Local Water Done Well frequently asked questions

Currently, each city council owns the infrastructure (reservoirs, pipes, wastewater treatment plants and other facilities) within their city or area. Greater Wellington owns the drinking water collection, treatment and bulk water distribution pumps and pipe network, and charges the city councils a levy to pay for the cost of these shared facilities. For example, Hutt City Council owns the pipes underneath Lower Hutt, and shares ownership of Seaview Wastewater Treatment Plant with Upper Hutt City Council. Each city council funding the maintenance and development of water infrastructure and does this by collecting rates. They are also responsible for the debt taken on to fund maintenance and improvement of the water network.

Service delivery (the actual work of maintaining the pipes, supplying drinking water, treating wastewater, managing stormwater, and improving the water network), is managed by Wellington Water Ltd, an organisation jointly owned and funded by six councils (Hutt City Council, Wellington City Council, Porirua City Council, Upper Hutt City Council, Greater Wellington, and South Wairarapa District Council). Wellington Water Ltd receives funding from each council, but that funding is to be spent only on that council's own pipes, rather than across the whole water system in the region.

Because Wellington Water relies on money from councils, their work programme is restricted by how much they receive and the most immediate needs of each area, making them more reactive than proactive. Also, because money from each council must be spent only in that council’s area, Wellington Water is constrained in being able to plan a work programme that enables efficient and effective management and improvement of the whole system.  

While Wellington Water Ltd manages the day-to-day water supply on behalf of shareholding councils, Greater Wellington is still ultimately responsible for collecting, treating and distributing safe and healthy drinking water across the region.

Greater Wellington owns and manages the large areas of land used for our metropolitan water supply – the Hutt and Wainuiomata/ Orongorongo Water Collection Areas and Kaitoke Regional Park. We also own land designated for future Water Collection Areas – the Pakuratahi (former AgResearch) farm at Kaitoke, and the Akatarawa and Pakuratahi Forests.

Greater Wellington also owns the assets associated with supplying this water – that’s 187 km of distribution pipework, four treatment plants, 9km of tunnels, three water storage dams, 15 pump stations, 45km of roads and tracks, 2,688 raw water intakes and wells, 18 aquifer wells, plus all the catchment lands (land where water collects and drains into bodies of water like rivers). The water provided by Greater Wellington goes to reservoirs owned by each city. From there, the water moves from the reservoir to local homes and businesses through council-owned pipes.

This large network of water collection areas, treatment plants, pumping stations and pipelines that supply drinking water is referred to as bulk water supply. Providing the water to the city councils involves managing a network of infrastructure, ensuring safe, high-quality, secure, and reliable water sources, and ensuring that our freshwater is sustainable. The councils fund Greater Wellington’s supply of these water services through a charge (called the bulk water levy) which is calculated based on each city or district’s water usage. 

The proposed law, (Local Government (Water Services) Bill) provides a new approach to the management of stormwater services.

City councils will retain responsibility for ensuring that stormwater services are provided in their district but can choose the delivery arrangements that best suit their circumstances.

Councils will be able to:

• Continue to deliver stormwater services directly (in-house) or;
• Transfer all or some aspects of stormwater service provision to a water organisation (this might include stormwater network assets); and/or
• Contract a water organisation (or potentially another third party) to provide all or some aspects of stormwater service delivery.

Under our preferred option of a multi-council-owned water organisation, most aspects of stormwater service provision would be transferred to the new water organisation. The new water organisation would own most water assets, including urban stormwater pipes and pumps.  The revenues and liabilities pertaining to these stormwater assets would also transfer.

City councils would retain accountability for overland stormwater flow paths, that is, any flow path taken by stormwater on the surface of public land e.g., on roads and through parks. Private landowners would also retain similar accountability for stormwater paths on their land.

This approach is recommended for three key reasons:

• The urban piped stormwater system has many interconnections with the wastewater system - so investment and delivery has to be coordinated;  
• Most councils do not have stormwater capability as this is currently managed by Wellington Water; and  
• Addressing stormwater issues helps deliver on broader outcomes including te mana o te wai.

