Ā mātou mahi
What we do
The Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai is the water services regulator for Aotearoa New Zealand
At the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai, our vision is safe drinking water, every day for everyone.
It’s a big goal and it’ll take everyone across the water sector working together to get there.
To support this vision, we:
- regulate drinking water suppliers so they meet their responsibilities for monitoring and treating water
- provide guidance and how-to information to help drinking water suppliers understand and meet their responsibilities.
We also play 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.
Our role: Drinking water
We regulate drinking water suppliers so that they meet the requirements and standards for delivering safe drinking water. In this capacity we:
- provide information to help suppliers understand their obligations and any options available to meet them
- monitor supplier compliance with their obligations and take action where needed to safeguard public health
- use data and insights to focus the sector on making improvements in the areas of highest public health risk
- publish annual reporting on drinking water sector performance to create transparency and help lift performance over time
- consult with the sector on proposed changes aimed at making providing safe water simpler or more cost-effective for suppliers and communities
- meet our Te Tiriti o Waitangi - Treaty of Waitangi obligations.
Our role: wastewater and stormwater
We play a role supporting improvements in the environmental performance of wastewater and stormwater networks. In this capacity we:
- can set measures and standards for network operators to use – in April 2025 we consulted on New Zealand’s first set of proposed national wastewater environmental performance standards
- establish and maintain public registers of wastewater and stormwater networks, so that people have access to information about their local infrastructure
- collect data from network operators on network performance (once measures are in place)
- publish annual reporting on network performance to create transparency and help lift performance over time
- provide the sector with guidance, e.g. best practice guidelines, templates and how-to information
- work collaboratively with related regulators (e.g. Commerce Commission, regional councils) to prevent duplication for the sector
- meet our Te Tiriti o Waitangi - Treaty of Waitangi obligations.
Find out more
Priority projects for 2025
We’re always focused on our ultimate aim of ‘safe water every day for everyone’.
In support of this, our work programme includes projects aimed at making compliance easier and more cost-effective for drinking water suppliers, wastewater network operators, and the communities they serve.
Signalled legislative changes
In August 2024, the Government set out proposed changes to water services legislation that it plans to introduce by August 2025. This includes:
- extending the timeframe for currently unregistered supplies to register by an extra three years (to 2028), plus an extra two years (to 2030) to comply with related obligations
- a proposal to exclude domestic drinking water supplies that serve 25 or fewer people from regulation.