Temporary supply for planned event

Key things you need to know as a provider of a temporary drinking water supply for a planned event can be found on this page.

Who needs to register and apply?

Information in this section will help you decide whether you need to register and apply to set up a temporary drinking water supply.

What is a planned event?

A planned event is an event on privately or publicly owned land that is generally: 

open to any member of the public, or 
a ticketed event, whether free or paid for, advertised to the general public (e.g. music festival, sports event), or 
an event that is advertised for members of any group or participants in an activity whether or not it is advertised outside that group (e.g. sheep dog trials).

Not included are events that would normally be held on private property for whānau and friends (for example, birthday parties, small weddings) where the attendees are known to the property owner.   

What is temporary?

A temporary drinking water supply is one that operates for the finite duration of a planned event.  It will generally be a short-term supply (typically 4 – 7 days) that may set up once or several times but isn’t intended to be ongoing. 

Do I need to register and apply?

You’ll need to register your temporary drinking water supply with us if you intend to source water from either: 

an unregistered drinking water supply, including:

- a supply that was supplying drinking water to consumers immediately before the commencement of the Water Services Act on 15 November 2021, but which is not yet registered under the Act. 
- an unregistered water carrier.

a supply that is not required to be registered under the Act, such as a domestic self-supply that usually supplies water to a single dwelling.

any other source not covered elsewhere in this section (for example, water supplies that are not intended to be used for drinking water – such as running a hose from a rainwater tank used for gardening).

You don’t need to register and apply if your drinking water will be sourced from a supply that is already registered (such as a town water supply), a registered water carrier service (i.e. a water tanker) or you will be supplying bottled water.

How to register and apply

To register your proposed temporary drinking water supply, complete our online application formoutbound.

The form asks for:

your contact details
the type of event
the event date(s) – including set up and close-down (if the drinking water supply will be available to workers and other consumers during these times)
expected number of people attending 
number of consumers of the supplied drinking water, including workers at the event or other users such as food trucks 
names and contact details of the people who will be operating the supply.

Once you’ve submitted the form, we’ll be in touch by email with instructions for setting up a user account in Hinekōrakooutbound (our online self-service portal), so you can complete the registration application form and attach a temporary drinking water safety plan (see below). 

Temporary drinking water safety plan

You’ll need to complete a temporary drinking water safety plan using this templateoutbound before we can progress your application.

We’ve put together these guidelines to help you prepare your plan.

It’s important to ensure the people planning, constructing and operating the temporary drinking water supply have suitable skills, knowledge and experience to supply safe drinking water. Your temporary drinking water safety plan should be completed or reviewed by an experienced person before it is submitted. 

Your temporary drinking water safety plan will need to address the steps you have taken to ensure that the temporary drinking water supply for the event will not have a negative impact on the source of the water (e.g. contamination by chemicals or changing the flow of water). You may need to carry out source water quality monitoring and include the results with your application. 

Processing your application

We’ll aim to process your application within 20 working days.

However, the processing time will depend on the complexity of your proposed water supply. We therefore recommend that you submit your application and temporary drinking water safety plan at least 40 working days before the event. That will ensure we have sufficient time to engage with you and obtain further information if needed and advise you of our decision. It will also give you time to make alternative arrangements if your application can’t proceed or is unsuccessful.

How we decide

We need to be satisfied that drinking water will, if supplied in accordance with your temporary drinking water safety plan and any registration conditions, be safe and comply with the Drinking Water Standardsoutbound. 

We may attach conditions to your registration, such as: 

source water and drinking water testing and reporting requirements
minimum treatment requirements for drinking water (e.g. for filtration, disinfection, residual disinfection)
water quality monitoring with acceptable levels for specified determinands (e.g. freely available chlorine residual, pH, turbidity) and reporting requirements
an obligation to immediately notify us of any incidents or issues that may result in drinking water being unsafe, non-compliant with the drinking water standards, or insufficient   
requirements on the training, experience and skills of people working on the water supply for the planned event
a post-event report that includes water quality monitoring results, information on any conditions that have not been met, incidents or notifications, and any complaints about the water.

Once approved, please ensure the registration record is updated if any information provided in your application changes prior to the event. Any changes to the water supply may result in changes to the conditions of registration. 

Fees

There is an initial fee of $1,300.00 + GST to cover the estimated costs of processing your application.

We’ll invoice you this amount after we have made our decision and notified you of it. We’ll send the invoice to the billing address provided in your application form.   

You can either pay on the invoice or via internet banking to the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai account number 03-0566-0225575-000 with the following information:  

Reference field: the unique identifier from the email 
Code field: name of your event

This information will help us confirm the payment is for your application so the assessment process can begin.

Please note that the application fee is non-refundable if the application doesn’t proceed or is declined following assessment.

If the application fee doesn’t cover the estimated processing costs: 

we’ll advise you of the estimated final charges  
you’ll be asked to confirm you accept the estimated charges 
once you’ve accepted the estimated charges, the assessment will begin 
we’ll email you and provide an invoice once the decision has been made.

If you don’t accept the estimated charges, please let us know you’ll be withdrawing your application. You will then receive a full refund. 

The estimated final charge may be revised to: 

reflect changed circumstances  
correct errors for incidental cost charges  
more accurately reflect the amount likely to be payable for any other charges (i.e. assessment or expert advice charges).

We’ll advise you if these situations arise.  

The regulations set a cap on the charge for incidental costs. However, there is no cap for assessment and expert advice charges. The estimate is an indication of the final charge.

One application for multiple events

You can apply to register temporary drinking water supplies for multiple events within a 12-month period – provided the same information applies to all events, including the location/premises, the number of people expected to attend, the water supply arrangements and the event organiser.   

A single registration for multiple planned events can only be made if the events take place within a 12-month period from the date of your submission. 

You’ll need to advise us if any information you provided in the application form changes after approval is provided. You can do this by updating the registration record – as soon as possible and at least 20 days prior to the next planned event. 

We may attach conditions if multiple events are approved on one application. For example, we may require specific testing and reporting of results during each event.

This webpage is intended as a guideline and summarises legal requirements but does not address every requirement under the Water Services Act. It is not intended to be definitive and is not legal advice. Drinking water suppliers are responsible for understanding and complying with their legislative duties. The Authority may review and revise this page over time. If you are using a printed copy, please check the website to make sure it is up to date.

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