While city councils under our preferred delivery model will transfer the delivery of stormwater services to the new water organisation, they will continue to have a strong influence on stormwater outcomes in their city or district via transfer and service agreements, statement of expectations and water services strategies.

These changes maintain the responsibility of city councils to consider how they will align land use planning, stormwater services and investment to support the management of stormwater services, and continue to leverage councils’ existing networks with their communities.

For more information this DIA factsheet provides an overview of future arrangements for urban stormwater, and mechanisms to improve the management of overland flow paths and watercourses in urban areas.

Much of New Zealand has significantly underinvested in water infrastructure and water services over several decades. Councils around the country now face stark challenges to meet the investment needed to ensure safe and reliable drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.

The level of investment required to improve the water network is high. For the Wellington region, we set up Wellington Water Ltd to run the region’s water networks. This hasn’t worked, due to a range of governance and management related system-wide issues. All five councils are now proposing another model that will provide governance robustness and the financial capacity to address decades of underinvestment.  

No. Under Local Water Done Well, the Government has committed that water services will remain in public ownership. Councils and water organisations will not be able to privatise water services. The Local Government (Water Services) Bill states that a water organisation must be owned by a council (or councils) and/or a consumer trust.

Additionally, the Bill introduces a range of restrictions against privatisation. For example, it is proposed that a water service provider may not use water assets as security on a loan. 

Yes. The proposed water organisation would have a direct relationship with customers. Property owners will no longer pay for water services in council rates bills and instead the new water organisation will invoice property owners directly, much like gas, phone or power companies do. 

The new legislation is proposing that the councils who own the new organisation will be able to influence the direction of the new water organisation through a statement of expectations, the ability to comment on and potentially modify the water services strategy that the water organisation prepares and board appointments.

The preferred option involves transferring ownership of the councils’ water supply network assets to the new water organisation.  Schedule 1 of Greater Wellington’s Significance and Engagement Policy defines strategic assets which includes regional bulk water supply network including storage lakes, treatment plants, pipelines and water supply catchments.  

The statement of expectations will inform the water organisation’s long-term water services strategy (prepared every three years), which will outline how they plan to deliver on these expectations and priorities, and their intended approach to pricing and charging consumers.

The water organisation will be required to provide an annual report to the shareholding councils. The shareholding councils will have the power to require the organisation to provide additional reports such as an asset management plan or quarterly reports, if they wish. The shareholding councils will appoint directors to the board of the water organisation and will be able to remove directors or decide not to renew their appointments.

Councils will need to introduce ways to kōrero with communities on water needs and concerns, so that can be fed into the statement of expectations.

At a minimum, the new water organisation will be required to prepare an annual budget and performance report to the owning councils. It is highly likely that the owning councils will require more frequent performance reporting to ensure a strong focus on quality customer service, delivery and management of assets.

In addition, any consents issued under the Resource Management Act 1991 will be monitored and enforced by Greater Wellington. This will include consents to use water, take water and discharge into water. Non-compliance will be investigated and dealt via the usual regulatory processes. 

If, following public consultation, a council does not adopt the currently preferred service delivery option, the remaining councils will continue to work towards a joint Water Services Delivery Plan. This would require recalculation of a range of things, including of the levels of investment needed to ensure a financially sustainable plan.  

Because our region has a connected water network, the exit of one council would also require the development of arrangements and agreements around shared or interconnected infrastructure.

It would require a significant reworking of the Water Services Delivery Plan, and it is highly likely the remaining councils would need to seek an extension from the Government for submitting the joint plan. It would also likely delay the establishment of the proposed water organisation and could increase costs as they would be distributed across fewer rate payers. 

Water meters are expected to be introduced across the region over the coming years. Until that happens, the new water organisation is likely to charge a fixed amount for water services regardless of usage or whether the property is occupied or not. The landlord (owner) would be directly responsible for paying those charges.

If charges for volumetric water use (how much you use) are introduced in future (via water meters), landlords will be able to require those costs to be met by tenants. 

