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Water Services Act 2021

Provisions relating to supply of drinking water - Standards, rules, directions, and other instruments

48: Aesthetic values for drinking water

You could also call this:

"Rules for how drinking water should look, taste, and smell"

Illustration for Water Services Act 2021

The Water Services Authority makes rules about how drinking water should look, taste, and smell. You can think of these rules as aesthetic values that help decide if drinking water is acceptable to consumers. The Authority must tell people about these rules by giving notice, and this notice is a type of law, see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for how it is published.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS374728.

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Health and wellbeing > Public healthEnvironment and resources > Food and water safety
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Part 2Provisions relating to supply of drinking water
Standards, rules, directions, and other instruments

48Aesthetic values for drinking water

  1. The Water Services Authority must, by notice, issue aesthetic values that relate to drinking water.

  2. Aesthetic values may, without limitation, specify or provide for minimum or maximum values for substances and other characteristics that relate to the acceptability of drinking water to consumers (such as appearance, taste, or odour).

  3. A notice made under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

Notes
  • Section 48(1): amended, on , by section 111(2) of the Local Government (Water Services) (Repeals and Amendments) Act 2025 (2025 No 43).