Mahuta NanaiaWATER SERVICES BILLFirst ReadingHon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister of Local Government): I present a legislative statement on the Water Services Bill.Legislative statement published under the authority of the House.Hon NANAIA MAHUTA: I move That the Water Services Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Health Committee to consider the bill.In 2016 there was a water contamination event in Havelock North which really caused New Zealanders to think about the state of our water system. Five thousand people became sick and there were four associated deaths with that particular event and then an inquiry started. The recommendations from that inquiry told us a very significant set of salient points. Firstly that the event in Havelock was not an isolated event. In fact it was of concern that the way in which we monitor the compliance of drinking water quality is something that needed to be looked at. So the Government picked up this issue and embarked on a level of reform that would see greater certainty in the first instance for the quality of our drinking water because we know that every New Zealander no matter where they live in rural areas in urban areas out in the provinces along the coast—no matter where people live they should have the assurance of clean drinking water. That was not the case some few years ago and that's why we've embarked on this particular reform. The Water Services Bill is the second pillar or pou in our water reform journey. The first one was establishing Taumata Arowai which is a dedicated regulator that will be responsible for ensuring compliance enforcement and monitoring of our drinking-water system and have oversight over waste water and stormwater. This bill in particular will set out the roles and functions of Taumata Arowai as it undertakes its task but also make clear the obligations of water service suppliers. It's a process that we've undertaken with and alongside local government. In fact it's a little bit like having a thousand cups of tea because when we started the conversation you can imagine it was challenging and confronting for many councils to really undertake the journey of the level of investment in water infrastructure their obligations and importantly what a system change would look like. But this bill by and large is a step change towards the type of future we want to see which is robust resilient waters infrastructure that underpins so many things in our regions. The Water Services Bill provides the mechanics of a regulatory regime that Taumata Arowai our dedicated drinking-water entity will administer and as I said previously it will contain the details of the powers that that regulator will have. It is a step change. It will ensure that we bring together the legislative obligations and regulatory functions into one place and will work alongside water service providers. I do believe that it strikes a balance between incentivising drinking-water suppliers to take responsibility for their supplies. But it also enables Taumata Arowai to have a tool kit to work with them. I want to highlight significant issues that emerged during the consultation round because this will undoubtedly be something that the select committee will need to consider and that is in relation to rural suppliers of services in smaller communities. We've agreed that the transitional period for smaller suppliers for very practical reasons and reasons which rural councils in particular advocated for will have a transition period to come into this regulatory regime. And it will have the core elements of ensuring that all suppliers should have a duty to provide safe drinking water from the date of the commencement of this bill. All suppliers are required to be registered at the end of year one following the commencement of the bill. And small suppliers serving less than 500 people would come into the regulatory system by the end of year three following commencement of the bill with full regulatory compliance expected by the end of year five. As I went around and visited with councils and certainly heard a number of practical views from small supplier schemes and communities it seems to me that we need to provide that transition period so that some practical decisions can be made in terms of how they can meet the expectation of higher drinking-water standards but also ensuring that water going back into the receiving environment can be clean as well.We also undertook to ensure that consistent with our freshwater expectations and source protection which is a big issue in terms of drinking-water we were applying the same approach as the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and that was recognising te mana o te wai. You'll see in the legislation that we've carried over the same interpretation as has been evident there to ensure that when we think about water coming out of the source down the pipes through the tap into your glass and then back out into the receiving environment it is a whole system. Te mana o te wai gives licence to that approach a holistic approach in the way that we think about water.Many of the things that the select committee will be asked to consider are complex in nature but necessary. The reason why I've sent this bill to the Health Committee is because they've got some knowledge of the independent drinking-water regulator Taumata Arowai and they'll have some institutional knowledge of the complexity of the issues. Can I make very clear that the bill contains in relation to waste-water and storm-water issues the ability for Taumata Arowai to collect more information. Much of the information held by councils is variable. And in order to get better understanding about how to plan for waters infrastructure the first obligation of Taumata Arowai will be to collect that from councils and provide some national oversight about the issues in relation to waste water and storm water. The regulatory responsibility for waste water and storm water I must stress still sits with regional councils under the Resource Management Act. Again this makes sense for where we are in terms of our water reform journey.The other issue that may come up with select committees is the issue of chlorination. The bill provides for an exemption regime. Without going too much into the specific councils there are councils that hold quite strongly to the non-chlorination position. So what the bill sets out is an exemption regime that enables those councils who do not want to chlorinate but choose an alternative way of residual treatment for the assurance of their clean drinking-water to go through a process of securing an exemption. However the cost that is associated with going towards an alternative other than chlorination sits on the ratepayer. That's been very clear as we've expressed an approach that is consistent but provides for an alternative and it is well understood amongst councils but just to alert the select committee to that particular prospect because I do think it will come up.There are other smaller technical amendments which I don't think will provide too much difficulty. The last thing I will say is that it was important to me prior to the lifting of the House and the election that there was early exposure to this bill because the sector needed to know the detail and be well prepared for the select committee process. I anticipate that there will be very well-informed contributions through the select committee process and very targeted in areas of specific concern by councils and by profile of their water infrastructure within their particular areas. I do hope the select committee takes the opportunity to gain some on the ground knowledge within their own council areas so that they can engage in this conversation. There's a Chinese proverb that says the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the next best time is today. Water infrastructure has been left to languish for far too long. We've got to do something about it and I'm glad that our Government is. This is the second pillar of reform. The next approach will be around how we consolidate the way in which water is delivered to our communities and I'm looking forward to continuing with this journey. Kia ora.