Taumata Arowai releases report on the state of drinking water in Aotearoa

Allan Prangnell, Chief Executive of Taumata Arowai the water services regulator, today announced the publication of its Drinking Water Regulation Report 2022.

This is the second Drinking Water Regulation Report produced by Taumata Arowai, but the first to contain a full year of data provided by registered drinking water suppliers.

“We have focused this report on local and central government supplies which supply around 82% of the population with drinking water, as they have the potential for the largest impact on public health,” says Mr. Prangnell.

Taumata Arowai became New Zealand’s new drinking water regulator in November 2021, and data reporting requirements for suppliers were evolving throughout the 2022 calendar year covered in the report.   

“We are beginning to form a clearer picture of the quality and safety of drinking water for New Zealanders,” Mr. Prangnell says. “Many suppliers are providing safe drinking water. However, the data has identified some areas that are of concern to us.”

A major area of concern highlighted in the report is drinking water supplies with long-term consumer advisories. These include ‘boil water’ and ‘do not use’ notices. Long-term consumer advisories indicate a supplier cannot provide certainty around when they will be able to remedy a problem with a supply. Thirty-five council owned supplies and five government owned supplies had long-term consumer advisories in place in 2022.

Along with drinking water supplies with long-term ‘boil water’ or ‘do not use’ notices in place, high-risk supplies with no treatment or other barriers to contamination need to rectify these issues urgently to provide consumers with confidence about the safety of their drinking water.

Thirty-three council owned supplies and twenty-four government owned supplies do not use any form of treatment and have not adopted an Acceptable Solution authorised by Taumata Arowai.

Some suppliers will need to invest in infrastructure and capability to meet their obligations under the Act or apply for an exemption from the requirement to use residual disinfection.

Taumata Arowai is in contact with these suppliers and working with them to understand their plans for addressing the issues with their supplies and the anticipated timeframes for any required improvements.  

In future reports year on year comparisons will allow Taumata Arowai to highlight for the public whether drinking water supplies in Aotearoa are improving.

“Our expectation is that we continue to see improvement in the years ahead,” says Mr. Prangnell. “We will be working with suppliers to understand their specific circumstances and to ensure compliance is increasing so that all New Zealanders have access to safe and reliable drinking water.”

Media contact

Email: media@taumataarowai.govt.nz