Work is underway on one of the most significant reforms faced by councils around New Zealand in recent times – Central Government’s Local Water Done Well legislation.

At today’s full Marlborough District Council meeting, the mayor and councillors gave approval for staff to work with neighbouring Tasman and Buller District Councils to investigate water service delivery options. This work will allow each council to make the decision on whether to combine resources into a single water entity or to go it alone as individual councils. Nelson City Council has already voted to go it alone under their existing service model.

The new water services delivery and infrastructure model replaces the previous government’s Three Waters legislation and, as part of the reforms, a Water Services Delivery Plan must be provided to the Department of Internal Affairs by September next year. The plan must show a commitment to delivering water services to meet regulatory quality standards, be financially sustainable, meet drinking water quality standards and support housing growth and urban development.

Mayor Nadine Taylor said this was a significant piece of work which every council around the country was having to deal with. “Today sets our roadmap forward but it is of course not the final decision,” she said.

Local Water Done Well will be implemented in three stages each with its own piece of legislation. Plans are required for all three waters networks - water, wastewater and stormwater.

Chief Financial Officer Geoff Blake said Council had $545,000 in existing budgets to put towards the preparatory planning work required, including $295,000 from unspent Three Waters funding and $240,000 relocated from Government’s Better Off funding. “We will need to consult with our community on the future structure of water service delivery for Marlborough in July next year. This work will require resources and expertise,” he said.

“One of the key messages we are getting is that scale brings benefits. It is yet to be proven that this would be the case for Marlborough, but it will form part of our investigation and assessment,” Mr Blake said.

High level options following the scoping exercise with benefits and costs will be presented to Council’s Assets and Services Committee at the end of January 2025 and regular updates on progress will be provided.

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