Please note that submissions have now closed. Thank you to everyone who made a submission.

New unworkable regulations are threatening rural water supplies and would place unfair liabilities on suppliers (farm owners) and enormous costs on both suppliers and consumers.

While we are also running a campaign against the farming tax in the form of unworkable emissions pricing, and we thank you for your support on that campaign, this water supply regulation issue is too important to leave alone.

Groundswell NZ is asking for your support to stop these unworkable regulations by submitting to the Government’s new water regulator at www.protectruralwater.nz.‍

The Water Services Act 2021 regulates all water supply schemes, from the big city council schemes right down to small supplies in rural communities where the status quo has worked without issue for years.

The proposed regulations coming under this law don’t allow for the many varied, unique, and neighbourly water supply arrangements that people in rural areas have come up with over time to solve their water needs. Instead, the regulations are treating rural water supplies much like urban schemes and placing onerous liabilities on suppliers and enormous costs on both suppliers and consumers.

Many will have no choice but to stop supplying at all.

Some people will lose the water supply they’ve had for years, others will have to pay unreasonable costs to comply with rules designed for cities, not for rural communities.

Groundswell NZ has taken the lead and put forward a detailed submission to the Government’s new water regulator, setting out how their proposed regulations are unworkable and will harm water use in rural communities.

Only with your support, can we stop these unworkable regulations. We’ve made it easy for you to tell the Government that you support the Groundswell NZ submission at www.protectruralwater.nz.‍

Thank you for your continued support.