In July 2020, Central Government launched the Three Waters Reform Programme, since renamed the Water Services Reform after a ‘reset’ of the reform in April of 2023. The Water Services Reform programme is set to transfer the delivery of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater from local councils to a 10-entity national framework. Whakatāne District’s three water services will transfer to a new Bay of Plenty regional entity (Entity C). We will continue to manage water services until the new entity comes into place on or after January 2025.
Why this is happening
The reform programme follows the Three Waters Review that ran in parallel with the Government Inquiry into Havelock North Drinking Water, which was set up following a campylobacter outbreak in 2016 where 5500 people became ill and four people are thought to have died from associated causes. The Government also established Taumata Arowai, which is now the country's drinking water regulator. Other reasons cited by the Government’s case for reform are to make three waters delivery and services more affordable, the water services workforce more robust and a workable way to face growing challenges such as aging infrastructure and population growth.
What does the reform look like for Whakatāne
The Government is establishing 10 publicly owned entities to take responsibility for three waters services and infrastructure that are currently owned and operated by 67 different councils. Under the reform, Whakatāne District will become part of 'Entity C', which is made up of six Bay of Plenty councils. Members of Entity C include Whakatāne District Council, Tauranga City Council, Western Bay District Council, Rotorua Lakes Council, Kawerau District Council and Ōpōtiki District Council.
What we are doing
The Council's Leadership Team and people across our organisation remain involved in all aspects of the reform process to ensure our local voice is heard. We continue to provide support to our Elected Members so they can consider the potential impact on all our communities, partners, and ratepayers.
The Government is working directly with iwi leaders, too, and we appreciate that the Reform process is of great interest and significance to whānau, hapū, iwi.
We are keeping an open mind as we go through this process.
Water Services Reform and Whakatāne District Council's Long Term Plan
As a result of Central Government's decisions made in April and May 2023 to extend the transition dates to the Water Services Entities, Council will continue to handle delivering and funding water services until Water Services Entity C (Bay of Plenty) is up and running.
This means funding for water services will be budgeted into Council's 2024-34 long-term plan through to 30 June 2026. We will need to include information on our water services in our long-term planning, annual planning, and annual reporting documents over this period.
Update August 2023 - 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.
Previous updates
Updates July 2023
Government releases Select Committee Report on Water Services Amendment Bill
On 27 July, the Council released the Select Committee Report on the Amendment Bill. You can read the full report on here on the bill’s Parliament webpage.
Council submits feedback on Water Services Entities Amendment Bill
On 4 July, the Council provided Government feedback on the proposed Amendment bill.
Have your say: Water Services Entities Amendment Bill - open for feedback until 11:59, 5 July 2023
The Water Services Entities Amendment Bill was introduced to Parliament on 16 June 2023. This bill has been brought forward to address the reform changes made during the April 2023 'reset' to the Three Waters Reform, now Water Services Reform.
The bill had its first reading in Parliament on 22 June and has been referred to the Governance and Administration Committee for consideration. The Committee has set a timeframe of 22 June to 5 July 2023 for the public to make submissions on the Bill. This timeframe reflects the Government’s intention to pass all legislation to give effect to the water services reforms before the House rises for the General Election.
We encourage you to submit your views directly to the select committee.
Parliament has created a webpage with instructions and tutorial videos on how to make submissions on proposed legislation.
Make an individual submission on the Water Services Entities Amendment Bill »
Select Committee Reports released for Water Services Legislation (WSL) Bill and Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection (WSEECP) Bill
Background
The Water Services Legislation (WSL) Bill and Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection (WSEECP) Bill were introduced to Parliament in December 2022, with Whakatāne District Council making submissions in February 2023.
What's happening
Over June 7-8th 2023, the Select Committee released their reports for the WSL Bill and the WSEECP Bill. These reports outline the recommendations of the Select Committee after reviewing all the submissions made.
What's next
The WSL and WSEECP Bills will have their second and third readings in Parliament over the coming months before they become law in mid-August 2023 if all goes to plan.
Update April 2023
Central Government announces "reset" to Three Waters Reform
Central Government has announced its reset plan for the 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 1 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, Whakatāne District’s water services will now transition to the newly announced Water Services Entity C (Bay of Plenty), alongside Tauranga City Council, Western Bay District Council, Rotorua Lakes Council, Kawerau District Council and Ōpōtiki District Council.
