FAQs for water system performance reports for 2024

The good news is that most people in New Zealand are regularly receiving safe drinking water.  

Many more drinking water suppliers are now actively identifying and managing risks to drinking water safety following action taken by the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai. Almost 4 million out of the 4.4 million people served by registered drinking water supplies now have access to drinking water with critical safety barriers. 

Improved sector reporting means that we also have a better understanding of water network performance overall. 

However, for some drinking water supplies there is room for improvement to ensure key risks are being appropriately managed.   

• The prolonged use of consumer advisories (e.g. boil water notices) is an area of particular concern for us. While consumer advisories are an essential tool to manage supply risk, research tells us there’s a drop-off in people boiling their water over time. This highlights the challenge of using a short-term measure when a permanent infrastructure solution is needed. 

• For council supplies, our focus remains on ensuring critical drinking water treatment barriers are in place and operating effectively. Most council supplies have protozoa, bacterial and residual disinfection barriers in place, with most of those still needing to implement these barriers expected to have them in place by the end of 2025. 

• We have agreed a plan with the Ministry of Education, working with rural school principals, to address long-standing drinking water safety issues at self-supplied schools. We will continue to support schools to respond to incidents and build capability as the Ministry implements this plan. 

• Water loss is high in some parts of the country. Of those network operators that reported, 32% had at least one network with the worst possible rating for water loss according to an international index. This indicates an inefficient network with poor maintenance and asset condition. Excessive water loss through the network can mean networks are in poorer condition and, as a result, take and treat more water than is needed to supply communities. Overseas studies have found that outbreaks from waterborne diseases can be associated with poorly managed or maintained drinking water networks, such as leaking pipes, breaks in mains, or low water pressure. 

At the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai (the Authority), our vision is a future where everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand has safe water when they turn on the tap. 

Focus on drinking water  

As the drinking water regulator, our focus is on protecting public health. To do this, we set out requirements that drinking water suppliers need to meet to deliver on their responsibility to provide safe water.   

Registered drinking water suppliers have responsibilities under the law to provide the communities they serve with safe, reliable drinking water.  

Some suppliers have different ‘pathways’ they can follow to meet their responsibility to provide their community with safe drinking water (e.g. following the Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules or an Acceptable Solution, which set our minimum safe water requirements).  

In general, the simpler (or lower risk) the drinking water supply, the simpler the requirements. 

Focus on wastewater and stormwater  
 
The Authority also plays a role improving the way wastewater and stormwater networks affect the environment. We do this by developing nationally consistent environmental performance standards and reporting on how network operators are performing.  

Regional councils also have an important role to play in regulating wastewater and stormwater and setting rules related to freshwater quality. It’s easier to treat source water to make it safe to drink if it has fewer contaminants in it. So, it’s important to prevent lakes, rivers, streams and groundwater from becoming contaminated. 

The Authority will shortly publish its refreshed Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement (CME) Strategy 2025-28. This will clearly set out what the Authority expects drinking water suppliers to do over the next three years to address the most significant risks to public health.  

This will highlight our ongoing focus on improving the number of drinking water supplies with basic treatment barriers and ensuring that these barriers are operating effectively. 

We continue to be concerned by the number of long-term consumer advisories, such as boil water notices. 

• 74 long-term consumer advisories were in place at the end of 2024, compared to 93 in 2023  

• 20 council supplies serving 7,000 people have had long-term advisories in place for three or more years – 16 of these supplies lack one or more critical safety barriers.  

Consumer advisories are intended to be used as a short-term tool to address immediate risks (e.g. when extreme weather impacts water quality). Research indicates that prolonged use of these advisories undermines their effectiveness as the number of people who boil their water decreases substantially over time.  

As we work toward resolving instances of long-term consumer advisories, we will take a pragmatic approach. We’ll continue to support smaller communities to understand what is reasonable and achievable as they work toward permanent solutions. However, our primary responsibility is to protect public health. As such, we may use our enforcement tools to require action from suppliers where there is no clear pathway to resolution. 

Water loss (leaks) from drinking water networks is a significant issue.  

• Leaks create a risk of illness: International studies estimate that up to 30% of outbreaks of waterborne diseases are associated with issues in drinking water networks (e.g. from leaking pipes, breaks in mains or low water pressure). 

• Leaks impact the environment: Leaks result in more water than is necessary being taken from the environment to ensure communities have enough water to drink.  

• Leaks cost communities: Water loss means additional cost for communities is required to treat additional water to make up for losses through leaks. 

 
Concerningly, 32% of network operators that provided reporting had at least one network with the worst available rating for water loss according to an international index – indicating an inefficient network with poor maintenance and asset condition. 
 
Water loss data quality varied significantly across network operators.  Good data on water loss is essential for drinking water network operators to feel assured that they have sufficient and safe water available to meet demand and are not taking more water than is needed from the environment.

Ageing infrastructure is a significant challenge across the country. Many networks are under pressure due to challenges arising from population growth, urbanisation and climate change. Coupled with systemic underinvestment in the sector, ageing infrastructure is causing budgetary pressure and potentially increased health risks to communities. 

The situation and nature of networks varies across the country. However, data shows that of the pipes that were graded, 16% of were in poor condition.  

