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Water Services Act 2021

Standards, enforcement, and other matters - National Engineering Design Standards (NEDS) for water services networks - Development and making of NEDS

97D: Water Services Authority to develop NEDS

You could also call this:

"Water Services Authority to create rules for designing and building water systems"

Illustration for Water Services Act 2021

The Water Services Authority can develop something called NEDS. You need to know that NEDS stands for National Engineering Design Standards. The NEDS must say how water services infrastructure should be designed, built, and operated. The NEDS will also cover how to connect infrastructure to a water services network. It will include rules for fixing, upgrading, and replacing infrastructure. The NEDS will say how information about infrastructure should be collected and shared. The NEDS can include a way to check if the rules are being met. The rules in the NEDS will apply to different types of water services networks. They can also apply to different types of infrastructure. The rules in the NEDS can be different in different regions or districts. This is because things like the geography, climate, and geology of an area can affect how infrastructure works. You can find more information about the law that allows the Water Services Authority to develop NEDS in the Local Government (Water Services) (Repeals and Amendments) Act 2025.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1509350.

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97E: Draft NEDS: consultation, or

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Part 3Standards, enforcement, and other matters
National Engineering Design Standards (NEDS) for water services networks: Development and making of NEDS

97DWater Services Authority to develop NEDS

  1. The Water Services Authority may develop the NEDS for the purposes of this subpart.

  2. The NEDS must contain—

  3. performance-based requirements for the design, construction, and operational performance of the water services infrastructure that makes up water services networks owned or operated by water service providers, including water services infrastructure that is proposed to be transferred to a water service provider; and
    1. requirements about how water services infrastructure is to be connected to a water services network; and
      1. requirements for the repair, upgrade, renewal, replacement, maintenance, and decommissioning of water services infrastructure that makes up water services networks; and
        1. requirements about how information about the design, construction, and operational performance of water services infrastructure should be collected, kept, and shared.

          1. The NEDS may include a requirement to use a specified method to determine whether performance-based requirements have been met.

          2. The requirements in the NEDS—

          3. must specify the type of water services network to which they apply; and
            1. may apply to classes of types of water services infrastructure.

              1. In addition, the requirements in the NEDS may vary in their application to different regions or districts if variations between those regions or districts (for example, geographic, climatic, and geological variations) impact the performance of water services infrastructure.

              Notes
              • Section 97D: inserted, on , by section 146 of the Local Government (Water Services) (Repeals and Amendments) Act 2025 (2025 No 43).