Next week’s Hamilton City Council meeting will set the direction for some of the biggest changes to the way water services are delivered the city has ever seen.

On Thursday (12 September), Council will consider a staff report which lays out Hamilton’s preferred response to the new Government requirements and identifies options for the way the city manages and funds future water services.

Decisions will consider the merits of creating a new organisation to manage the city’s water services, whether Hamilton would go it alone or join with other regional partners, and what changes may need to be made to how the city charges for water services in the future.

Under recent law changes and policy introduced by Government, councils (or groups of councils) must have an approved water services delivery plan by September 2025 which demonstrates how it will meet legal standards and new economic regulations.

Government has provided options for councils to create new council-controlled organisations (CCOs) to manage drinking water and wastewater services. Government has also announced new lending options which provide greater borrowing capacity for high-growth councils, and for new water services organisations which meet government requirements.

Any new waters organisation would deliver only drinking water and wastewater services – councils remain responsible for stormwater. Hamilton is responding to these changes and identifying the best future options for its communities.

Mayor Paula Southgate says the need for change is clear: across the country, the current system isn’t working.

“Providing high quality drinking water and dealing with our wastewater is vital to the health of our communities and city. But if we don’t make changes to how we deliver and fund this future, costs will be phenomenal.

“Government requires all councils to come up with a sustainable plan for water services. We want to make sure we get the best long-term outcomes for all Hamiltonians, delivering high quality core services in the most cost-effective way.

“Staff have prepared a detailed assessment and a series of recommendations for our Council to consider at this stage. The future of water services is among the biggest issues facing councils today and we have some big decisions to make around our Council table not just next week, but in the months and years ahead,” Mayor Southgate said.

The staff report to Thursday’s meeting recommends Council ‘ring-fence’ waters operations in a Council business unit to analyse costs and revenues. This work would inform the design of a future Hamilton-based CCO, with Council open to the option of partnering with neighbouring councils or delivering water services to them under contract.

As water services would be charged separately from rates, Council would need to make changes to its rating structures and identify a different way for people to pay a fair share of the costs for water services.

The proposals would require full public consultation and a Long-Term Plan (LTP) amendment to separate waters related charges from the General Rate and Uniform Annual General Charge. There would also be a need to change the Development Contributions Policy to ensure complete transparency of waters related activity.

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