Morrison Low is proud to be working alongside the five councils of Hawke’s Bay in a major project to review three waters service delivery options for the region. Working collaboratively means this project is at the forefront of water reform in New Zealand.
- Government is reforming the three waters regulatory system, meaning local authorities will need to change the way they deliver drinking, waste and storm water services
- In Hawke’s Bay, heightened community expectations about water and water management saw councils give priority to water safety, security and planning late last year
- As councils, they all share the same responsibility for ensuring our communities can enjoy safe, reliable, resilient, efficient and affordable three water services
- While each of the Hawke’s Bay communities are different, they all share the same challenges:
- Being able to affordably deliver core infrastructure and services
- Managing increased demand as our communities and our economy grow
- Maintaining the condition and performance of our three waters services
- Ensuring we have the right capability and capacity
- Ensuring our three waters services are resilient
- Managing the environmental impacts of three waters services
- Meeting increasing government standards for risk and compliance.
We have been working with the councils since December 2018 through a Better Business Case process to analyse the current state and identify what, if any, options exist that would provide better outcomes for the region, the councils and the communities of Hawke’s Bay. The Government has now contributed $1.55m to help develop a regional solution that will:
- address the region’s current and future infrastructure investment needs
- significantly improve drinking water quality for the community
- deliver sustainable three water services and maintain public ownership
- increase resilience and adaptability to climate change and other risks.
The councils have created a website where information about the review and the next steps are laid out. Click here to link to the website.
For further information contact Dan Bonifant
