Source
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2021/0036/latest/whole.pdf — original source (opens in a new tab; the file is not redistributed)
Water Services Act 2021 — the drinking-water supplier gate
🔴 The drinking-water carve-out is FAR tighter than the wiki recorded — and it is a community-size constraint
The threshold is 25 CONSUMERS (people), not 25 households — roughly 9 households at the model’s 2.8 people/household. The B1 slider spans 2–100 households, so most of the model’s range is already over the line. And CR_046’s “on the same land” qualifier does not exist in the statute.
Summary
2021 No 36, as at 27 November 2025 (167 pp). The Act that creates Taumata Arowai and the duties of a drinking water supplier — registration, a Drinking Water Safety Plan, monitoring, reporting, compliance.
For Neobiome, one section decides everything: s10, which defines the two exemptions (domestic self-supply and shared domestic supplier) that keep a community out of the supplier regime. s8(e) confirms a “drinking water supplier” “does not include a domestic self-supplier or a shared domestic supplier.” s10 was replaced on 27 August 2025 by the Local Government (Water Services) (Repeals and Amendments) Act 2025 — so this is a recent, and materially different, carve-out.
Key claims
- claim: "s10(1) shared domestic supplier (verbatim): 'shared domestic supplier means a person (person A) who- (a) supplies drinking water to NO MORE THAN 25 CONSUMERS who reside in DOMESTIC DWELLINGS located on- (i) the land from which person A supplies the drinking water; OR (ii) ANY OTHER LAND; and (b) is not a domestic self-supplier or a water carrier'. s10(1): 'domestic self-supply means a STAND-ALONE DOMESTIC DWELLING that has its own supply of drinking water'. s10(2): 'domestic dwelling means a building that is used as a SINGLE HOUSEHOLD UNIT'. Section 10 was REPLACED on 27 August 2025 by s124 of the Local Government (Water Services) (Repeals and Amendments) Act 2025."
source_location: "s10(1)-(2), p.23"
- claim: "The threshold is PEOPLE, not households. s5: 'consumer means a PERSON who consumes or uses drinking water supplied by a drinking water supplier'. So 'no more than 25 consumers' = 25 PEOPLE. At the model's 2.8 people/household that is approximately 9 HOUSEHOLDS."
source_location: "s5 Interpretation, 'consumer'; s10(1)(a)"
- claim: "s8(e): a 'drinking water supplier'... 'does not include a domestic self-supplier or a shared domestic supplier.' So falling inside s10 escapes the Taumata Arowai supplier duties (registration, Drinking Water Safety Plan, monitoring, reporting) entirely. s8(e) amended 27 August 2025 by s122 of the Local Government (Water Services) (Repeals and Amendments) Act 2025."
source_location: "s8(e), p.21"
- claim: "THE STATUTORY EXAMPLES (in the Act itself, under s10) - what BREAKS the exemptions: 'A multi-dwelling building (for example, multiple separate apartments contained in a single building) that has its own bore water supply is NOT a domestic self-supply.' 'A MARAE WHAREKAI (DINING HALL) OR COMMUNITY HALL that has its own river water supply is NOT a domestic self-supply.' 'A cafe building supplied by a rainwater tank is not a domestic self-supply.' 'A person who supplies a neighbouring SCHOOL with drinking water is NOT a shared domestic supplier.' 'A person who supplies 40 HOMES on the same street with drinking water is NOT a shared domestic supplier.' 'A person who supplies a home AND FRUIT PACKHOUSE on a neighbouring property is NOT a shared domestic supplier.'"
