It was a milestone today for Taupō District Council as councillors moved to adopt the organisation’s new Water Services Delivery Plan and submit it to government.

The plan is a requirement of the government’s water reform programme, Local Water Done Well. The reforms replaced the Three Waters Reforms of the previous government and apply to drinking water, wastewater and stormwater.

Local Water Done Well required all councils to consult on at least two options for the future of their water services. Retaining the status quo was not an option.

Taupō District Council consulted on three possible options for its water services and resolved last month to retain water services in-house for now, with a review in two years. It will also join multi council-owned and controlled organisation Waikato Waters Ltd as a limited shareholder for some shared services.

Under the reforms, once councils have decided on a future model for water services, they are required to submit a Water Services Delivery Plan to central government by 3 September. Taupō District Council’s plan is a snapshot of its current state of water services as well as its plans for the future. The plan’s content is based on information from council’s existing plans, including the Long-term Plan 2024-34, its Annual Plan 2025-25 and its Annual Reports.

Council’s general manager community infrastructure and services, Tony Hale, says the Water Services Delivery Plan meets government’s criteria and clearly demonstrates that the council meets the three key components of financial sustainability (financing, revenue and investment sufficiency) that government requires. It also shows the actions that council will implement to achieve its goals for water services.

“The Water Services Delivery Plan is basically a ‘how-to’ on what needs to be done to retain our water services in-house but separate from the rest of council’s operations,” Mr Hale says.

“A huge amount of work has gone into this plan and I’m confident it provides a good stocktake of where we are currently at as well as a forward-looking view of our plans.

“Now we need to start preparing to implement it, including how we’re going to achieve financial separation and the work we need to do to ensure our systems and data are up to the standard that the Commerce Commission will require.”

The plan has already been reviewed by the Department of Internal Affairs and external consultants WSP and no material concerns were identified.

Acceptance, or otherwise, of council’s Water Services Delivery Plan is expected from government by the end of December.

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