The quality of data on asset condition across network operators also varies. Some, generally smaller councils, had an inconsistent or unclear understanding of their networks’ condition or how to assess this. 

It’s critical for operators to assess and monitor the condition or quality of various parts of a drinking water, wastewater or stormwater network. This will inform proactive plans for network maintenance, repair and replacement. 

Over the next decade, the Authority expects to see a step change in how water services are managed across New Zealand. We want to see better monitored, better maintained and more reliable networks that protect health and the environment.  

The insights from the Network Environmental Performance Report will guide where we focus our effort, including where we build capability, or inform other tools to drive change (e.g. environmental performance standards or targets).  

These performance reports are based on data from drinking water suppliers and network operators. 

The latest Drinking Water Regulation Report (2024) highlights that council drinking water suppliers have significantly improved their reporting against the Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules, increasing from 76% in 2023 to 90% in 2024. Councils are also reporting in more detail.  

Our first Network Environmental Performance Report last year suggested that network operators do not hold good quality information about their drinking water networks.  

This year operators have reported on more drinking water and wastewater measures, so we have more information. Water loss and asset condition data was externally reviewed to give us greater confidence in the results. Compared to last year, operators reported:  

• 26% more pipes have been graded across the country to determine their condition  

• 14% more network operators have assessed risks to their critical assets  

• 7% more network operators have a water conservation programme in place. 

It is clear that sector reporting is improving. However, there is still more work to be done. For example, some network operators lack reliable information on key measures like water use, water loss and network condition. In the latest report:  

• only 76% of operators provided information on the amount of water they supply to the network  

• fewer than 60% of network operators reported on their residential water use, water pressure and water loss.  

Why is good quality data and reporting important? 

Understanding water networks through better information is critical. It is the first step to:  

• improving performance  

• managing risks to the environment and public health  

• being ready to respond to future challenges.

A multi-barrier treatment approach is a key principle of safe drinking water. 

Water can be found in a range of places including lakes, rivers, streams and underground. But if you drink water straight from these sources, there’s a risk that it could be contaminated with bacteria, viruses or protozoa (microscopic parasites) that could make you sick.  

The purpose of treatment is to make this water safe to drink. However, no single barrier is effective against all types of contamination or risks. So drinking water suppliers must use a range of processes, procedures and tools to protect and treat water to make it safe – and keep it safe – as it travels to the people who drink it. 

This approach means that there’s always a range of safeguards (or multiple barriers) in place to help ensure hazards and risks that might affect drinking water are addressed appropriately and the water stays safe. 

Additionally, while drinking water suppliers are responsible for managing any risks to their supplies, things can unexpectedly go wrong. For example, a piece of equipment could fail despite maintenance. 

Having multiple barriers (safeguards) in place means that if one fails, others may serve as back-ups to help prevent, or reduce, the chance of public health being impacted. Noting that one barrier failing can cause other barriers to fail as well.  

Find out more about the multi-barrier approach at: taumataarowai.govt.nz/multi-barrier 

We’re committed to taking an open and transparent approach, so we are making data that’s informed New Zealand’s Network Environmental Performance Report 2023/24 (NEPR) and Drinking Water Regulation Report 2024 (DWRR) publicly available for those who want to examine the detail.  

More detailed data relating to the DWRR and NEPR will be published later this year. 

Our statutory role in relation to the environmental performance of public drinking water, wastewater and stormwater networks began on 4 October 2023. 

Enabled by wastewater measures, this is our first year providing information on wastewater network performance in the Network Environmental Performance Report. 

We will continue to build our programme of reporting in coming years to also include stormwater. To enable this, we intend to start developing stormwater measures from next year.  

Being able to look across drinking water, wastewater and stormwater together will provide a more complete and integrated view of the system – reflecting the shared role of these networks in sustaining environmental and public health. 

We have been working to establish New Zealand’s first set of wastewater environmental performance standards. These standards aim to drive nationally consistent wastewater practices and make related consenting more cost effective for communities, while protecting public health and the environment.  

The Network Environmental Performance Report 2023/24 confirmed national inconsistency in how wastewater was treated and related overflows were managed and monitored.  

Making the performance of public wastewater networks more transparent is an essential first step toward enabling improvements to take place. The proposed standards would require nationally consistent wastewater monitoring and reporting on key performance areas (e.g. overflows) so that it will be clearer to communities how their public wastewater network is performing.  

We are also considering how to use network environmental performance measures to understand how wastewater standards are being implemented and to identify any adjustments that need to be made over time.  

We expect the final standards to enhance reporting on wastewater networks in future reports. 

It is intended that the proposed standards will take effect as soon as possible after the Local Government (Water Services) Bill has passed, amending both the Water Services Act and the Resource Management Act. This is expected in August 2025. 

We became New Zealand’s drinking water regulator on 15 November 2021.  

In August 2016, contaminated drinking water caused a gastroenteritis outbreak in Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay. Over a third of residents (approximately 5,500 people) became ill. Of these, some 45 people were hospitalised and it is possible that the outbreak contributed to three deaths.  

We were established by Government in response to this tragedy – taking over as drinking water regulator from the Ministry of Health | Manatū Hauora.