What reforms are being proposed?
Ten new entities would be responsible for drinking water, wastewater and stormwater
The proposed water infrastructure reforms (previously known as “three waters”) would shift responsibility for delivering water services away from 67 individual city and district councils.
Instead, 10 new Water Services Entities would be responsible for delivering drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services.
View a map of the 10 proposed Water Services Entities [link]
Entities would be council-owned and independent
Local councils would own these Water Services Entities on behalf of the public. But the entities would remain operationally and financially independent from the councils.
Council and mana whenua representatives will select the boards to run the entities
Boards would run the Water Services Entities. Regional representative groups that include councils and mana whenua would select and oversee the boards.
How is the latest proposal different from what was proposed before?
The Government’s latest proposal has increased the number of entities and delayed the timeframe for the reforms.
Ten regional entities instead of four centralised ones
The Government increased the number of entities to make sure they’re more closely connected with the communities they serve. Ten entities rather than four means that every council, and therefore every community, is represented on the entities’ regional representative groups.
Entities would start operating in 2025-2026 instead of 2024
The new entities will now start operating in stages. All entities will be operating by 1 July 2026. Originally they were going to start operating from 2024. Some entities may still be operational considerably sooner than 2026 if there are no organisational barriers to them becoming so.
What happens if the Government changes to one opposing the reforms?
The current Government intends to pass legislation to put the reforms into place before the 2023 general election.
A new government would have to pass new legislation to change the reforms
So, if a new Government wants to change to a different model before the new Water Services Entities start operating, it would need to pass new legislation.
The unions will work shape any new legislation in workers’ best interest
If a new Government does try to pass new legislation, we as unions will do everything we can represent workers’ interests in the legislative process and get the best outcomes we can.