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Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025

Structural arrangements for providing water services - Regions in which regional councils also provide water services

40: How regional councils provide water services

You could also call this:

"How regional councils give you water services, like working with others or hiring someone to help"

Illustration for Local Government (Water Services) Act 2025

You can get water services from your regional council in different ways. The regional council can transfer the job of providing water services to a territorial authority or a water organisation in their area. They can also contract someone to provide water services on their behalf, or work together with others to provide water services.

You might get different water services from different providers, depending on what your regional council decides. For example, they might provide some services themselves, and contract others to provide different services. If the regional council transfers the responsibility for providing water services, the new provider takes over that job.

If the regional council contracts someone to provide water services, they are still responsible for making sure you get those services. They must also make sure the contractor does their job properly and follows the rules. The regional council is the one providing the water services if they do it themselves, or if they contract someone to do it for them.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1008812.

Topics:
Health and wellbeing > Food and water safetyEnvironment and resources > Food and water safetyGovernment and voting > Local councils
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39: Purpose of this subpart, or

"How different groups work together to provide water services in your area"

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41: Transfer of responsibilities to territorial authorities, or

"Councils can pass on water service jobs to local councils in their area."

Part 2Structural arrangements for providing water services
Regions in which regional councils also provide water services

40How regional councils provide water services

  1. A regional council may do any 1 or more of the following:

  2. transfer responsibility for providing water services by entering into a transfer agreement with a territorial authority in the council’s region (see section 41):
    1. transfer responsibility for providing water services by entering into a transfer agreement with a water organisation whose service area is in the regional council’s region (see section 42):
      1. enter into a contract with a person or body to provide water services on behalf of the regional council (see section 22):
        1. enter into a joint water service provider arrangement (see section 26):
          1. provide water services itself directly.

            1. A regional council may take different actions listed in subsection (1) for providing—

            2. different water services; or
              1. different aspects of a water service.

                1. If a regional council transfers responsibility under subsection (1)(a) or (b), the territorial authority or the water organisation (as applicable) becomes the water service provider of the water services to the extent of the transfer.

                2. Subsection (5) applies to a regional council that enters into a contract or an arrangement under subsection (1)(c) or (d).

                3. The council—

                4. continues to be responsible, as the water service provider under this Act, for ensuring the provision of the water services to which the contract or arrangement relates; and
                  1. must ensure that the other party to the contract or arrangement performs and exercises all the statutory functions, duties, and powers associated with providing the water services to which the contract or arrangement relates.

                    1. A regional council is the water service provider to the extent that it provides water services under subsection (1)(c), (d), or (e).