Whakatāne District Council has been anticipating changes to the Government’s Three Waters Reform since the announcement of a ‘review and reset’ of the programme in February of this year.
Throughout this time, Council has continued its obligations set out by the Department of Internal Affairs' National Transition Unit to comply with its obligations towards transitioning Whakatāne District Council's water services to a Water Services Entity. Council remains prepared and ready as we await further details and a clear understanding of the National Transition Unit’s revised programme of work yet to be released.
With many of the details of change still to come, we will take time to review the changes outlined in the Three Waters Reform reset announced today, and the details of the revised National Transition Unit programme of work when it is available, to figure out what this means for Whakatāne communities, businesses, and council. We will continue to take part and be involved in discussions about this revised programme as we work to determine the best interests and outcome for Whakatāne.
You can learn more about the Three Waters Reform reset on the Water Services Reform's website - visit waterservicesreform.govt.nz
Update February 2023
Whakatāne District Council formally submitted responses to Central Government’s Water Services Legislation Bill and Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill introduced to Parliament in December 2022.
Councils had until 17 February 2023 to respond to the proposed bills. Given the short duration of the submission window, Whakatāne District Council combined efforts with the 21 other councils that will make up Water Services Entity B to enlist the aid of a law firm specialising in public policy analysis. This firm was able to supply a thorough review of the two proposed bills. Council used this analysis, as well as detailed responses from other independent organisations, such as Local Government NZ, Water New Zealand and Taituarā to develop Whakatāne District Council’s response to both the Water Services Legislation Bill and Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill.
Council's two submissions advocate for Whakatāne communities, protection of its interests and established accountability to local government, iwi/hapū, residents, and reflect on the key concerns consistently raised with Central Government since September 2021. To meet the submission deadline, the formal responses were made under the delegation of Mayor Dr Victor Luca on 17 February 2023, and will be retrospectively ratified at the March 2023 Council meeting.
Read Council's feedback submissions given to Government:
The Water Services Entities Bill had its third and final reading on 8 December 2022. It gained royal assent on 14 December 2022 and is now the Water Services Entities Act. The Act provides the basis to establish the Water Service Entities.
Read more about the Water Services Entities Act »
The Water Services Legislation Bill
The Water Services Legislation Bill was brought to Parliament on 8 Dec 2022 and provides more detail and structure to the Water Services Entities Act. It establishes detailed powers, functions, and duties of the entities. It lays out the structure and means for transferring assets and liabilities to the entities, and outlines the integration into planning systems, including resource management.
The first reading of the Water Services Legislation Bill was held on 13 December 2022. It is now with the Select Committee and open for submissions.
The Water Services Economic Efficiency and Consumer Protection Bill
This newly-introduced bill establishes price and quality regulation, as well as consumer protections of water infrastructure services. It was released together with the Water Services Legislation Bill on 8 December 2022, and had its first reading on 13 December 2022. It is now with the Select Committee and open for submissions.
On Friday 11 November, the New Zealand Parliament Finance and Expenditure Committee reported back on The Water Services Entities Bill (Bill 1), which provides the basis to establish the Water Services Entities.
Whakatāne District Council is currently reviewing the Committee report and amended Bill, and will make an analysis of the changes available in the coming weeks.
The new Mayors of Auckland and Christchurch have proposed an alternative approach to the Government's direction on Three Waters Reform. Communities for Local Democracy (C4LD), a group of 32 Councils across the country which opposes the Government's Reform model, has called for its members to support the Brown/Mauger call for change.
In June 2022, Government introduced to parliament the first piece of legislation for setting up the Water Services Entities (WSE's). This bill establishes four WSE’s that will provide three water services (Drinking Water, Wastewater and Stormwater) to the New Zeland public, in place of the local authorities. This bill contains ownership, governance and accountability arrangements for the new NSE’s. A further bill will be released later this year, providing more detail on the operational aspects that the WSE’s must comply with.
Written submissions were provided through to the select committee, and over 65,000 submissions were received. Whakatane District Council (WDC) provided a written submission and also asked for an opportunity to talk to the select committee. Within WDC’s written submission we re-iterated the key concerns that we have with this reform, which are captured below:
Lack of clarity around how the Three Water Reforms link to any of the other reform packages (e.g. RMA and Future of Local government)
Concern local voice would be lost in a complex governance model
Cost of this reform for our local communities and impacts to levels of service is unknown
Lack of funding for private water supplies to deliver against the new regulations
Impact of this reform on local whanau, hapu and iwi is unclear
Significant concerns on the poor communications / engagement with the public around this reform
WDC had the opportunity to talk to the Select committee on the 31st August 2022, please see below the video of this oral submission:
If you would like to listen to more of the submitters that talked to the select committee, please view the video below:
The select committee will prepare a report and submit this through to the house for further decision making on this legislation.
