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Drinking Water

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The provision of safe drinking water to all New Zealanders is fundamental to good public health outcomes. Safe drinking water protects people from exposure to diseases and other contaminants. The Ministry of Health has a Drinking Water Programme which is carried out on behalf of the Ministry by the Public Health Units throughout New Zealand. Public Health South is one of those units implementing the Ministry of Health’s programme.

From October 2007 the Health Act 1956 was amended by the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Act . This aims to protect public health by improving the quality of drinking water provided to communities. These supplies will be required to comply with Drinking Water Standards of New Zealand 2005.

Drinking Water Assessors and Health Protection Officers at Public Health South work with council water suppliers, private water suppliers, water carriers and the public to promote safe drinking water for everybody.

Public Health South:

Maintains a monitoring and surveillance data system of all water supplies in the Otago/Southland Region. The system is called Water Information New Zealand (WINZ).
Provides advice and information on drinking water supplies.
Investigates complaints and non-compliance issues arising from drinking water.
Promotes public awareness and knowledge of drinking water quality.

Public Health South is part of the South Island Drinking Water Unit (SIDWAU) which is an accredited inspection body. This organisation undertakes specific activities and functions that are part of the Ministry of Health’s Drinking Water Programme.

Drinking Water Assessors

Drinking Water Assessors (DWAs) are Health Protection Officers with specialist training, working with drinking water suppliers to manage public health issues. They are designated by the Director General of Health.

Drinking Water Assessors undertake a variety of activities including:

assessing the performance of drinking water suppliers to ensure compliance with the Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2007 and the Drinking-water Standards for New Zealand 2005
grading of drinking water supplies
registering of drinking water supplies and water carriers
assessing adequacy of Public Health Risk Management Plans (PHRMPs)
verifying the implementation of approved Public Health Risk Management Plans
assessing the competency of water treatment operators.

Technical Assistance Programme

The Technical Assistance Programme is available to any water supply that serves a population of less than 5,000 people. The programme comes at no cost to the water suppliers or the consumers, and provides technical assistance to small water suppliers by:

helping small drinking-water suppliers to make the most effective use of the equipment they already have
providing information on how best to operate their supply and on options for upgrading or improving
including participating suppliers on the Register of Community Drinking-water
setting up groups of drinking-water suppliers to share knowledge and experiences
helping to develop and implement public health risk management plans (PHRMPs)
identifying what capital development might be required for the supply.

Capital Assistance Programme

The Capital Assistance Programme provides funding to community drinking-water suppliers to help them provide safe drinking-water. This funding is available only for water supplies that serve a population of less than 5,000 people. There are other criteria such as the New Zealand Deprivation decile of the community. The Capital Assistance Criteria can be found on the links provided below.

The purpose of the Capital Assistance Programme is to:

help small water suppliers in disadvantaged communities
make capital assistance available to community water suppliers that have demonstrated a need by participating in the Technical Assistance Programme
help communities that do not already have a reticulated drinking-water supply to establish one.

Funding could be provided for:

abstraction works, either ground or surface water
treatment plant and water storage equipment
installation or upgrade of reticulation systems
training.

Related Links

The Ministry of Health’s website, has the following documents available which are associated with the Drinking Water Programme