Drinking Water Standards

Overview

The proposed Drinking Water Standards (the Standards) will replace the existing Drinking-water Standards for New Zealand (revised 2018). They set limits for contaminants and other characteristics of drinking water. 
The Standards apply to all drinking water supplies regardless of the nature of the source water and the number of people served by the supply.

Detailed Summary

Taumata Arowai is conducting a public consultation on drinking water standards for Aotearoa; that will be made under the Water Services Act 2021.

Drinking Water Standards are established to ensure that drinking water suppliers provide safe drinking water to consumers.

Drinking Water Standards relate to drinking water composition and the outcomes of the treatment of drinking water. Drinking Water Standards is a technical document covering minimum or maximum amounts of substances that may be present in drinking water, and the minimum or maximum acceptable values for chemical, radiological, microbiological, and other characteristics of drinking water.

We recommend that you read the following papers before responding to the consultation:

Drinking Water Standards - Summary (181 KB, PDF)
Drinking Water Standards – Summary of the proposed changes (175 KB, PDF)
Drinking Water Standards (258 KB, PDF)

Please note that Taumata Arowai is also consulting on:

• Drinking Water Aesthetic Values
• Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules
• Drinking Water Acceptable Solution for Rural Agricultural Water Supplies
• Drinking Water Acceptable Solution for Roof Water Supplies
• Drinking Water Acceptable Solution for Spring and Bore Supplies
• Drinking Water Network Environmental Performance

Why your views matter

Your feedback will help to inform decisions on developing drinking water standards for Aotearoa.

You can have your say by reviewing the papers identified above and answering the questions relating to the proposed drinking water standards or providing additional comments (see link below).

Submissions are open from 17 January to 28 March 2022. You can submit:

1. by completing the online survey (link below) on this website,
2. by emailing your submission to  korero@taumataarowai.govt.nz, or
3. by posting your submission to:

                 Taumata Arowai, 
                 PO Box 628, Wellington 6140, 
                 New Zealand.

You do not need to answer all the questions if you are only interested in some aspects of the consultation.

Publishing submissions and Official Information Act 1982 requests

Publishing your submission

We intend to proactively publish the submissions made as part of this consultation on our website, but only if we are given permission to do so.

We may publish a summary of submissions. The summary will be aggregated to a level so that individual submissions cannot be identified.

Official Information Act requests

Your submission may be subject to requests made under the Official Information Act 1982 (even if it hasn’t been published). We must make your submission available in response to such a request, unless we have a good reason or other administrative grounds for withholding it.

Personal details can be withheld under the Official Information Act 1982, including your name and address. If you do not want any information you provide to be released, please indicate this clearly and explain why. For example, you may wish for some information to be kept confidential because it is sensitive personal information. Taumata Arowai will take your views into account when responding to such requests.

Privacy Act 2020

The Privacy Act 2020 governs how Taumata Arowai collects, holds, uses, and discloses personal information about you and the information you provide. You have the right to access and correct your personal information.

Share your views

Online Survey – Drinking Water Standards