Update July 2022
The potential impact of Water Reform on rural supplies was one of the areas Whakatāne District Council called for greater clarity on when it provided feedback to Minister Nanaia Mahuta in October last year.
The Government set up the Rural Supplies Technical Working Group to provide that advice and at the end of May the group came back with 30 recommendations, including that privately owned water supplies should be able to keep managing themselves and that Taumata Arowai provide practical and cost-effective ways for schemes to comply with new water regulations - methods that recognise their uniqueness, and closely involves rural stakeholders. The Working Group recommended that the roughly 100 council-owned rural schemes around the country should be transferred to the Water Services Entities, with some proviso for exemptions for supplies critical to farming needs where users opted to operate independently.
Working Group Chair, Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan provided information on the recommendations and answered questions on a Zoom to WDC Councillors and rural residents on 28 July.
Update December 2021
Economic Regulation and Consumer Protection for Three Waters Services in New Zealand.
As a next step in the Three Waters Reform process, Government wants to hear from New Zealanders about whether economic regulation is needed for the future three waters system, and if so, how this should look. This includes questions such as whether economic regulation should apply to all three waters, which suppliers the regulation should apply to, and how this regulation could be designed. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is asking for feedback by 20 December 2021.
Whakatāne District Mayor Judy Turner says she was not surprised by the announcement that the Government will continue its Three Waters Reform programme.
"The Government signal, that reform in this area was a priority, never wavered. I think we can be heartened that the deep concern that we expressed to Minister Mahuta, about aspects of the reform model, have largely been listened to.
For example, we suggested that concerns we had around representation, accountability to our ratepayers and maintaining a local voice in the provision of services could be addressed by establishing a working party to refine the governance structure for the water service entities. That will be done. We also raised concern about rural water supplies and how the Three Waters Reform aligned with other Government Reforms and it provides a level of comfort that the Minister announced that technical working parties will also be set up to look closer at those issues."
"While there were many areas of the proposed reform model that gave us concern, we did agree that ultimately the nation-wide affordability challenge in the water space needs to be addressed. I believe Whakatāne District Council over the years has been a good steward of our Three Waters infrastructure, yet we are still facing unsustainable future costs without reform."
A submission sharing Whakatāne District Council's feedback on the Government's Three Waters Reform has been sent to Local Government Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta.
The submission outlines the Council’s questions, concerns and proposed solutions and has been developed following eight weeks of analysis and workshops to understand the Three Waters Reform proposal and its implications for the District and its communities.
The development of the submission also took into account the result of conversations with the district's Iwi Chairs and Chief Executives and the comments received from those who responded to Council's call for community feedback.
We know our community is interested in this proposed change. While we go through this period of assessment and review we'll share with you the information we have been provided by Government.
Links to Water Services Reform information:
Government's Water Services Reform website
Department of Internal Affairs’s webapge on Water Services Reform
Parliament's webpages on Water Services Reform legislation:
Council has also commissioned independent review of the financial aspects of the proposed reform based on the modelling that was completed by Central Government using the Scotland Model; it has also sought external review of the wider, non-financial aspects of the proposal, including workforce future, planning for district growth and community wellbeing.
Council has responded and supplied feedback to Water Services Reform legislation as they have been introduced to Parliament. You can read our submissions to Government on these bills below.
'Better off funding' was introduced as part of the initial Three Waters Reform Support Package. This funding was intended to enable councils to fund projects that would improve amenities and outcomes for residents. Originally, Government set aside $2 billion nationwide that would split into two tranches (portions), the first tranche of $500 million and second tranche of $1.5 billion to be awarded across the 67 councils.
With the Water Services Reform reset in April 2023, the second tranche of $1.5 billion Better off Funding has been cancelled. The first tranche of $500 million, however, will continue as planned.
Whakatāne District Council has been awarded $5.66 million through this first tranche of Better off funding to accelerate seven ’Community Good’ projects that Council put forward.
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