Services Delivery Plan which was submitted to the Department on Internal Affairs by clicking here.