Source
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2025/0258/latest/whole.pdf — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
Wastewater Environmental Performance Standards 2025 (SL 2025/258)
🔴 RESOLVES RT_347 — the answer is NO. The off-grid wastewater gate is NOT defused.
These regulations expressly EXCLUDE on-site domestic wastewater. They are a municipal / networked regime (local authorities, water organisations, consumer trusts), and they do not permit anything — they channel discharges into controlled-activity consents. On-site wastewater still needs a regional-plan rule or a resource consent under RMA s15.
Summary
Made under s138 of the Water Services Act 2021, 82 pp. These are the wastewater performance standards that REG_012 revealed can, since 27 Aug 2025, “expressly allow” an activity under RMA ss9/13/14/15 — raising the hope that on-site wastewater might have become nationally permitted.
It has not. The regulations govern overflows from wastewater networks, bypasses of wastewater treatment plants, discharges from treatment plants into water, and biosolids — the infrastructure of public wastewater systems. On-site domestic systems are carved out by name.
Key claims
- claim: "THE DECISIVE EXCLUSION (verbatim, s3 Interpretation): 'publicly owned wastewater treatment plant- (a) means a wastewater treatment plant that is owned or operated by- (i) a local authority; or (ii) a water organisation; or (iii) a consumer trust; or (iv) a combination of any or all of the entities listed in paragraphs (i) [to (iii)]... (b) EXCLUDES A WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT TO WHICH AUSTRALIAN/NEW ZEALAND STANDARD AS/NZS 1547:2012 ON-SITE DOMESTIC WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT APPLIES.' In 82 pages there is exactly ONE occurrence of 'on-site' - and it is this exclusion."
source_location: "reg 3 Interpretation, definition of 'publicly owned wastewater treatment plant', para (b)"
- claim: "The regulations do not create PERMITTED activities. Activity-class usage across the instrument: 'controlled activity' x30; 'discretionary activity' x4; 'expressly allow' x0. They set standards that consent applications and consent holders must meet - they channel discharges INTO consents. So even for the plants they DO cover, they are not the 'expressly allowed by a wastewater environmental performance standard' route that RMA s15 contemplates."
source_location: "whole instrument - activity-class terms counted across the text"
- claim: "Subject matter (Parts/subparts): overflows from wastewater networks (regs 21-35); bypasses of wastewater treatment plants (reg 36 ff); discharge from wastewater treatment plants into water (reg 40 ff); biosolids application management plans (reg 14); standards close to shellfish gathering areas (reg 62 ff). This is the infrastructure of PUBLIC/NETWORKED wastewater systems."
source_location: "Contents; Parts and subpart headings"
- claim: "The 'small wastewater treatment plant' category is NOT a new-build pathway. reg 58(1): 'A wastewater treatment plant is a small wastewater treatment plant IF IT EXISTED ON 19 DECEMBER 2025 and- (a) the plant takes in a daily average load of cBOD5 of less than 85 kilograms; or (b) the consent authority believes that- (i) the plant services wastewater from no more than 1,000 people; and (ii) the plant does not service a significant volume of industrial and trade waste.' Scale is reckoned by 'the number of connections to the relevant wastewater NETWORK' (reg 58(3)), and reg 58(4) binds 'the CONSENT HOLDER for a small wastewater treatment plant'."
source_location: "reg 58(1)-(4)"Neobiome Intelligence relevance
RT_347 answered: NO — and the negative result is the point
REG_012 showed that RMA ss9/13/14/15 can each be satisfied by an activity “expressly allowed by” a wastewater environmental performance standard. That is a real enabling power, inserted on 27 Aug 2025. The obvious hope was that the made standard might nationally permit on-site wastewater — which would defuse the single hardest gate in the whole off-grid framework.
It does not. Three independent reasons, each sufficient on its own:
- It excludes on-site by name. “…excludes a wastewater treatment plant to which AS/NZS 1547:2012 On-site domestic wastewater management applies.”
- It is a public/networked regime — local authorities, water organisations, consumer trusts; overflows from networks, bypasses and discharges from treatment plants.
- It permits nothing. Zero instances of “expressly allow”; it uses controlled activity (×30) and discretionary activity (×4). It sets standards that consent holders must meet.
The gate stands
On-site wastewater discharge still requires a regional-plan rule or a resource consent under RMA s15 — which, unlike s14, carries no domestic exemption at all (REG_012). And per OT_102, on-site wastewater reinstates resource consent even for a Schedule 1A-exempt dwelling. The hardest gate in the framework is not defused.
Why this matters methodologically: the enabling power exists in the RMA, but the instrument made under it does not use that power for on-site systems. Inferring “permitted” from the cross-reference alone would have written a false hope into the permitting framework. This is precisely the gap that verified-source-only exists to catch — and it is why the AI-compiled register (CR_046) cannot be trusted for legal conclusions.
🔴 It promotes AS/NZS 1547:2012 to load-bearing
AS/NZS 1547:2012 “On-site domestic wastewater management” is now named in New Zealand regulations as the boundary of the on-site regime — it is the standard that legally defines what an off-grid community’s wastewater system is. It also governs the design/sizing basis behind the D03 on-site wastewater cost line.
It is a paid Standards NZ document and is not held here. Priority raised from “useful” to load-bearing. → RT_348.
Research targets
Documents to retrieve
- RT_348 (high) — AS/NZS 1547:2012 On-site domestic wastewater management. Now cited in NZ regulations (REG_013 reg 3) as the boundary of the on-site wastewater regime, and it is the design/sizing basis behind the D03 on-site wastewater cost line. ⚠ PAID (Standards NZ) — not freely available; access requires purchase or an institutional library subscription. | REG_013 | Standards New Zealand
Research gaps
- None new. RT_347 RESOLVED → this source (answer: NO).
Notes
Primary secondary-legislation (Water Services Act 2021 s138), read verbatim via pdftotext -layout — data_quality: verified. Fetched by curl from legislation.govt.nz 2026-07-14.
A negative finding, deliberately recorded as a finding. The value here is that a plausible, hopeful reading of the RMA cross-reference is wrong, and now provably so. The permitting framework must continue to treat on-site wastewater as a consent-required activity.
Connections
Links to
Referenced by
Sources (6): OT_124 · REG_014 · REG_021 · REG_022 · REG_023 · URL_026
Concepts (2): Council Planning Profiles (D_003 five-council … · Regulatory Consenting for Off-Grid Communities…
EDT domains (1): D03: Water, Waste & Circular Systems