Water Services Reform Programme: Wastewater
This page is a historic record.
It contains links to old and/or superseded documents for reference purposes only.
For current information go to: Water Services Policy and Legislation (Updated February 2024)
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About Wastewater
GHD-Boffa Miskell Wastewater Reports
About Wastewater
All too often we see network failures like burst pipes in our streets and raw sewage spilling onto our beaches and into our rivers. These are signs our wastewater and stormwater systems are in trouble. Kiwis expect more from our essential services.
The Government’s reform proposals are designed to ensure our wastewater networks are future-proofed and safe for the environment.
Research from the Three Waters Review has revealed our communities are facing rising costs to grow, maintain and upgrade wastewater networks to meet community expectations and environmental standards. The research published below shows that more than half of the wastewater treatment plants in the country need to be reconsented over the next ten years. These upgrades are expected to be significant and very costly due to increased community and cultural expectations since treatment plants were first consented decades ago.
While these treatment plants are significant and expensive investments for communities, the greatest costs to communities associated with these services lie in the underground pipes, or infrastructure.
Find out more about the 2017-2020 Three Waters Review, related Cabinet papers, and GHD-Boffa Miskell Wastewater Reports below.
Read more about the Three Waters Review
Related Cabinet papers on the DIA website
GHD-Boffa Miskell Wastewater Reports
The Department of Internal Affairs commissioned four reports from GHD and Boffa Miskell as part of the Three Waters Review. The reports give a national-level assessment of the state of New Zealand’s local authority wastewater services. Find out more about these reports below.
2019 Addendum – cost estimates for upgrading wastewater treatment plants
This report was prepared to provide a summation of the cost estimates for the two GHD and Boffa Miskell studies listed above. In addition, this report presents revised cost tables for the 2018 report for wastewater treatment plants discharging to freshwater.
2018 Cost estimates for upgrading Wastewater Treatment Plants to meet objective of the NPS Freshwater
In this report, GHD and Boffa Miskell estimate the national cost to upgrade of wastewater treatment plants in New Zealand if national minimum discharge standards to freshwater bodies are enforced. This assessment uses wastewater specialists’ technical support and localised knowledge of treatment plants’ operation around New Zealand.
- GHD-Boffa Miskell report – Cost estimates for upgrading Wastewater Treatment Plants to meet objective of the NPS Freshwater – September 2018 [PDF, 1.7MB]
Affordability of water infrastructure has been identified by the Three Waters Review as one of the main challenges facing the current three waters system. The purpose of the Review was to develop the options and recommendations for how New Zealand could create a strong and sustainable three waters system. The below context statement informs the release of the above report commissioned by DIA (Cost estimates for upgrading Wastewater Treatment Plants to meet Objectives of the NPS Freshwater).
- Context statement of the GHD-Boffa Miskell report – October 2018 (PDF, 468KB)
2019 Cost estimates for upgrading wastewater treatment plants that discharge to the ocean
In this report, GHD and Boffa Miskell provide an estimate of the national cost to upgrade wastewater treatment plants that discharge to the ocean in New Zealand if national minimum discharge standards for key contaminants are imposed.
2019 National stocktake of municipal wastewater treatment plants
This report provides a national-level stocktake of the regulation of town wastewater treatment plants by regional councils. In particular, the stocktake provides an assessment of resource consents and relevant plan rules in place for these treatment plants, and the compliance, monitoring, enforcement arrangements and practices for these consents and rules.
Contact us
Contact Taumata Arowai at info@taumataarowai.govt.nz.
If you have any queries, please email: waterservicesreform@dia.govt.nz
