Across Aotearoa, councils are being asked to transform the way drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services are delivered. This is called Local Water Done Well. Local Water Done Well replaces the previous government's Three Waters Reform programme and seeks to achieve similar water outcomes.

The aim of Local Water Done Well is to make sure people know that the water in their community is safe to drink, the environment is being looked after, and the way these services are financed (now and into the future) is sustainable. The legislation also recognises the importance of keeping decision-making and control over water services and assets local.

Council must have a water service delivery plan by 3 September 2025 and that plan has to outline the model we are going to use – whether that is a new standalone entity specifically responsible for water services, an internal business unit, or working with other councils to create a new joint water services organisation.

This is a big discussion, but council is committed to move through it transparently with our communities.

Current charges

In 2025, the average cost per connection in the district was $2,254 for water services. This includes:

$804 for drinking water

$857 for wastewater

$593 for stormwater

The district faces challenges

Whatever the future model for water services delivery, the district faces challenges across each of its water networks, typical of challenges faced across the motu.

Significant investment required to maintain the condition of assets, maintain consents, and improve levels of service across the three waters

Meeting demands from population growth

Some schemes service small communities making it difficult to keep services affordable

Managing the more frequent and severe storms expected in Ōpōtiki, noting some of our settlements are low lying and at risk of inundation and floods

Ensuring we have robust, reliable infrastructure while managing funding and financing challenges and ensuring affordability for ratepayers.

In the future, the way we fund water services needs to be separated from other council activities

Local Water Done Well will require us to ‘ringfence’ all revenue we collect for water services. This means all revenue and costs relating to water supply, wastewater, and stormwater services, must be separated from other council services. This helps to ensure the community understands the true cost of delivering water services.

Under new regulations, the council will need to prepare separate plans for water services delivery that we will be audited against. The government is also creating a special economic regulator, who will monitor compliance with these ring-fencing requirements.

Changes are required

Local Water Done Well requires us to demonstrate that our water services delivery will be financially sustainable by 30 June 2028. The way we do things now will need to change, whether we change delivery models or not, to meet the requirements of Local Water Done Well.

Safe, affordable and reliable drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater networks are vital to community public health and wellbeing, and the protection of the environment.

The 2016 water contamination issue in Havelock North, and associated widespread gastroenteritis outbreak, triggered central government review and inquiry. These reviews raised system-wide questions about the effectiveness of the regulatory regime throughout the country, and the capability and sustainability of water service providers. Several reports indicated national underfunding of three waters service between $120 billion and $185 billion in the next 30 years.

Between 2020 and 2023 the Labour-led Government introduced new water regulations, a new regulatory body (Taumata Arowai) and structural changes to how water services are delivered. This work created new multi-region entities to take over water services delivery from councils.

Following the 2023 elections, the new coalition Government repealed Three Waters legislation relating to service delivery, replacing it with Local Water Done Well. Councils were required to put the costs of waters back into their LTPs. This has had significant rating impacts for many councils, including Ōpōtiki District Council.

Under the Local Water Done Well legislation, councils (or groups of councils) are required to prepare a Water Services Delivery Plan for DIA approval. This plan will include 10-year high-level projections for future provision of water services, with a detailed three-year plan. Additional legislation in 2025 will provide options for CCO arrangements and establishment of economic regulation.

The Local Government (Waters Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024, requires us to draft a Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) to set out how our water services will be delivered to meet health, economic, and environmental regulations for the coming 30 years.

We will consult with our community on the draft plan and adopt it in time to submit to the Department of Internal Affairs by September 2025.

We’ve done quite a lot of work to better understand the current state of the district’s water services and our ability to deliver services into the future (based on the government’s new water standards, growing population, other challenges and demands on our services, and strict financial requirements).

We are proud of what we have achieved for Ōpōtiki communities in recent years, with rehabilitation and repair work on the town’s sewerage network, wastewater pipe relining, planned expansions at our wastewater treatment plant, staged renewal of the main water supply line, additional bore supply in Te Kaha, new stormwater storage and treatment areas including major upgrades on the Tarawa Creek catchment. Our three waters assets are currently providing good service to our community.

Under the legislation, councils can consider options such as a new standalone entity specifically responsible for water services, an internal business unit, or working with other councils to create a new joint water services organisation.

We commissioned a report to consider the different options and models and what each could mean for Ōpōtiki communities in terms of costs and levels of service.

Our elected members know how important it is to the community to keep local assets close to the community that has invested in them and paid for them. We will be consulting with the community on the best two options during April and May to help decide which one we think will best serve our community (and meet legislative requirements) into the future.