PCE submission on Local Government (Water Services) Bill

The Commissioner has expressed his concerns about the Local Government (Water Services) Bill in his submission to the Finance and Expenditure Committee.

He points out that in attempting to simplify the treatment of stormwater and wastewater, the Bill is proposing an inflexible, one-size-fits-all approach that does not account for New Zealand’s regional and local differences.

He has made a series of recommendations including that the Bill retains the status quo where councils can impose more restrictive provisions than the national standards, but not weaker ones. He has also suggested that ‘environmental performance standards’ should be redefined and limited to ‘operational performance standards’ or ‘infrastructure performance standards'.