Technical questions and answers for councils
Note: this is preliminary information only to answer some initial questions which may arise. More detailed information will be provided in early 2008. The Ministry will also be producing technical guidance material and conducting workshops around the country to explain how to implement the national environmental standard. This will be done prior to the national environmental standard taking effect.
A number of parts of the regulations refer to health quality criteria in drinking water. Are councils going to have to monitor these?
No. The health quality criteria are already monitored by water suppliers and the data is collated annually for the Ministry of Health. Databases containing this information will be made available by MfE to all regional councils to assist with implementation of the national environmental standard.
Some requirements of the regulation are different depending on whether the water treatment plant complies with the health quality criteria. How will a council know if the treatment plant complies?
The database, referred to in the question above, will also contain information on the compliance of individual water treatment plants with health quality criteria. All that councils will need to do is refer to the database to see if a particular plant complies, does not comply, or has not been monitored. The council will then be able to tell which part of the national environmental standard applies to the water source supplying that particular treatment plant.
Why are the regulations more stringent in situations where water treatment plants do not comply with health quality criteria?
The national environmental standard imposes more stringent requirements for source waters where water treatment plants are delivering water which cannot be demonstrated to be safe (measured as compliance with the Ministry of Health Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand 2005).
Having a more stringent requirement for activities around source water where people currently do not receive safe drinking water provides a level of public health protection by preventing drinking water from becoming worse due to activities in the catchment.
In earlier consultation on the regulation, some agencies expressed concern that this would unfairly limit development in those situations. The passage of the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Act (Ministry of Health) largely eliminates this concern. It will require all treatment plants serving populations of over 500 to take all practicable steps to comply with the Ministry of Health Drinking Water Standards by 2011. Therefore it is expected that the number of non-complying water treatment plants, and thus the number of source waters subject to this regulation, will quickly decrease.
Seven percent of treatment plants in New Zealand (serving populations of over 500, and therefore subject to the national environmental standard) are currently in this category.
Last updated: 6 January 2009
