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Ashburton's Water Plan Receives DIA Tick
October 20, 2025
Ashburton has been given the green light to go it alone under the Government’s water done well reforms. Ashburton District Council’s water services delivery plan for an in-house business unit to deliver water services for the district has been accepted by the Department of Internal Affairs.
Council chief executive Hamish Riach said he was pleased to hear from the Secretary for Local Government Paul James that Ashburton’s delivery plan had been assessed and accepted.
“This plan is no small document and sets out in detail how council intends to provide water services for its communities, while meeting new national water quality and Commerce Commission requirements.
“There was overwhelming support from the community for an in-house business unit when we consulted about how water should be delivered in the future, and we’re pleased that the community’s preferred position has been accepted by the DIA.
“Work now turns to implementing the plan, which will be operational by July 2027.”
The delivery plan was required by law as part of reforms to drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services for all councils. Developing the plan, the council had to assess its water infrastructure and how much it needed to invest in improvements, and how it planned to finance and deliver water services.
The council will soon receive a delivery plan assessment report, which sets out aspects of the plan that will be monitored by the DIA during implementation. Other council’s looking to go it alone haven’t been approved. Waitaki District Council's standalone water services plan was rejected by the DIA.
The same day Waitaki was announcing its rejection, Southern Waters was celebrating DIA approval to create the South Island's biggest joint council water company. The district council submitted the standalone plan in August after backing out of the Southern Waters partnership - a multi-council CCO of Central Otago, Clutha, and Gore district councils.
Waitaki has been directed to carry out a full review of the district's water assets to amend its plan or face ministerial intervention. The council has estimated the cost of carrying out the asset review was "likely to be in the millions of dollars".
Waitaki was one of the six councils to receive a letter from the DIA prior to the submission deadline. Ashburton did not receive the letter from the DIA. Selwyn’s standalone CCO, Selwyn Water Limited, was the first water services entity to be established under the Government’s Water Done Well legislation on July 1.
-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Local Democracy Reporting
Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.
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