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Whakahoutanga Ratonga Wai

Water Services Reform (Three Waters)

The Government’s Water Services Reforms are shifting New Zealand’s waters services into 10 new entities across New Zealand.

The reform will see the delivery of Tauranga’s drinking water, wastewater and stormwater transferred from Council to a new Bay of Plenty regional entity (Entity C).

We will continue to manage Tauranga’s water services until the new entity comes into place.

All legislation for Water Services Reform now law

The final three bills of the Water Services Reform’s suite of legislation (four in total) passed through Parliament in August 2023. This means all bills relating to reforming three waters services across New Zealand are now law and the legal mandate to transition three waters services from Councils to Water Services Entities is established.

Visit the Water Services Reform website to learn more about the reform.

Three waters entity map

Water Services Entities Map 285kb pdf

Why the change?

Local Councils are facing significant challenges with the future funding, maintenance, and management of drinking water, stormwater and wastewater services.

To read more about the Government’s water services reform programme, visit the Water Services Reform website.

What does this mean for Tauranga?

While Tauranga City Council is delivering some of the best water services in New Zealand, we can still see challenges that need to be addressed.

Our community will see no significant difference in their water services. You will, however, notice a difference in who is sending invoices and handling customer service; just like if you were to switch power or mobile services from one provider to another.

Tangata Whenua

We recognise and support the need for iwi/Māori to work alongside council to ensure that any reform doesn’t adversely impact existing rights and interests. We also see value in the perspective Tangata Whenua can offer as the reforms unfold.

A partnership brings the opportunity to incorporate the value of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) to facilitate the best outcomes for New Zealand communities. The reform provides an opportunity to start this process side-by-side.

The reform is aimed at delivering the outcomes of Te Mana o te Wai, a set of principles co-designed with iwi/Māori to lift the water quality of our streams, rivers and lakes. 

Locally, we have committed to working in partnership with Te Rangapū Mana Whenua o Tauranga Moana (the representative group for our iwi and hapū in the Tauranga City Council area).

Transitioning to the new entities 

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has established a National Transition Unit (NTU) to focus on the practical implementation of the reforms. This unit will work with the local government sector, iwi, water industry and other stakeholders to transition to the new arrangements. 

We are involved with transition discussions to see the best outcome for our communities, our environment and future generations.

See previous Council and community feedback on Water Services Reform

This is a government mandated reform. Throughout the process there were opportunities to share feedback with the Government on the development of legislation.

See previous feedback and find out more about opportunities for feedback

In late 2021, Central Government asked councils to seek feedback from their communities on the Three Waters reform proposal. The results of an online survey for our Tauranga community were used to develop feedback sent to central government in September 2021.

View the 2021 Three Waters reform feedback (295kb pdf)

The concerns raised by the community were used in our submissions to Parliament.

Questions and answers

Water Services Reforms’ focuses on restructuring and optimising the delivery and management of clean drinking water; wastewater (sewerage) reticulation, treatment and disposal; and stormwater management.

'Reform’ is about making improvements that will benefit the whole country.

The three waters reform is focused on finding a better way to fund and operate our drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services so that everyone in New Zealand has access to safe, reliable and affordable water services. That involves taking-over the responsibility of water services from councils and handing it to specialist entities to deliver and manage. Today, 67 different councils own and operate three water services across New Zealand. However, the Government is proposing to establish four new, publicly-owned, multi-regional entities to take on this role.

On 13 April 2023, Central Government announced its reset plan for its Three Waters Reform programme, now named Water Services Reform. Notable changes have been made on the timeline of the reform and the framework of the programme. Changes include increasing the number of Water Services Entities from one to 10, and a new ‘go-live’ date for these entities that will occur in a staged approach from early 2025 to 1 July 2026, rather than the original start date of 1 July 2024 for all entities. With this reset, Tauranga’s water services will now transition to the newly announced Water Services Entity C (Bay of Plenty), alongside Western Bay District Council, Whakatāne District Council, Rotorua Lakes Council, Kawerau District Council and Ōpōtiki District Council.

You can learn more about the Three Waters Reform reset on the Reform’s webpage, including the news update introducing the changes made to the reform.

Because councils are facing challenges in the provision of quality water services to meet the growing demands of their communities.

In particular:

  • funding the necessary infrastructure, such as water and wastewater treatment plants, pipes, etc
  • complying with safety standards and environmental expectations
  • building resilience to natural hazards and climate change into three waters networks
  • supporting growth – more people, means more demands on infrastructure.

The effective delivery of waters services is essential for our communities and includes:

  • safe drinking water, safe disposal of wastewater and effective stormwater drainage
  • adequate supply of cost-effective waters services for housing, businesses and community services
  • well-managed extraction of drinking water, and careful disposal of treated wastewater and stormwater so that our environment is protected.

Evidence shows that significant national investment is needed to continue to offer effective water service delivery. If the model stays as it is (council-ownership and management), service quality will be variable, and services will become unaffordable for many New Zealanders. Reform will enable communities across New Zealand to benefit from scale and operational efficiencies, making it more cost-effective in the long-run.

