New drinking water rules should not take effect from July, the Dunedin City Council says.
The council is calling for a staged approach, asking the new national drinking water regulator, Taumata Arowai, to delay planned implementation of rules and standards for a year.
One rule, regarding restrictions on who is allowed to access water from standpipes, should be delayed until July 2025, the council said.
Taumata Arowai has proposed introducing a raft of regulations from July this year.
They range from requiring more testing of water to monitoring satisfaction about its taste as part of what the regulator has labelled aesthetic values.
The council said a July deadline for implementation was unlikely to be achievable.
It was not reasonable to expect drinking water suppliers to meet all the new requirements when Taumata Arowai was itself completing preparatory work, the council said.
Accredited laboratories would need time to increase their resources, it said.
Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins told a council meeting last week the council’s suggestion of a staged approach was pragmatic.
Cr Lee Vandervis drew attention to what he said were hundreds of independent small water suppliers within city limits likely facing new rules, standards and values that could be expensive for them to meet.
Council infrastructure and development general manager Simon Drew confirmed the council had received feedback from small, private suppliers and it was fair to conclude they were concerned about how the planned changes could affect them.
The council did not consult with private suppliers when it prepared its submission to Taumata Arowai and Cr Vandervis voted against the council’s submission.
However, the council noted the regulatory requirements would bring significant change for many smaller, private suppliers that were previously unregulated.
"The cost and administrative load of meeting new requirements may prove prohibitive [for such suppliers]," the council said.
The council "encourages Taumata Arowai to consider how it will work with councils to support small drinking water suppliers that struggle to meet the new requirements".
Concerning standpipes, the council was worried about potentially impeding local contractors’ access to water.
The city council accepted there was a case for changing the way drinking water services were regulated in New Zealand.
Over time, the new rules, standards and values would lead to safer drinking water services, the council said.
It supported requirements for regular testing of chemicals, including sampling for metals in the distribution network, such as lead.
It backed attempts to bring scrutiny to New Zealand’s plumbing standards and allowable lead levels in imported tapware and fittings.
Cr Jim O’Malley said the Government did not intend everyone to have safe drinking water, no matter where they lived.
He believed its intention was to regulate water delivery from suppliers up to the point customers received it, which was not quite the same thing.
The Ministry of Health drew attention to risks associated with imported tapware last year.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is to start consultation next month about proposed changes to "compliance pathways that support plumbing and drainage work".
