Cabinet has agreed on key steps to implement Local Water Done Well, the Coalition Government’s plan for financially sustainable locally delivered water infrastructure and services. Read the annoucement here(external link).
Read the full announcement from central Government here.(external link)
While the announcement from the Government on the future of the 3 Waters programme was expected, the scope and scale of the changes released today will take some time to work through.
There are several benefits in the new proposal, but they will come at a cost.
“Under the four-entity model we saw the benefits of aggregation with a greater number of people sharing the costs of essential infrastructure”, said Tasman Mayor Tim King.
“However, the trade-off was a greater distance between communities and the decision-making process.
The 10 entity model reverses that structure providing far greater opportunity for local input and decision-making but with the costs of management and development spread across a lower number of households.
“While these costs are less than the costs per household of the status quo, they are higher than what the four-entity model proposed.
“In our submissions to the previous model, Nelson City, Marlborough and Tasman District Councils along with local iwi strongly supported our inclusion in a South Island entity, we still believe this is the best model.
“We have been working closely with the National Transition Unit for some time now preparing for the previous model’s implementation in 2024, and it has created much uncertainty. How these changes affect us within the extended timeframe has just pushed that uncertainty out further.
“With the reshaping of the entities, we will now be working closely with our neighbours, Nelson and Marlborough. One of the key items will be the new timeframe where entities will be in place by 1 July 2026. This will have an impact on our planning and ability to finance essential infrastructure investment.
“While we already work closely with both Councils and the proposed entity will be closer and more aware of our local needs, delivery to our different catchments and community will still pose challenges.
“As we work through the ramifications with the NTU (National Transition Unit), we will need to update our Annual and Long-Term Plans now that the Government’s plans have changed. We will certainly keep our residents informed as we know more about what these changes mean for them.
“We have short time to submit on the proposal as it goes through the legislative and associated Select Committee process and the details and related ramifications become clearer.
"In the meantime, while we get greater certainty about this new iteration of 3 Waters, we will still be delivering water services to our District.”
Soon after the Water Services Entities Act came into force in December, the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee released further Water Services legislation and requested submissions.
In our submission, we supported the general intent of the Bill but proposed changes in areas that we consider will potentially have a significant impact on Tasman. We also recommended other minor changes to technical aspects of the legislation.
In a collective request with our neighbouring Councils and Te Tauihu iwi, we strongly emphasised our preference to be included in Water Entity D with the rest of the South Island rather than the Eastern Central North Island Entity C. We also expressed our concern about the administrative complexities and extra cost of our three water services being split across two water service entities.
We submitted that the Water Services Entities should be entirely responsible for their own invoicing rather than us having to on-charge on their behalf.
We recommended a pause on the transfer of stormwater services until a more integrated or ‘whole of catchment’ approach to stormwater management is developed which considers how urban stormwater interacts and connects with streams, rivers and coastal environments.
To reduce the risk of inconsistencies and duplication, we also requested better alignment of the rules and requirements across the vast amount of new legislation relating to water, seeking further clarity across the organisations that regulate water quality, and asking who has regulatory control over what areas.
Mayor Tim King presented the key points of our submission to the Select Committee last month.
With the change of Prime Minister, the Government is now undertaking an information gathering exercise which includes talking to councils and iwi on options that could be considered in any reset of the reform.
The Government is implementing reform of water services through a suite of three pieces of legislation.
They are:
The Water Services Entities Act establishes the new water services entities so they are ready to provide services from 1 July 2024.
You can read more about the Act here: The Water Services Entities Bill(external link)
Introduced to Parliament in December 2022, the Water Services Legislation Bill sets out detailed functions and powers of the new entities, what they are required to do, the tools they need for their work and arrangements for the transition to the new system.
Read the Bill (on www.legislation.govt.nz)(external link)
Also introduced to Parliament in December 2022, the Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill implements Cabinet’s agreement to establish an economic regulation and consumer protection regime as part of the Three Waters Reform.
You can read more about economic regulation and consumer protection in three waters services on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s website here: Economic regulation and consumer protection regime for three waters services(external link)
Read the Bill (on www.legislation.govt.nz)(external link)
The Government has established a National Transition Unit (NTU), for executing the Government’s decisions on Three Waters reform through a consistent and coordinated nationwide approach to transition.
Read more about the NTU.(external link)
Public submissions to the Select Committee for the Water Services Entities Bill closed on 22 July 2022.
Thank you to those who shared their feeedback to help inform Council's submission.
We have taken a long-term view of the proposed Three Waters reforms in our submission to the Water Services Entities Bill.
While we recognise the need for reforms, the structure needs further work to provide trust and confidence in the outcomes being sought by the Government.
The current proposal of four large entities from 67 Councils poses its own challenges. As well as the complexity of joining so many systems together under one management system, the fact that the majority of the other Councils in Entity C are in the North Island creates a greater risk of Tasman’s needs being lessened in the shadow of larger populated areas.
Should the reforms proceed, we have submitted, with the support of Nelson City and Marlborough District Councils and iwi of Te Tauihu, to be part of the South Island Entity D with whom we share geography and our rural identity and have a greater chance of sharing the proposed benefits of the structure.
