What ‘Local Water Done Well’ means for us

Updated 4 February 2025

Under the Government’s Local Water Done Well legislation, we’re required to consider changes to the way water services are delivered in our district.

We’re required to consult with our community on a minimum of two options for delivering water services in the future.

The legislation says we have to include an option similar to how we do it now – that is, keep it in-house but with changes to meet new regulatory requirements. Or we can set up an independent water organisation owned by one or more councils to deliver water services. We’ll be putting some options to you in March-April 2025.

Councils will also be required to come up with a water service delivery plan by 3 September 2025 that meets the new regulatory and investment requirements.

Our track record with water

In Kāpiti we've invested a lot in our water management, security and infrastructure for our community and the environment. Find out how our water supply works in Kāpiti.

Our water-related assets together have a value of $481 million (30 June 2024).

Because of this investment, we're positioned well for the future. A 2018 Auditor-General’s report, Managing the supply of and demand for drinking water, found we're setting a good example with our future-focused approach to supplying drinking water.

In 2024, we worked with councils across the Wellington region, plus Horowhenua, to explore options for a joint water services delivery plan. We discounted this option in November 2024 due to the modelled costs to our ratepayers, which were much higher than other options to our north. Read the report in Related Links below.

Next steps

We’re now working with the Horowhenua, Palmerston North, and Manawatū councils to explore other possible joint arrangements. We expect to consult on those in March-April 2025. Palmerston North City Council will be the first to start consulting with its community and will have an option of setting up a joint council-owned water organisation that includes Kāpiti.

There continues to be a lot of uncertainty around the requirements of the Local Water Done Well policy and legislation but we are working towards consulting with our community in March 2025, deciding in May-June 2025 which option to go with, and delivering a water services plan by 3 September 2025.