Local Water Done Well: A sustainable future for our water services
What is Local Water Done Well?
Across the nation, councils are facing big challenges relating to the delivery of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services.
Local Water Done Well is a policy introduced by the coalition Government to replace the previous Government’s Three Waters reform programme.
It empowers communities and councils to determine how their water services will be delivered in the future.
We have managed our water services comparatively well but, across the country, councils are grappling with rising costs, ageing infrastructure, and the increasing demands of a growing population.
Local Water Done Well will see water services remain under local government control, while ensuring a strong emphasis on meeting economic, environmental and water-quality regulatory requirements.
Councils have been investigating options for water service delivery into the future, consulted with the public, and must submit a Water Services Delivery Plan to the Government in early September 2025.
This plan must demonstrate our commitment to deliver water services in a way that:
- ensures we will meet all relevant regulatory quality standards for our water services
- is financially sustainable for us and our community
- ensures we will meet all drinking water quality standards
- supports our housing growth and urban development, as specified in our Long Term Plan.
The policy also encourages councils to work with neighbouring districts on solutions that could benefit larger regions.
What does this mean for Whangārei?
Whangarei District Council has used funding from ratepayers to invest heavily in water infrastructure in the past and, compared with many other councils, we are in good shape to meet our District’s current and future water service needs.
We investigated and consulted on two options for water services delivery between 2 April and 2 May 2025. These included:
- Option 1 (our preferred option): In-house business unit with increased collaboration with Northland councils
- Option 2: Northland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) with Kaipara District Council and Far North District Council (drinking water and wastewater only).
More information on each option can be found further down this page and in our consultation document:
Local Water Done Well consultation document(PDF, 512KB)
We received 73 submissions, with overall sentiment weighted in favour of Option 1. Of the submissions related to Local Water Done Well, approximately 73% leaned towards option 1, while 19% leaned toward option 2, and 8% did not show a clear preference.
A full report of submissions can be found in the appendices of the 28 May 2025 Council Briefing agenda:
Council Briefing Agenda, 28 May 2025
Next steps
Northland’s district councils have established a cross-council working group to work through what collaboration across councils could look like.
The Northland Water Services Working Group, chaired by His Worship the Mayor of Whangārei Vince Cocurullo is made up of elected members, including Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson and Far North Mayor Moko Tepania. It is supported by staff from each council, representatives from the Department of Internal Affairs and an independent advisor.
While options and preferences in each district vary, all of Northland’s district councils are committed to working together to evaluate the opportunities for collaboration and solving some of the challenges being experienced in the region.
The Northland Water Services Working Group will work through feedback from across all districts and further investigate collaborative opportunities, including the viability of shared or managed services, or a Northland CCO.
It will make recommendations to each council for decision making, supported by operational teams.
A decision on how Whangārei’s water services will be delivered in future is expected to be made by the end of June 2025.
For more information about Local Water Done Well, visit the Department of Internal Affairs website:
Water Services Policy and Legislation (dia.govt.nz)
Options for Whangārei District
Option 1 (our preferred option): In-house business unit with increased collaboration with Northland councils
This option would see the delivery of water services remain within Council as a business unit, rather than the establishment of a new organisation. The business unit would be responsible to the elected Council members, with established Council governance oversight, and the delivery of services would be accountable to the public through usual local democracy practices.
This option means we would retain local ownership and control of our assets, we wouldn’t need to fund any Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) set-up costs, nor would we need to cross-subsidise other parts of Northland’s water costs.
While we believe this option is the best for Whangārei right now, we also see that a multi-council CCO has potential benefits for Northland. With this in mind, we will work with Kaipara District Council to investigate managed or shared service opportunities in the short term, which will likely involve sharing professional services like project delivery and asset management.
At the same time, we will work alongside Kaipara District Council and Far North District Council to further investigate how a Northland CCO could work in the mid-term (the next three to five years).
Under this option, our debt is proposed to increase, however we would remain well below our debt limits.
Option 2: Northland Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) with Kaipara District Council and Far North District Council (drinking water and wastewater only)
This option would see the creation of an external, council controlled water organisation, jointly owned by Whangarei District Council, Kaipara District Council and Far North District Council. Governance of this organisation would be independent from Council, with a competency-based board appointed, and the three councils making up 100% of shareholdings.
The organisation would be responsible for, and limited to, the provision of water supply and wastewater services, preparing its own strategy, and asset management plans. It would be financially independent from Council, making its own investment decisions.
Stormwater assets would likely remain Council owned with the CCO managing the services on the councils’ behalf. This is because many critical parts of the system are shared across other services too. For example, roads drain stormwater during heavy rain, and green spaces in parks and reserves are designed to capture excess water where possible.
We would anticipate the new CCO would maintain the same high level of service delivery our District enjoys today. However, at this current time, a multi-council Northland CCO would mean Whangārei would need to cross-subsidise water costs for the rest of Northland and would carry higher amounts of debt than Option 1.
Our timeline
- March 2025: Finalise modelling of different options
- 27 March 2025: Councillors vote on preferred option
- 2 April to 2 May 2025: Consultation period
- June 2025: Council decides future delivery model for water services
- Before 3 September 2025: Council adopts Water Services Delivery Plan and submits to Government
- October 2025: Government decides whether to accept our Water Services Delivery Plan
- November 2025 to July 2027: Implementation period
- July 2028: Our Water Services Delivery Plan is effective and proven to be financially sustainable.