There are a number of other technical suggestions in our submission about expectation setting, reporting and billing.
Read Tasman District Council's submission. (pdf 304 KB)
Read the joint Te Tauihu iwi and councils submission (pdf 427 KB).
The Government’s Three Waters Reform is progressing, and we are monitoring developments and assessing the available information to determine how Tasman will be affected.
Recent developments include the release of the report by the independent working group around governance, representation and accountability for Water Services Entities.
The Government subsequently announced that 44 of the 47 recommendations made in the report will be incorporated into the legislation introduced to Parliament.
The Water Services Entities Bill is expected to be introduced to the House in mid-2022 and we will be able to make submissions on the Bill when it is referred to the Select Committee shortly after.
However, until the bill is introduced, we cannot be certain of the final structure that Tasman and other councils will operate under and therefore can’t make a definitive statement on what our submission will entail.
The impending legislation establishing the new Water Services Entities will reflect five key areas: ownership, co-governance, accountability, Te Māna o te Wai and strengthening connections with local communities, including sub-groups feeding into the Regional Representative Group.
The legislation outlined in the Water Services Bill represents one pillar of the national water reforms – the others being the establishment of the new water services regulator Taumata Arowai and reforms to water delivery services.
It’s important to differentiate that Taumata Arowai governs the health of the water being delivered and the national direction set within Te Māna o Te Wai which guides the protection and wellbeing of our freshwater.
Each plays a significant part in the overall water service delivery, with all combining to govern the safety and security of water from source to the tap.
The DIA website provides a detailed breakdown of the reform programme:Department of Internal Affairs(external link).
In October 2021 Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced that the Government would legislate to create four new water entities that would take on the water assets currently owned by councils. The timeline for the entities to be up and running is by 1 July 2024.
We now know that the reforms will proceed, and Councils won't have the ability to opt out.
The Minister will be introducing legislation to progress the establishment of the entities. The Select Committee process will provide an opportunity to get public feedback on the reforms.
Read the full announcement here.(external link)
Keep up with the process as central government progresses it on the Department of Internal Affairs website(external link).
Prior to the announcement, Council had made detailed submissions to the Government on the proposal. Some matters have been addressed by the Government but there is a lot more work to do. You can read our response here. (pdf 178 KB)
For those who missed the public information session held via a Zoom webinar on 29 September 2021, you can watch a recording of the session below.
A copy of the slide presentation is also available here (pdf 1.1 MB).
The Government is considering how best to regulate and deliver the country’s three water services - drinking water, wastewater and stormwater.
Their current proposal is to create four new regional water entities which would replace the 3 Waters work of 67 councils currently managing these services. The exact size, shape and design of these entities is still being worked on.
The Department of Internal Affairs released a map (below) in June 2021 showing the proposed boundaries of the four entities. Tasman would be part of Entity C under this proposal, which is split between the North and South Islands.
Tasman District Council has made no decisions on the proposal as yet but will continue to engage with the Department of Internal Affairs to assess options as new, more detailed information is provided.
Council believes that consultation with the community is an essential part of an informed decision-making process regarding its involvement in the Three Waters Reforms and is still working to gain a clear understanding on what the proposed reforms will mean for Tasman.
The full background to the reform programme, including all the reports, can be found on the Department of Internal Affairs website.(external link)
Three Waters Reform Proposal - Governance.pdf (pdf 797 KB)
Three Waters Reform Proposal - community voice.pdf (pdf 768 KB)
Key reform questions and essential facts 26 Aug.pdf (pdf 699 KB)
In June 2021, Government released four reports as part of the evidence base to support proposed reforms. They follow the initial analysis from the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) which was released last December. The reports are part of the evidence base for reform at a national level and don’t speak to implications for individual councils.
These reports include:
WICS final report - economic analysis of water services aggregation – June 2021 (PDF, 1.5MB)
WICS supporting material Part 1 - required investment - June 2021 (PDF, 1.5MB)
WICS supporting material Part 2 - scope for efficiency - June 2021 (PDF, 3MB)
WICS supporting material Part 3 - costs and benefits of reform - June 2021 (PDF, 4MB)
Beca report - DIA Three Waters Reform - WICS Modelling Phase 2 - June 2021 (PDF, 653KB)
Deloitte report summary - final economic impact & affected industries - June 2021 (PDF, 1MB)
Deloitte report - Industry Development Study & Economic Impact Assessment - June 2021 (PDF, 4MB)
You can find out more about the background to these reports on the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) website:
Go to DIA: Central-Local Government Three Waters Reform Programme page
This section will be updated with any relevant council report and information releases throughout the Three Waters Reform process.
Three Waters Reform Programme report to Full Council 29 September 2021 (pdf 972 KB) You can also view the report and its attachments here.
2021-08-12 - Amended Three Waters Report - Full Council.pdf (pdf 595 KB)
Next steps in the Three Waters Reform programme
Tasman seeking positive flow-ons following Three Waters mandate announcement
Tasman seeks timeline extension on Three Waters Reform
Three Waters information filling up for Tasman as webinar engagement announced
Three Waters Consultation remains high priority for Tasman
Tasman acknowledges demand for consultation as Three Waters analysis continues
