Local Water Done Well
Ōtorohanga District Council delivers safe, high-quality drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services to our residents, ensuring environmental protection, public health, and sustainable growth. Future funding challenges for water infrastructure is a nationwide issue and the Government is addressing this through its Local Water Done Well (LWDW) policy.
This policy requires councils to create a Water Services Delivery Plan by September 2025, outlining how they will manage infrastructure, investments, and finances while meeting regulatory requirements.
To meet these new requirements, Council has been working to understand if it is better for our water users for us to continue to deliver water services on our own or join with our neighbouring councils and set up a regional council controlled organisation (CCO) delivery model. This is a big decision and we will need your help.
On this page
- What is Local Water Done Well?
- What needs to happen?
- Options for Water Services Delivery Model
- Community involvement
- Legislative stages
- Timeline
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- More info - Department of Internal Affairs
What is Local Water Done Well?
Local Water Done Well (LWDW) is the coalition government's approach to improving the management of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater (the "three waters") services replacing Labour’s previous "Affordable Water" model (sometimes called “Three Waters”).
It is intended to ensure people pay cost-reflective prices for water services, it is also to ensure that revenue collected from Three Waters rates are invested into Three Waters and ring fenced from other council activities. that those services are delivered to an acceptable quality, and that water services providers are investing sufficiently in three-waters infrastructure.
The changes under LWDW will affect how water services are delivered, maintained, and regulated with councils needing to make important decisions about their water infrastructure, service models, and whether to partner with other councils.
What needs to happen?
LWDW is being implemented in three key legislative stages. The latest piece of legislation, the Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act, was enacted in September 2024.
This Act requires councils to develop a Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) by September 2025 that must outline how water services will be managed, meet new regulatory standards, and be financially sustainable. The WSDP can be developed either alone or jointly with other councils.
The WSDP needs to cover a minimum ten-year timeframe (but can be up to 30-years) with detailed information provided on the first three-years.
The aim of the WSDP is to serve as the primary planning and decision-making tool around the delivery of water services both now and in the future while ensuring compliance with future health, environmental, and economic regulations.
A key part of developing a WSDP is that we need to consult on options for a Water Services Delivery Model for providing water services.
Options for Water Services Delivery Model
Currently there are five options available to Council for providing water services under the LWDW model, these being:
- We continue doing the work in-house
- Single council-owned council-controlled organisation (CCO)
- A council-controlled organisation (CCO) owned by the council and one or more of our neighbours.
- Mixed council / consumer trust – a consumer trust established as the majority shareholder with one or more councils owning a minority of shares
- Consumer trust – council assets would transfer to a consumer-trust owned organisation.
We must consider at least two options, and we have chosen an in-house business unit, and a regional CCO as the two options we are considering. The CCO option we’re exploring would be partnering with other Waikato councils and setting up a regional, multi-council water services company. We would be a shareholder alongside other councils and the company would be a Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO). We’re weighing this option up against making changes to our current model and ‘going it alone’.
Community involvement
We have to make a decision on our long term solution before we submit our Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) and we have to consult with you on that choice. Due to the tight timeframes this will be in early 2025 (April - May).
When the time comes we'll be keen to hear your views on the long term solution we're proposing.
Legislative stages
LWDW is being implemented through three key legislative stages being:
- Stage 1: Repeal of Previous Water Services Legislation - completed February 2024
- Stage 2: Establish Framework & Preliminary Arrangements for New Water Entities - Enacted: 2 September 2024
- Stage 3: Establish Enduring Settings - Bill introduced: December 2024 with enactment expected mid 2025.
Timeline
Click here for key dates for this project.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Click here for FAQ's on key LWDW issues.
More info - Department of Internal Affairs
Ōtorohanga District Council delivers safe, high-quality drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services to our residents, ensuring environmental protection, public health, and sustainable growth. Future funding challenges for water infrastructure is a nationwide issue and the Government is addressing this through its Local Water Done Well (LWDW) policy.
This policy requires councils to create a Water Services Delivery Plan by September 2025, outlining how they will manage infrastructure, investments, and finances while meeting regulatory requirements.
