We absolutely welcome the government’s decision to set up a national drinking water regulator.

As a region, we have been working with the Minister on this for the last year and anything to improve the delivery of safe drinking water is certainly a great step forward for the whole country.

It’s almost three years on from the Havelock North water contamination and we don’t want an outbreak like that ever again.

“Water is the number one priority for our district and our region. We have been consistently providing safe drinking water in Hastings and across the district for the last three years, so this is really exciting news for us.

“We are investing $50 million into our water strategy which traverses our entire district. It is bringing in great improvements to our infrastructure for the safety of our community.”

To have one regulator with the same rules for all of us to work within is absolutely essential for the delivery of safe drinking water across New Zealand.

You can’t look at safe drinking water in isolation – storm water and waste water must also be included.

For that reason, our region’s leaders have been working together since January on our own major regional 3 waters review.

We are already considering how we can look after our three waters and improve our environment - it’s a big priority for our region and important for our people.

ENDS

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