Safe water every day for everyone
Discover what might be in your drinking water and the laws and regulations in place to keep us safe.
The Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai regulates drinking water supplies in New Zealand. It is our responsibility to guide and regulate drinking water suppliers to ensure that the water emerging from your tap is safe to drink.
What might be in my drinking water?
Minute traces of chemicals and metals might be present in the water used for drinking water supplies, along with microorganisms – protozoa, bacteria and viruses – that have the potential to make us sick if the water isn’t treated.
Visit our learning hub to find out more about what may be present in drinking water.
Laws, regulations and rules that drinking water suppliers must follow
Laws, standards and values
The Water Services Act 2021outbound establishes that all New Zealanders should have access to safe drinking water, every day. The Act sets out the legal responsibility on drinking water suppliers to achieve that goal.
Drinking Water Standardsoutbound define maximum acceptable values (MAVs) for a range of substances and microorganisms that might be present in drinking water supplies (see What might be in my drinking water? above). Drinking water suppliers must regularly test water samples against these values to ensure the water they supply remains safe to drink.
We also issue a set of Aesthetic Values, which specify or provide minimum or maximum values for substances and other characteristics that relate to the acceptability of drinking water to consumers (such as appearance, taste or odour). Under the Water Services Act 2021, a drinking water supplier must take all reasonable steps to supply drinking water that complies with aesthetic values.
For more on the laws, standards and values governing drinking water in New Zealand, see Legislation and regulations.
Drinking water safety plans
All drinking water suppliers must prepare a comprehensive drinking water safety plan (DWSP) when they register with us. The plan details the risks that exist in relation to their supply, how those risks will be mitigated, and where responsibility lies for ensuring water that is safe to drink is supplied to consumers at all times.
Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules
The Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai is responsible for establishing Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules (Rules) that all registered drinking water suppliers must comply with.
Different rules apply depending on the size and nature of the supply, which range from very small community suppliers serving fewer than 25 consumers to large network suppliers (typically councils) serving urban areas.
The Rules govern the monitoring and laboratory analysis of water samples that must take place regularly at the source of a drinking water supply, throughout the treatment process and across the distribution system, depending on the size and nature of the supply.
Monitoring checks that quantities of metals, chemicals and microorganisms (see What might be in my drinking water? above) in a drinking water supply sit within maximum allowable values (MAVs) as set out in the Drinking Water Standardsoutbound (see above).
Most registered drinking water suppliers must also report to us regularly, confirming that they are meeting their obligations under the Rules.
Learn more about the rules that apply to different kinds of drinking water supplier in For drinking water suppliers.
The Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai is responsible for establishing Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules (Rules) that all registered drinking water suppliers must comply with.
Different rules apply depending on the size and nature of the supply, which range from very small community suppliers serving fewer than 25 consumers to large network suppliers (typically councils) serving urban areas.
The Rules govern the monitoring and laboratory analysis of water samples that must take place regularly at the source of a drinking water supply, throughout the treatment process and across the distribution system, depending on the size and nature of the supply.
Monitoring checks that quantities of metals, chemicals and micro-organisms (see What might be in my drinking water? above) in a drinking water supply sit within maximum allowable values (MAVs) as set out in the Drinking Water Standardsoutbound (see above).
Most registered drinking water suppliers must also report to us regularly, confirming that they are meeting their obligations under the Rules.
Learn more about the rules that apply to different kinds of drinking water supplier in For drinking water suppliers.
Acceptable Solutions
Some suppliers might have the option of using an Acceptable Solution to meet their obligations under the Water Services Act 2021, rather than preparing a drinking water safety plan and following the Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules.
An Acceptable Solution is a ready-made system or process that, when followed fully, ensures water is safe to drink when it arrives with consumers.
Learn more about the Acceptable Solutions that might be available to different kinds of drinking water supplier in For drinking water suppliers.