The Government proposed changes to the National Environmental Standard for Sources of Human Drinking Water. Photo / 123rf
The Government proposed changes to the National Environmental Standard for Sources of Human Drinking Water. Photo / 123rf
Waikato Regional Council has voiced its concern about the Government's newly proposed amendments to the National Environmental Standard for Sources of Human Drinking Water (NES-DW) and urges engagement with communities and suppliers.
The NES-DW came into effect in 2008 and sets requirements for protecting sources of drinking water from becoming contaminated and unsafe for drinking.
Proposed changes include standardising the definition of source water areas, strengthening regulation of activities around water sources and adding more water suppliers to the register.
Waikato Regional Council strategy and policy chairwoman Pamela Storey says the NES-DW was not directly related to the Three Waters reforms.
"Three Waters is more infrastructure-related, whereas [the NES-DW] is more about good quality, as in non-contaminated, water for drinking. Although the justification from central government for both is the contamination in Havelock North in 2016."
The outbreak of gastroenteritis in Havelock North put about 45 people in hospital and is thought to have contributed to three deaths.
Associate Minister for the Environment Kiri Allan says the current regulations were not fit for purpose and wouldn't offer enough protection, particularly for those whose water comes from smaller supplies.
"The proposed changes will help water suppliers to maintain and improve water quality around drinking water catchments.
"Making sure our rivers, lakes and groundwater are free from contamination is the first step in protecting our drinking water supplies, so it's crucial we have protections in place along each stage of the water supply process, from source to tap."
Associate Minister of the Environment Kiri Allen. Photo / Tania Whyte
The amendments are meant to correct gaps in activities that pose risk to source water and require regional councils to map the default source water risk management areas for all registered drinking water supplies in their region.
The proposal is also meant to provide protection to water supplies serving less than 500 people. Therefore there will be more registered "water suppliers" under the NES-DW.
Storey says the Strategy and Policy committee approved of the proposed amendments in principle, however, more information was needed and also needed to be shared with those affected.
"We want safe drinking water for everyone but we're concerned about how this will work in practice. Many farms in this region supply water to farmhouses, and that means they will need to treat those supplies and follow the standards.
Waikato Regional Councillor and Strategy and Policy Committee chair Pamela Storey. Photo / Supplied
"We don't want this to be over-complicated for our rural communities or costs to be too prohibitive, otherwise we will see wholesale non-compliance of a system that is set up to fail."
In the official submission, the council also noted that the Government would need to provide sufficient resourcing to ensure successful implementation and uptake of the changes.
"There will be a cost to the council, to map the water areas and amend plans to align with the proposed amendments. And this cost is inevitably handed down to ratepayers. We want more tools to identify what constitutes a water supplier, and central government needs to connect closely with communities on this."
