Waipā votes ‘yes’ to regional waters Heads of Agreement

Waipā District Council has today unanimously confirmed its commitment to joining with other local authorities in the region to deliver waters services into the future.

The council will enter into a Heads of Agreement as part of ‘Waikato Waters Done Well’, indicating a preferred position of going directly to an asset owning, fully enabled waters services entity.

The council is looking at all of its options for the benefit of communities including continuing to do further work into a sub-regional approach in parallel with the codesign of the wider regional model.

Under the Government’s Local Waters Done Well legislation, all councils across New Zealand are required to produce a water services delivery plan by September next year, with a focus on ensuring future delivery is financially sustainable and meets quality standards.

The plans are a way for councils to reflect on their current approach to the delivery of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services. The options promoted by the Government include forming an internal business unit, joining with others to form a multi-council controlled organisation (CCO), or forming a single council water organisation to deliver those services.

Last week, elected members were presented with detailed analysis of several of the options available to them in a report from engineering and financial consultants, Martin Jenkins, Beca and Mafic.

The report highlighted a regional and sub-regional option as the two preferred delivery models. It also considered a number of other options including a stand alone Waipā CCO. Status quo is not considered viable under the Government’s new framework for delivery.

Chief executive Steph O’Sullivan said today’s decision came after 18 months work between the 10 councils considering the Waikato Waters Done Well option.

“This decision has reiterated the potential there is for councils to work together to design sustainable and affordable waters delivery for the wider Waikato into the future,” she said.

Mayor Susan O’Regan said the decision on the future of water services delivery was the most critical the Council would ever face.

“This is not a today decision, or even one that is about just tomorrow. This is about ensuring that regionally the Waikato is set up to deliver what our communities needs for decades to come,” she said.

Consultation with the community on the future delivery of water services will be held early next year.