Te aroturuki i te kounga wai,
Monitoring water quality

Drinking water suppliers need to monitor drinking water quality to confirm that drinking water won’t cause a serious risk of illness or harm to the people who consume it. This includes sampling and testing water and checking to make sure that systems and equipment are calibrated and working correctly.

Water quality monitoring is essential to ensure that the drinking water you supply is safe.

New Drinking Water Standards, Rules and Aesthetic Values

Following public consultation in early 2022, new Drinking Water Standards, Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules, and Aesthetic Values have been published and come into effect on 14 November 2022.

Find out more about the new Standards, Rules and Aesthetic Values.

Your responsibilities

All registered drinking water suppliers must ensure the water they supply is safe and that it complies with the new Standards, Rules and Aesthetic Values which came into effect on 14 November 2022.

You must also use an accredited laboratory to analyse source water, raw water, and drinking water as part of any monitoring requirements in your Drinking Water Safety Plan (which includes any approved water safety plan carried over from the Health Act 1956).

Registered suppliers must now comply with the new reporting requirements. Taumata Arowai depends on good information from suppliers to help ensure all New Zealanders have access to safe drinking water every day.

Reporting timelines

Reporting requirements are organised around modules as set out in the Rules:

• Supplies following level 3 modules (serving >500 people) have monthly reports due to Taumata Arowai from 1 March 2023 (including reports for 1-31 January and 1-28 February, within 10 working days).
• Supplies following level 2 modules (serving 101 - 500 people) will have quarterly reports due to Taumata Arowai from 1 April 2023 (within 20 working days).
• Supplies following level 1 modules (serving 26 - 100 people) will have 6-monthly reports due to Taumata Arowai from 1 July 2023 (within 20 working days).

Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules Reporting Guidance

We have produced guidance to help drinking water suppliers meet their reporting requirements under the Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules (DWQAR) including Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules Reporting Guidelines and step-by-step video webinars (links to these can be found in the ‘How to report data’ section below).

The reporting required is a limited subset of the overall monitoring data you will collect in connection with your monitoring obligations, assurance activities, and your overall duty to provide safe drinking water.

You are able to report to Taumata Arowai in Hinekōrako via an Excel template upload, or from your monitoring and assurance software (e.g. Infrastructure Data, WaterOutlook) using our web-based Application Programming Interface (API).

We expect that most small suppliers may not have continuous monitoring software, and recommend reporting via the Excel template to structure your submission. Further guidance will be provided for smaller supplies before they are due to start providing reports.

How to report data

There are two options for reporting data to us through Hinekōrako:

1. Reporting via Excel Upload

You can fill in this Excel template which you can upload through Hinekōrako. The Excel template provides a structure for reporting in the absence of monitoring software. The webinar video below shows how to report via Excel Upload.

Video instruction steps:

1. Download the Template.
2. ‘Here’s one we created earlier’.
3. Go to Hinekōrako Reporting page.
4. Upload Excel Report.
5. View successful upload within Reporting Log.

DWQAR reporting with Excel webinar

 2. Reporting via API from Infrastructure Data or WaterOutlook

If you use monitoring and assurance software, you may be able automatically report to us via a web-based Application Programming Interface ( API). Currently Infrastructure Data or WaterOutlook support reporting via an API.

The webinar videos below show how to generate an API Key in Hinekōrako to report via API from Infrastructure Data or WaterOutlook.

Video instruction steps:

1. Go to Hinekōrako Reporting page.
2. Generate API Key.
3. Explanation that this API Key is like a password, and shouldn’t be regenerated.
4. Software provider demonstration of submitting to Taumata Arowai.

DWQAR reporting with Excel and Infrastructure Data webinar

DWQAR reporting with Excel and WaterOutlook webinar

Instructions on how to enter this API Key and report via an API are available for Infrastructure Data