About Local Water Done Well

Local Water Done Well is the Government’s plan to address New Zealand’s current and future water infrastructure challenges. It covers drinking water, wastewater and stormwater and replaces the previous government’s “three waters reforms”.

The Local Water Done Well legislation recognises the importance of local decision-making, outlines the framework for delivery of water services and aims to ensure a strong focus on investing sufficiently, ring-fencing funding for water services and meeting economic, environmental and water quality regulatory requirements.

Councils are able to determine the best structure and delivery methods for water services in their district. There are delivery models they can choose from, or they can develop their own.

What Council needs to do now

Local Water Done Well requires councils to decide how to deliver water services and related infrastructure in future. Councils must consult their communities on a preferred option.

Information about how Council plans to deliver water services (our preferred delivery model) will be included in Water Services Delivery Plans to demonstrate our commitment to delivering waters services that:

• Meet regulatory requirements
• Support growth and urban development
• Are financially sustainable.

Through these plans, Council will provide an assessment of our current waters infrastructure, how much we need to invest in the future, and how we plan to finance and deliver it through our preferred service delivery model.

The plans are a one-off, transitional requirement under the Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024.

Council is required to prepare and submit these plans, either individually or with other councils, by 3 September 2025 (unless an extension is granted).

Locally owned, financially sustainable

Making sure water services are financially sustainable means that revenue must be enough to meet the costs of providing these services. This includes meeting regulatory standards and requirements and long-term investment.

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.

What about water metering?

Rotorua Lakes Council’s current policy is to not meter domestic users in the urban areas. Currently only commercial and rural properties in our district are metered. Whether meters may be introduced in future across the urban areas is dependent on future decisions.

Pricing of water services will be monitored by the Commerce Commission, New Zealand’s independent economic regulator.

Find out more and make a submission