To meet these new requirements, Council has been working to understand if it is better for our water users for us to continue to deliver water services on our own or join with our neighbouring councils and set up a regional council controlled organisation (CCO) delivery model. This is a big decision and we will need your help.
On this page
- What is Local Water Done Well?
- What needs to happen?
- Options for Water Services Delivery Model
- Community involvement
- Legislative stages
- Timeline
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- More info - Department of Internal Affairs
What is Local Water Done Well?
Local Water Done Well (LWDW) is the coalition government's approach to improving the management of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater (the "three waters") services replacing Labour’s previous "Affordable Water" model (sometimes called “Three Waters”).
It is intended to ensure people pay cost-reflective prices for water services, it is also to ensure that revenue collected from Three Waters rates are invested into Three Waters and ring fenced from other council activities. that those services are delivered to an acceptable quality, and that water services providers are investing sufficiently in three-waters infrastructure.
The changes under LWDW will affect how water services are delivered, maintained, and regulated with councils needing to make important decisions about their water infrastructure, service models, and whether to partner with other councils.
What needs to happen?
LWDW is being implemented in three key legislative stages. The latest piece of legislation, the Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act, was enacted in September 2024.
This Act requires councils to develop a Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) by September 2025 that must outline how water services will be managed, meet new regulatory standards, and be financially sustainable. The WSDP can be developed either alone or jointly with other councils.
The WSDP needs to cover a minimum ten-year timeframe (but can be up to 30-years) with detailed information provided on the first three-years.
The aim of the WSDP is to serve as the primary planning and decision-making tool around the delivery of water services both now and in the future while ensuring compliance with future health, environmental, and economic regulations.
A key part of developing a WSDP is that we need to consult on options for a Water Services Delivery Model for providing water services.
Options for Water Services Delivery Model
Currently there are five options available to Council for providing water services under the LWDW model, these being:
- We continue doing the work in-house
- Single council-owned council-controlled organisation (CCO)
- A council-controlled organisation (CCO) owned by the council and one or more of our neighbours.
- Mixed council / consumer trust – a consumer trust established as the majority shareholder with one or more councils owning a minority of shares
- Consumer trust – council assets would transfer to a consumer-trust owned organisation.
We must consider at least two options, and we have chosen an in-house business unit, and a regional CCO as the two options we are considering. The CCO option we’re exploring would be partnering with other Waikato councils and setting up a regional, multi-council water services company. We would be a shareholder alongside other councils and the company would be a Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO). We’re weighing this option up against making changes to our current model and ‘going it alone’.
Community involvement
We have to make a decision on our long term solution before we submit our Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) and we have to consult with you on that choice. Due to the tight timeframes this will be in early 2025 (April - May).
When the time comes we'll be keen to hear your views on the long term solution we're proposing.
Legislative stages
LWDW is being implemented through three key legislative stages being:
- Stage 1: Repeal of Previous Water Services Legislation - completed February 2024
- Stage 2: Establish Framework & Preliminary Arrangements for New Water Entities - Enacted: 2 September 2024
- Stage 3: Establish Enduring Settings - Bill introduced: December 2024 with enactment expected mid 2025.
Timeline
Click here for key dates for this project.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Click here for FAQ's on key LWDW issues.
More info - Department of Internal Affairs
Timeline
-
March 2025
-
April → May 2025
-
September 2025
-
October 2024
Frequently asked questions
- Who owns the water assets and is responsible for water services under LWDW?
- How will my water services be affected under LWDW?
- What do I need to do?
- What are the key LWDW dates?
- What is the role of a Water Services Delivery Plan?
- What does financially sustainable water services mean?
- How is financial sustainability balanced against affordability?
- What influence do iwi/hapū have over a Water Services Delivery Plan?
- What regulatory arrangements are planned under LWDW?
- How will new water service entities be governed?
- What are government's plans for economic regulation?
- How will water be funded under LWDW?
- How will water debt be handled under the LWDW model?
- Does LWDW allow for cross-subsidisation where all water users pay the same irrespective of where they live?
- What non-financial criteria are being taken into account in considering a regional model?
- How will storm water be handled under LWDW?
- How does LWDW impact on Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations?
- What happens if something goes wrong or Council cannot develop a WSDP?
- What are the changes to wastewater standards including Te Mana o te Wai?