Tauranga residents will experience no real changes to how water services are provided. Residents will, however, see a change in who manages water services, and customer support and billing.

The reform will, however, mean a significant change for Council, and for the way drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services are delivered to our community in the future.

Tauranga’s water services will transition to Water Services Entity C (Bay of Plenty), alongside Western Bay District Council, Whakatāne District Council, Rotorua Lakes Council, Kawerau District Council and Ōpōtiki District Council.

A key building block of the reform will be a partnership with tangata whenua, in accordance with the principles of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The reform is also aimed at delivering the outcomes of Te Mana o te Wai, a set of principles co-designed with iwi/Māori to lift the water quality of our streams, rivers and lakes.

A partnership brings the opportunity to incorporate the value of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) alongside western systems to facilitate the best outcomes for New Zealand communities. The reform provides an opportunity to start this process side-by-side.

We recognise and support the need for iwi/Māori to work alongside council to ensure that any reform doesn’t adversely impact existing rights and interests. We also see value in the perspective tangata whenua can offer as the reforms unfold

Locally, we have committed to working in partnership with Te Rangapū Mana Whenua o Tauranga Moana (the representative group for our iwi and hapū in the Tauranga City Council area).

Water is a utility business (like electricity or telecommunications) and, if it were separated from councils, specialist water entities would be able to sustainably borrow more money to invest in services, leaving councils with better balance sheet capacity to meet community needs.

The Government is implementing reform of water services through a suite of legislation. The Department of Internal Affairs provides the below brief overview of the Water Services Reform legislation:

You can also read this on the DIA Water Services Reform Programme webpage

The Water Services Entities Act

The Water Services Entities Act establishes the new water services entities so they are ready to provide services from their ‘go live’ dates.

The Water Services Entities Act also incorporates amendments set out in the Water Services Entities Amendment Act and the Water Services Legislation Act, forming a single piece of legislation detailing the new arrangements for the provision of water services in New Zealand.

You can read more about the Act here: The Water Services Entities Act.

The Water Services Entities Amendment Act

The Water Services Entities Amendment Act gives effect to the Government’s refocus of water services reforms announced in April 2023.

The Act amends the Water Services Entities Act 2022 to establish 10 water services entities based on existing regional boundaries, and introduces a staggered timeframe for establishing the entities, with all entities going live between 1 July 2024 and 1 July 2026.

Read more about the Water Services Entities Amendment Act.

Water Services Legislation Act

This Act establishes the detailed powers, functions and duties of the new water services entities which are necessary for them to deliver water services to communities.

Read more about the Water Services Legislation Act.

The Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Act

The Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Act implements Cabinet’s agreement to establish an economic regulation and consumer protection regime as part of water services reform.

You can read more about the Act, economic regulation and consumer protection in three waters service delivery on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s website here: Economic regulation and consumer protection regime for water services.

Key information

Project type
Major projects
Planning, design and renewal
Health and wellbeing

Status
Planning

Neighbourhood
Citywide

Key dates

  • Our feedback to the Government was sent. See our feedback.

    End of September 2021
  • The Government announced council participation in the reforms will be compulsory.

    27 October 2021
  • Working Group of council and iwi representatives established.

    Late Oct/Nov 2021
  • Working group reports back to the Minister of Local Government with recommendations.

    9 March 2022
  • Government accepts 44 of the 47 recommendations to change reform programme.

    29 April 2022
  • Submissions on the Water Services Entities Bill close.

    22 July 2022
  • Water Services Legislation Bill introduced.

    8 December 2022
  • Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill introduced.

    8 December 2022
  • Royal Assent of Water Services Entities Bill.

    14 December 2022
  • Our feedback to the Government on Water Services Legislation Bill was sent. See our feedback

    24 February 2023
  • Our feedback to the Government on Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill was sent. See our feedback

    24 February 2023
  • Central Government announces reset on Three Waters Reform. Three Waters Reform is now called Water Services Reform

    13 April 2023
  • Government releases Select Committee reports on Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill

    7 June 2023
  • Government releases Select Committee reports on Water Services Legislation Bill

    8 June 2023
  • Water Services Entities Amendment Bill introduced

    16 June 2023
  • Government Submission period open for Water Services Entities Amendment Bill

    22 June - 5 July 2023
  • Our feedback to the Government on Water Services Entities Amendment Bill was sent. See our feedback.

    5 July 2023
  • Government releases Select Committee reports on Water Services Entities Amendment Bill.

    27 July 2023
  • Royal Assent of Water Services Entities Amendment Bill.

    22 August 2023
  • Royal Assent of Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill.

    30 August 2023
  • Royal Assent of Water Services Legislation Bill.

    30 August 2023

Who's listening

Community Relations Team
Tauranga City Council

Email: info@tauranga.govt.nz 
Phone: 07 577 7000

Other ways to get involved

Tauranga is your city. We’re working to make it even better.

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