Water services to be managed and delivered by Council Controlled Organisation

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has confirmed a Water Services Council Controlled Organisation (WSCCO) will be specifically created to deliver water services in the district, after the matter was considered at the Full Council Meeting on Thursday 31 July 2025.

The decision follows a proposal put before the community in May and June 2025 to manage and deliver drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services, as part of central government’s Local Water Done Well plan to address Aotearoa New Zealand’s water infrastructure challenges. 

Mayor of the Queenstown Lakes District, Glyn Lewers said the decision reflected analysis that a WSCCO would be the most effective at providing these services under the new legislative and regulatory regime, and enabled Council to begin preparing to create an organisation to deliver future water services.

“Key themes arising from feedback centred around the costs to households, costs to implement and operate a potential WSCCO compared with the in-house model, along with comments around accountability, transparency, and managing a separate entity effectively,” said Mayor Lewers. 

“The decision to progress with a WSCCO last week was undeniably a challenging one to make, but considered that this model will provide a range of advantages in accountability, independence, and lower household costs in the long term when compared with the in-house model.” 

Now decided on, the future WSCCO will be fully owned by QLDC, but the organisation will be governed by its own independent specialist board and management. QLDC will be the only shareholder and will appoint board members based on the skills and experience needed for proper governance of the new organisation. 

Intended legislation by central government will prevent any WSCCO from being privatised which means that the WSCCO will remain wholly owned by QLDC.

Council will set the organisation’s strategic priorities and establish measures to ensure it performs to expectations, while the Commerce Commission will use various regulatory tools to ensure water charges are fair, cost-reflective, and transparent. 

The other shortlisted option evaluated was for QLDC to continue to deliver water services in-house, recognising that changes would need to be made to enable Council to respond to the new regulatory environment if such a model was progressed with. An in-house model would have been similarly subject to the Commerce Commission regulatory requirements. 

Letters and emails were sent to all ratepayers in the Queenstown Lakes District, along with supporting communications material shared in local papers and on a range of online platforms, all detailing the opportunity to share feedback on the WSSCO and in-house models.  

Over 120 submissions were received during the consultation period, the majority of which were in favour of the option to retain water services in-house. 

Mayor Lewers said given drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater services all cost ratepayers a significant amount of money that would increase regardless of which approach to water services was taken, it was imperative Council took a long-term view to ensure those services were reliable, sustainable, and future-proofed. 

“I acknowledge that while the majority of submitters opposed a change to how water services are delivered, Council’s role is to consider community views alongside legal and technical perspectives, and many of the genuine concerns raised have since been addressed by evolving legislative changes,” said Mr Lewers.

“Any potential WSCCO must consult with the community on matters of significance, and proposed changes in the resource management space will require the integration of urban development and infrastructure planning between Council and WSCCO – both of which address potential disadvantages of proceeding with this model,” added Mr Lewers.

“Ultimately, after careful assessment of the two models, public input, the recent legislative changes, and debate on the matter, we can now provide certainty to residents of the Queenstown Lakes District around how their water services will be delivered in the future.”

QLDC will now begin to establish a WSCCO under new water legislation. Responsibility for the district’s water services, along with ownership of QLDC’s water assets and associated debt and liabilities, will be transferred to the WSCCO once established.  

The WSCCO will be responsible for planning, funding, and delivering water services in accordance with new legislative and regulatory requirements. 

A Water Services Delivery Plan (WSDP) will be prepared and submitted to Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) by Wednesday 3 September, describing the current state of QLDC’s water assets and services as well as the future arrangements for delivery of water services. 

ENDS | KUA MUTU.

Media contact: communications@qldc.govt.nz or call 03 441 1802.

FURTHER INFORMATION | Kā pāroko tāpiri:

Future Water Services Delivery Model Report: https://www.qldc.govt.nz/media/hf0ldqv5/item-1-future-water-services-delivery-model.pdf

Our Water Done Well consultation webpage: https://letstalk.qldc.govt.nz/our-water-done-well