Local Government (Water Services) Bill
This bill sets up the long-term rules for how drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater are delivered across New Zealand. It lets councils create new water organisations to run these services, sets rules for how those organisations are run and funded, and creates new oversight rules to make sure water prices are fair and services are properly reported on. The bill also deals with how councils can transfer water service responsibilities to these new organisations, and adds new rules for stormwater management.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it, and the parts of the text that show it.
The bill lets water organisations charge developers a fee to help pay for the extra water pipes and infrastructure needed when new homes are built.
The bill would enable water organisations to require development contributions from developers, which would go towards the capital costs of meeting new or additional demand for water services infrastructure.
We agree with submitters that a further objective should be to support housing growth and urban development.
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Finance and Expenditure Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 17 December 2024.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.