Information that informed the proposed national wastewater standards

This page covers research and other sources of insight that have informed the proposed national wastewater environmental performance standards.  

Find out about the approach taken to develop the proposed standards. 

Consultation on the proposed standards closes at 5pm on Thursday 24 April. (Friday 25 April is ANZAC Day).  

Visit our separate consultation page to read the proposal and to have your say. 

Case studies  

To support the development of the proposed wastewater standards, we developed case studies that detail iwi and hapū involvement in wastewater treatment arrangements at six wastewater treatment plants.  

These case studies, developed alongside iwi and hapū members, provide insight into their experiences of the existing resource consenting process. This input has been pivotal to standard development. 

• Read the case study overview report (note each individual case study is in the appendix)
• Find out how this iwi and hapū insight informed the proposed national standards  

Other agencies’ related research and guidelines 

• Beneficial Use of Biosolids and other Organic Materials on Land (Good Practice Guide) – Water New Zealand 
• The cost of consenting infrastructure projects in New Zealand – Infrastructure New Zealand 
• National stocktake of municipal wastewater treatment plants – Department of Internal Affairs 
• The New Zealand wastewater sector – Ministry for the Environment 

Regulatory impact statement (interim) 

A regulatory impact statement (RIS) has been produced to provide high-level summary of why standards are being proposed, the options for developing standards and their associated costs and benefits, and the consultation undertaken.  

• Read the interim regulatory impact statement

Technical reports  

• Technical Advice on Discharge to Land Standards 
• Technical Advice on Discharge to Water Standards 

Technical Reference Group materials 

We stood up a Technical Reference Group (TRG) made up of a range of experts, including individuals from local and regional councils, iwi and hapū, environmental scientists and the wastewater sector.  

The TRG met 11 times over 12 weeks to provide insights that were used to inform the proposed standards as they were being developed. 

Here are the slide packs that we shared with this group to enable them to provide their input:  

• Meeting 1 Overview of wastewater standards and TRG induction  
• Meeting 2: Overview of approach to overflows
• Meeting 3: Summary of feedback on overflows 
• Meeting 4: Overview of approach for discharges to water
• Meeting 5: Summary of feedback for discharges to water
• Meeting 6: Case studies
• Meeting 7: Overview of approach to beneficial reuse of biosolids  
• Meeting 8: Summary of feedback on beneficial reuse of biosolids 
• Meeting 9: Overview of approach for discharges to land  
• Meeting 10: Summary of feedback for discharges to land
• Meeting 11: Overview of draft discussion document

Supporting context: Local Water Done Well 

Wastewater standards are a key part of Local Water Done Well, the Government’s approach to addressing long-standing water infrastructure challenges. Standards are intended to reduce the consenting burden and provide local councils with greater certainty of costs for wastewater network investments. 

Find out more about Local Water Done Well on the Department of Internal Affairs’ website