CME questions and answers

Our Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement Strategy 2025-28 (CME) is a three-year action plan for how we’ll focus our regulatory activity to improve drinking water safety. 

It makes transparent what we expect of suppliers and how we regulate. It is also one of the things used to hold us to account for the performance of our regulatory functions. 

Find out more about the CME 

We’re committed to transparency. Our CME delivers on this commitment by providing clear expectations for suppliers – tailored to their size and risk level – so that all suppliers have certainty about what we’re focused on and can take action to meet expectations. 

We have a responsibility under legislation to publish an updated CME at least every three years. 

Find out more about the CME 

This CME is informed by data and insights. It focuses on the biggest risks to drinking water safety identified in the Drinking Water Regulation Report 2024 and gained during our first years as the drinking water regulator. 

It responds to these risks by outlining what we expect suppliers to do to address the risks. Namely, improving their systems, practices and infrastructure so that so that everyone has the basics of safe drinking in place.  

This CME reflects a shift from establishment to system improvement. 

We were established as New Zealand’s dedicated water services regulator in November 2021. Since then, our focus has been putting in place key elements of the new regulatory system, which was developed in response to the Government’s inquiry into the August 2016 outbreak of waterborne illness in Havelock North.   

Looking forward, you can expect to see a step-change in our regulatory approach. With many elements of the new system now developed, we’ll increase our focus on taking practical, appropriate actions to ensure related public health risks are effectively managed. 

By 2028, we expect to see: 

• all public supplies providing safe, reliable drinking water to their communities – that means water that’s protected against microbial and chemical contamination each and every day, supplied from a source that’s actively monitored and protected  
• a reduced need for consumer advisories – in particular, long-term boil water notices, which are far more common in New Zealand than in countries that we compare ourselves with. 

The types of supplies that fit in each group are indicated in the CME, as well as in the information sheet available for each of the three supplier groups. 

• Read the CME 
• Information sheet for council suppliers 
• Information sheet for central government and commercial suppliers
• Information sheet for community suppliers  

If you’re unsure, please reach out to us.  

We’ve provided expectations for each supplier group to meet each year for the next three years (2025-28).  

Each year listed in the CME runs from 1 July to the following 30 June. So, expectations set for 2025-26 are for the period from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. 

The aim of these expectations, and the wider CME, is to give drinking water suppliers certainty by making transparent what we expect of them and how we regulate.

The expectations in the CME are about getting the basics of safe water in place. So we believe the tailored expectations set for each of the three supplier groups are achievable. 

Local councils provide drinking water to over 80% of people in New Zealand. If you manage a council drinking water supply, or a central government supply, you should already be talking with us if you are finding it challenging to meet your obligations as a drinking water supplier. 

For commercial and community supplies, we’ll work to support you as you progress toward having the basics of safe drinking water in place, e.g. through providing practical guidance and how-to information.  

Where there is a supplier group that is an exception to the three general groupings identified in the CME, or carries a higher level of risk, we will address these issues through a targeted sector plan.  

We are prioritising introducing sector plans for self-supplied schools and mixed-use rural water schemes first.  

Over the next three years, further sector plans may be introduced to provide a greater regulatory focus, and transparency of approach, to selected priority groups 

Our CME provides tailored expectations for council suppliers; central government and commercial suppliers; and community suppliers. These expectations reflect the different scale, complexity and risks of supplies in each group. 

Where there is a supplier group that is an exception to these general groupings, or carries a higher level of risk, we will address these issues through a targeted sector plan.  

The sector plan for self-supplied schools was developed to respond to key risks identified in the Drinking Water Regulation Report 2024. This report highlights that in 2024, more than half of laboratory notifications of E. coli detections (indicating faecal contamination) were from self-supplied schools. 

Read the sector plan for self-supplied schools 

Next, we plan to develop a sector plan for rural water schemes. These are supplies that provide water for agricultural use, as well as for people to drink. We will work with representatives of the rural sector as we develop this. 

Over the next three years, further sector plans may be introduced to provide a greater regulatory focus and transparency of approach for selected priority groups. 

Some suppliers will be surpassing what’s expected. We encourage these suppliers to share their practices and approaches with others and in so doing support a culture of drinking water safety across the sector.  

Ultimately, all suppliers are required to meet their duties under the Water Services Act 2021 including supplying safe drinking water to the people they serve. The CME recognises that doesn’t look the same for all suppliers and that some suppliers are more advanced than others at understanding and managing drinking water safety risks. 

While suppliers can expect us to focus our activities in line with the risks highlighted in our CME, they must also continue to meet their full legal responsibilities as a drinking water supplier.  

All supplier duties are important and must be met, even if they’re not mentioned in the CME.