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Local Government Act 2002

Specific obligations and restrictions on local authorities and other persons - Specific obligations to make assessments of drinking water, wastewater, and sanitary services and to ensure communities have access to safe drinking water

126: Requirements following assessment of community drinking water service

You could also call this:

“What to do after checking a community's drinking water”

After you finish looking at a community drinking water service, you need to do a few things:

You must put the information about what you found on a website that anyone can see. You also need to send a copy of this information to Taumata Arowai using a computer.

You have to tell Taumata Arowai if you see any problems. This includes if anyone who provides drinking water isn’t following the rules or might not follow them soon. You also need to tell them about any other worries you have. For example, if some places don’t have enough clean water or if someone who gives people water might stop doing it soon.

You need to think about what you found when you’re planning for the future. This includes thinking about:

  • How you will build and fix things in your area
  • Your plans for how the land in your area will be used
  • Your job to make sure people in your area are healthy

Remember, your plans for how the land will be used need to follow the rules in the Resource Management Act 1991. Your job to keep people healthy is explained in section 23 of the Health Act 1956.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM172926.

Topics:
Government and voting > Local councils
Health and wellbeing > Food and water safety
Environment and resources > Town planning
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Part 7 Specific obligations and restrictions on local authorities and other persons
Specific obligations to make assessments of drinking water, wastewater, and sanitary services and to ensure communities have access to safe drinking water

126Requirements following assessment of community drinking water service

  1. On completion of an assessment of a community drinking water service, a territorial authority must—

  2. make the assessment available to the public on an Internet site maintained by or on behalf of the territorial authority; and
    1. provide Taumata Arowai with a copy of the assessment in electronic form.

      1. A territorial authority must also notify Taumata Arowai about—

      2. any suppliers of drinking water services that are, or appear to be, failing to meet the supplier’s statutory obligations or are at risk of doing so; and
        1. any other matters of concern arising from the assessment, including potential risks to communities affected by the assessment that relate to—
          1. any absence of, or deficiency in, a drinking water service; or
            1. a drinking water supplier that is at risk of ceasing to provide a service.

            2. A territorial authority must also consider the findings and implications of the assessment in relation to—

            3. the territorial authority’s current and future infrastructure strategy and long-term plan; and
              1. the territorial authority’s district plan prepared under the Resource Management Act 1991; and
                1. the territorial authority’s broader duty to improve, promote, and protect public health within its district in accordance with section 23 of the Health Act 1956.

                  Notes
                  • Section 126: replaced, on , by section 208 of the Water Services Act 2021 (2021 No 36).
                  • Section 126(3)(b): amended, on , by section 6 of the Resource Management (Natural and Built Environment and Spatial Planning Repeal and Interim Fast-track Consenting) Act 2023 (2023 No 68).