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Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025

Provision of water services: operational matters - Accessing land to carry out water services infrastructure work - Work on roads

172: Power to enter road and carry out work

You could also call this:

"Water providers can fix or build water services on or under roads, following rules to minimise disruption."

Illustration for Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025

If you are a water service provider, you can enter a road to do work that you think is necessary to provide water services. You can construct, inspect, or maintain water services infrastructure on, along, over, across, or under a road in your service area. You can also remove any obstructions or blockages, or clear flora that is a risk to the infrastructure.

When you do this work, you might need to excavate or break up the road, or alter the position of other infrastructure like gas or electricity lines. You have to do this work in a way that meets any reasonable conditions set by the road owner, the local authority, or other people who have jurisdiction over the road.

The term "utility operator" is used in this section and in section 173, and it means what is set out in section 4 of the Utilities Access Act 2010.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1004514.

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"Telling people before working on a road: water providers must give notice before starting work"

Part 3Provision of water services: operational matters
Accessing land to carry out water services infrastructure work: Work on roads

172Power to enter road and carry out work

  1. A water service provider may enter onto a road and carry out any of the following work that it considers necessary for providing water services:

  2. constructing, placing, operating, inspecting, maintaining, altering, renewing, or replacing water services infrastructure (or an overland flow path or a watercourse) on, along, over, across, or under any road in the provider’s service area:
    1. removing any obstruction or blockage relating to water services infrastructure (or an overland flow path or a watercourse), or clearing any flora that constitutes a risk to water services infrastructure (or to an overland flow path or a watercourse) on, along, over, across, or under any road in the provider’s service area:
      1. for the purposes of paragraphs (a) and (b),—
        1. working on any road (including excavating or breaking up any road):
          1. altering the position of, or altering, repairing, or removing, any gas, electricity, or telecommunications infrastructure or any part of that infrastructure on, along, over, across, or under any road in the provider’s service area.

          2. The water service provider must exercise the powers specified in subsection (1) in accordance with any reasonable conditions imposed by any of the following:

          3. the road owner:
            1. the local authority or other person with jurisdiction over the road:
              1. a utility operator whose infrastructure (including pipes and lines) is likely to be affected by the work.

                1. In this section and section 173, utility operator has the meaning set out in section 4 of the Utilities Access Act 2010.

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