Transfer of a 'Rural Agricultural Drinking Water Supply'

The Rocklands Rural Water Supply (RRWS) scheme is the largest of Dunedin’s water schemes by geographic area, covering almost 21,000 hectares, but servicing the smallest number of consumers of any Dunedin water scheme.

A 2007 amendment to the Health Act 1956 introduced a new category of drinking water supply into the Standards: ‘Rural Agricultural Drinking Water Supply’ (RADWS). The RRWS scheme fulfils the criteria of a RADWS as set out in the Act, and compliance with the Standards is required by 2016.

The substantial technological upgrade to the treatment process required to comply with the new Standards was deemed uneconomic due to the lack of reticulated electricity supply to the site. Following the agreement of the RRWS Committee, Dunedin City Council (DCC) resolved in February 2013 to go to binding referendum to transfer the water scheme to ‘community’ ownership as permitted under the Local Government Act (LGA) 2002. The transfer and handover were successfully completed on 13th July 2013.

With little in the way of successful precedent in the transfer of small drinking water supplies under LGA 2002, this paper outlines the process undertaken by DCC to transfer the scheme and highlights the potential benefits of such divestment for scheme members and Council alike.