The latest on Three Waters Reform

Published 10 May 2022

The national Three Waters Reform programme was back in the news last week with Government accepting the majority of reform recommendations made by their Three Waters Working Group regarding governance, ownership and accountability.

Among other things, this confirms that local councils will retain ownership of water entities through a public shareholding structure, with shares allocated to councils reflective of the size of their communities (one share per 50,000 people); and Regional Representative Groups for each entity will have joint oversight from local councils and mana whenua to ensure community voice and provide tighter accountability.

There was no commitment to ongoing taxpayer investment in water services which was also recommended by the working group.

So what does it all this mean for Kāpiti?

Over the next four weeks, we will be taking a deep-dive into what the three waters look like in Kāpiti, what reform means for our community and why we’re pushing on with key projects in the interim. You’ll hear from some of our water gurus and tour some of our infrastructure and services. Keep an eye on Everything Kāpiti and our social media pages.