5 Supporting Information
The Ministry for the Environment is investigating a supporting package to assist with implementation of the proposed standard. This may include:
- guidance material outlining a tiered methodology for defining drinking-water catchments
- implementation workshops for local authorities and water suppliers.
The Ministry of Health maintains a register of community drinking-water supplies, which is publicly available.
5.1 A register of drinking-water supplies
The Ministry of Health currently administers a list of water supply locations, and is completing a list of all drinking-water supply abstraction points. This information is available through the Ministry of Health's Drinking Water for New Zealand website and could be linked to the users guide and incorporated into council Geographic Information Systems (GIS) databases.
5.2 Identifying community drinking-water catchments
At present, defining source water supply catchments is problematic, especially for aquifers. This, in turn, presents challenges for managing the risks associated with existing and proposed activities in the catchment.
The Ministry for the Environment has commissioned work on developing a tiered methodology on how to define drinking-water catchments. This methodology could be applied to surface and groundwater systems. This will assist applicants and decision makers to assess the potential effects on drinking-water supplies.
5.3 Monitoring and reporting framework
The Environment and Health Ministries developed a monitoring and reporting framework for water supply catchments as part of their earlier work on the national environmental standard for source water. The framework sets out a three-step process for grading water supply catchments: starting with individual contaminants, then classes of related contaminants and, finally, an overall grade for the water. It is based on a combination of qualitative risk assessment and water quality data. [Nokes and Ball (2004).]
5.4 Workshops
The Ministry for the Environment intends to run technical workshops that will cover the detail of the standard and the implementation package. More information will be available on the workshops once the standard is finalised.
