If there is an imminent risk of serious illness or death arising from your drinking water supply, or you need to discuss an urgent matter contact the Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai by calling 04 889 8350.
As a drinking water supplier, you must prepare for and respond to an incident that puts the safety or amount of drinking water you supply at risk.
If you think your water supply may be unsafe you must take all necessary steps to protect the health of consumers. You must advise people who may be affected straight away and notify Taumata Arowai about the issue.
How to notify us
- if you have a Hinekōrako user account (our self-service portal for drinking water suppliers) you can use the Hinekōrako notification function
- if you don’t have a Hinekōrako user account, you can notify us through our online forms below.
Laboratories testing drinking water samples have a duty to notify The Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai if a drinking water sample does not comply with the drinking water standards.
Drinking water suppliers must notify The Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai as soon as practicable after a non-compliant test result becomes known, even if they are aware that the laboratory has, or intends to notify us.
Risk to drinking water safety or quantity
Use the form below for the following:
- if your drinking water supply doesn’t comply with the drinking water standards
- if your drinking water is, or may be unsafe
- if you have a notifiable risk or hazard
- your ability to maintain a sufficient supply of water is at imminent risk
- if you have a planned restriction or supply interruption longer than 8 hours
- you have an unplanned restriction or supply interruption longer than 8 hours.
Stop, limit, reduce supply or change ownership
Use the form below for the following scenarios:
- if you intend to stop supplying drinking water
- if you intend to limit connections to a supply
- if you intend to reduce or limit volume supplied
- if you intend to change ownership of a supply.
What are my responsibilities?
If the drinking water you supply is or may be unsafe or does not comply with the drinking water standards you must:
- take immediate action to ensure that public health is protected
- notify The Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai
- investigate the source or the cause of the risk
- take remedial action to rectify the situation
- take all practical steps to let consumers know about the risk to their drinking water, and what they should do to protect their health (which may include a consumer advisory like a 'boil water' or 'do not use' notice)'.
- identify and implement measures required to make sure that the incident does not happen again.
You must consider Te Mana o te Wai and source water if relevant when planning for and responding to an incident.
What must I notify the Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai about?
If you are a drinking water supplier with registered drinking water supplies, the Water Services Act 2021 requires you must notify the Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai when the following happens:
- There is a reasonable likelihood that your drinking water is or may be unsafe
- Your drinking water doesn’t comply with drinking water standards
- You have become aware that a notifiable risk or hazard exists. The Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai may, by notice, declare risks or hazards that relate to the supply of drinking water to be notifiable. None have been declared at this time.
- You plan to interrupt the supply of drinking water for more than 8 hours. This will require prior approval from The Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai. You must also take all practicable steps to advise affected consumers.
- Due to unforeseen circumstances or emergency, the supply of drinking water will be interrupted for more than 8 hours. You must advise The Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai of the reason for the interruption no later than 24 hours after the supply was interrupted. You must also take all practicable steps to advise affected consumers.
- You believe your ability to maintain a sufficient quantity of drinking water is at imminent risk. In these circumstances you must also notify Fire and Emergency New Zealand, local authorities in your area and other suppliers you supply to.
- You have temporarily supplied drinking water from an unregistered supply due to the usual drinking water being insufficient or unsafe (unplanned Supply of Drinking water). Notify Tthe Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai immediately and comply with any directions the Authority gives you. You must also ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that the water you supply is safe and meets the drinking water standards.
- You intend to cease being the owner of a drinking water supply. If ownership is being transferred you must provide details of the new owner.
- You intend to cease supplying drinking water to consumers, limit the volume you supply or reduce or limit the volume of water you provide to consumers or other drinking water suppliers. You must also advise your territorial authority. This notification must be at least 30 days before you intend to implement the change.
A registered supplier must notify the Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai as soon as practicable if they know another drinking water supplier is supplying drinking water in infringement of requirements in:
- their drinking water safety plan
- the drinking water standards
- an enforceable undertaking entered into with the Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai
- a compliance order or other direction of the Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai.
You are required to notify the Water Services Authority - Taumata Arowai if you know that drinking water is being supplied from an unregistered supply and you are concerned about the safety of the drinking water.
What will Taumata Arowai do?
We will use the information received to inform our decision on how we respond to a notification.
Our response may range from telephone confirmation that the supplier is appropriately resolving the issue, through to an onsite compliance assessment or an investigation to determine how a failure has occurred.
The information we gather from notifications provides valuable insights (such as trends and emerging issues) about drinking water supplies across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Notifiable risks and hazards
The Water Services Act 2021 gives Taumata Arowai the authority to declare certain risks or hazards that may affect the supply of drinking water. These are called ‘notifiable risks or hazards’. If a drinking water supplier becomes aware of any risk or hazard, they must notify Taumata Arowai immediately and take actions in response to the risk or hazard.
We have not specified any notifiable risks or hazards yet.
Our role in an emergency
In an emergency, particularly where multiple supplies, districts, or regions may be affected, Taumata Arowai will support and coordinate the drinking water component of the broader emergency response.
We will work with the leading agency to help coordinate drinking water resources regionally and/or nationally. As our resources permit, we will integrate into the most affected relief areas. This will ensure suppliers focus on their tasks to restore or maintain safe drinking water supplies for their consumers.