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Part 2Provisions relating to supply of drinking water
Duties of drinking water suppliers

29Duty of officers, employees, and agents to exercise due diligence

  1. If a drinking water supplier has a duty under a legislative requirement, every officer, employee, and agent of the drinking water supplier must exercise due diligence to ensure that the drinking water supplier complies with that duty.

  2. For the purposes of subsection (1), an officer, employee, or agent of a drinking water supplier must exercise the care, diligence, and skill that a reasonable officer, employee, or agent would exercise in the same circumstances, taking into account (without limitation)—

  3. the scale, complexity, and risk of the drinking water supply; and
    1. the position of the officer, employee, or agent and the nature of the responsibilities they undertake.

      1. Despite subsection (1), a member of the governing body of a local authority elected in accordance with the Local Electoral Act 2001 does not have a duty to exercise due diligence to ensure that any water organisation complies with its duties under legislative requirements, unless that member is also an officer of that water organisation.

      2. In this section, due diligence includes taking reasonable steps—

      3. to acquire, and keep up to date, knowledge of the supply of safe drinking water and other drinking water supply matters; and
        1. to gain an understanding of—
          1. the nature of the relevant drinking water supply, its source water, its drinking water safety plan and its implementation, and the consumers the supply serves; and
            1. the hazards and risks associated with the drinking water supply and its operation; and
              1. how to identify, minimise, and control or eliminate the hazards or risks as part of the operation of the drinking water supply; and
              2. to ensure that the drinking water supplier—
                1. has available for use, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to implement its drinking water safety plan; and
                  1. has appropriate processes for identifying and considering information regarding hazards and risk, and for responding to them; and
                    1. has, and implements, processes for complying with any duty of the supplier under any legislative requirement.

                    Compare
                    Notes
                    • Section 29(3): amended, on , by section 128 of the Local Government (Water Services) (Repeals and Amendments) Act 2025 (2025 No 43).