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Water Services Act 2021

Standards, enforcement, and other matters - Offences - Offences relating to supply of unsafe drinking water

172: Offence involving negligence in supply of unsafe drinking water

You could also call this:

"Breaking the law by giving people unsafe drinking water on purpose or by being careless"

Illustration for Water Services Act 2021

You commit an offence if you are a drinking water supplier and you have a duty to supply safe drinking water under section 21 or section 22. You must not fail to comply with this duty. If you fail and this puts someone at serious risk of death, injury, or illness, you can be charged. If you are found guilty, you can be fined. The fine is up to $300,000 for an individual or up to $1.5 million for a company. You can check the related legislation for more information.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS374901.

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Topics:
Health and wellbeing > Public healthCrime and justice > Criminal law
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171: Offence involving recklessness in supply of unsafe drinking water, or

"Breaking the law by supplying unsafe drinking water on purpose"

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173: Offence involving contamination of raw water or drinking water, or

"Polluting water on purpose is against the law"

Part 3Standards, enforcement, and other matters
Offences: Offences relating to supply of unsafe drinking water

172Offence involving negligence in supply of unsafe drinking water

  1. A drinking water supplier commits an offence against this section if—

  2. the supplier has a duty under—
    1. section 21 to supply drinking water that is safe; or
      1. section 22 to supply drinking water that complies with the drinking water standards; and
      2. the supplier fails to comply with that duty; and
        1. that failure exposes any individual to a serious risk of death, injury, or illness.

          1. A supplier who commits an offence against subsection (1) is liable on conviction,—

          2. for an individual, to a fine not exceeding $300,000:
            1. for a body corporate or an unincorporated body, to a fine not exceeding $1.5 million.

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