The approach for the proposed new organisation has been developed jointly by the five councils working in partnership with mana whenua.   

Our partners have advised that a joint council-owned water organisation is their preferred option. The primary drivers for this are that water sources across Wellington are connected and for Māori are considered as one and this model will enable a more efficient, holistic approach to managing water. 

The water organisation will have a range of relationships with mana whenua which will be confirmed through foundational documents such as the constitution and shareholders’ agreement. The Board would also need to have suitable competencies and skills in relation to te ao Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

Under the proposal for a new multi-council-owned water organisation, Wellington Water would be disestablished following transition of staff, operations, work in progress, facilities, plant and equipment to the new water organisation. 

Wellington Water is not responsible for the establishment of the new water organisation – they do however have an integral role supporting and advising councils with the development of the water services delivery plan and would support with the establishment of the proposed water organisation. 

To date, Councils have not set aside enough money to fund everything that is needed for our water services to operate safely and effectively. Under any delivery model, water bills will need to increase to meet the needs of our ageing network. The key thing is that we adopt a water service delivery model that allows for increasing investment into the network in a manageable and sustainable way. Based on financial modelling the proposed model will result in lower water charges for ratepayers than the modified status quo.    

Water meters are highly likely under all possible future models of water services delivery as they are already being investigated by councils and Wellington Water Ltd. Water meters are critical to helping identify where water loss is occurring, and to help people manage their water usage.

The government has signaled, via proposed legislation, that in future, water charges will have to be based on levels of use rather than being based on property values (as they generally are now) and water meters help to identify usage. 

Whatever option is agreed, it will operate in a much more regulated environment due to new government legislation, which will provide a strong focus on assurance, quality, delivery and value for money. The primary relationship of the organisation will be with its customers, not its shareholders (or owners). 

Council direction and oversight would be less than under the current Wellington Water model, giving the new organisation the independence and accountability to deliver. The new organisation will have an increased ability to borrow money, compared to a Council, and it will be able to deliver their investment programme more efficiently. 

• The proposed new multi-council-owned water organisation would own all the pipes, plant and facilities in the region covered by the councils for Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua, Wellington and Greater Wellington, and be able to generate its own income and manage its own debt.  
• Wellington Water is a management-only council-controlled organisation. It does not own the water assets and is reliant upon the councils for strategic direction and resources.
• Wellington Water currently takes direction from six different councils, meaning it is responding to issues within each area and is limited by council funding and funding cycles.
• The new water organisation would be able to view the network as a whole and be more proactive in planning for the long term, resulting in more efficient investment thus enabling a more reliable water network.
• The proposed new water organisation would have the resources, the independence, and the region-wide perspective to effectively manage and improve our water network, for current and future communities, rather than being limited by council funding and funding cycles.
• Because Wellington Water Ltd relies on money from councils, their work programme is restricted by how much they receive and the most immediate needs of each area, making them more reactive than proactive. Also, because money from each council must be spent only in that council’s area, they are constrained in being able to plan a work programme that enables efficient and effective management and improvement of the whole system.
• Wellington Water’s reliance on council funding means they need to regularly request funding to do the work required, through Long Term Plan and Annual Plan processes.
• While it would have much more independence than the current joint council-owned Wellington Water, the new water organisation will be required by law to operate in a much more regulated environment, which will provide a strong focus on water and service quality, customer-focused delivery and value for money. 

Greater Wellington does not charge ratepayers directly for bulk water services. However, the water services component would be removed from your City Council rates bill and you would be charged directly by the new organisation.  

Under the preferred option of a multi-council-owned water organisation, water would be managed with the whole network in mind, as opposed to focusing separately on each city’s needs. Our water network is connected, so investments made in one area benefit another. 

The issues with water services have been known for many years, and the need for significant change is now overdue. The Government has given all councils in New Zealand a deadline to submit Water Services Delivery Plans that demonstrate commitment to deliver water services that meet regulatory requirements. These plans must be submitted to the Government by 3 September 2025 and councils must start delivering on the plans as soon as they are submitted.