source_location: "s10, Examples"
- claim: "s139C Infrastructure design solutions - the LAST remaining 'expressly allowed by' route into RMA ss9/13/14/15. s139C(1): the Governor-General may make regulations setting infrastructure design solutions 'for wastewater and stormwater infrastructure' - technical performance standards, treatment processes, design requirements, operating requirements - 'following consultation undertaken by the Water Services Authority with STORMWATER NETWORK OPERATORS, WASTEWATER NETWORK OPERATORS, REGIONAL COUNCILS'. s139C(2): an IDS 'may- (a) specify any or all resource consent requirements for wastewater or stormwater infrastructure... (c) SPECIFY THE ACTIVITY STATUS UNDER THE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACT 1991'. s138 is the wastewater environmental performance standards power (the parent of REG_013)."
source_location: "s138 (p.108); s139C(1)-(2) (p.113)"Neobiome Intelligence relevance
🔴 Three corrections to CR_046 — and the third is the serious one
1. ❌ “On the same land” does not exist. CR_046 records “shared domestic drinking-water supply ≤25 people on the same land — no Taumata Arowai registration.” The statute expressly says the dwellings may be on “the land from which person A supplies the drinking water; or any other land.” The same-land restriction is invented. A community can supply dwellings on other land and stay inside the carve-out.
2. ⚠ It is 25 PEOPLE, not 25 households — a hard community-size ceiling. “consumer means a person who consumes or uses drinking water.” At the model’s 2.8 people/household, 25 consumers ≈ 9 households. The Act’s own example nails it: “A person who supplies 40 homes on the same street with drinking water is not a shared domestic supplier.”
The B1 slider spans 2–100 households. Above roughly 9 households, a community with a shared water supply becomes a registered drinking-water supplier — with a Drinking Water Safety Plan, monitoring, reporting and compliance duties, and their recurring cost. Most of the model’s range is already over that line, and the wiki did not record it as a size constraint at all.
3. 🔴 The common house may break the exemption by itself — regardless of headcount. The carve-out covers water supplied to “consumers who reside in domestic dwellings”, and a “domestic dwelling” is “a building used as a single household unit.” The Act’s statutory examples then exclude non-dwellings explicitly:
“A marae wharekai (dining hall) or community hall that has its own river water supply is not a domestic self-supply.” “A person who supplies a home and fruit packhouse on a neighbouring property is not a shared domestic supplier.” “A person who supplies a neighbouring school with drinking water is not a shared domestic supplier.”
A common house is the defining feature of co-housing. Earthsong has one; the model carries community buildings (B5, *_m2_per_hh). If the community water system feeds the common house, the community may be a registered drinking-water supplier even at five households.
Flagged, not asserted
The statutory examples concern self-supply and supply to other properties. Whether a common house on the same title, fed by the same system breaks the exemption is a strong inference, not a stated rule. It is recorded as RT_349, not as a finding. Do not encode it in the engine until answered.
The last “expressly allowed by” route — s139C
s139C(2)(c) lets an infrastructure design solution “specify the activity status under the Resource Management Act 1991” — so an IDS could, in principle, make an on-site wastewater system a permitted activity, which is exactly what the wastewater standard (REG_013) declined to do.
But the power is consulted with “stormwater network operators, wastewater network operators, regional councils” — a network-infrastructure regime again — and no made infrastructure design solution was found. The power exists; the instrument appears not to. → RT_350 (watch item). The search was not exhaustive and is not claimed to be.
Research targets
Research gaps
- RT_349 (high) — Does supplying a COMMON HOUSE / community building from the community water system break the shared-domestic-supplier exemption? The carve-out covers consumers “who reside in domestic dwellings”, and the Act’s own examples exclude a “marae wharekai (dining hall) or community hall”, a school, a café and a packhouse. A common house is the defining feature of co-housing. If it breaks the exemption, a community becomes a registered drinking-water supplier at any size — and the model’s community buildings (B5) become a regulatory trigger, not just a cost line. ⚠ Strong inference, NOT a stated rule — do not encode until answered. Needs Taumata Arowai guidance or a practitioner. | REG_014 | Taumata Arowai · water-law practitioner
- RT_350 (med) — Has any infrastructure design solution been made under WSA s139C? It is the last remaining “expressly allowed by” route into RMA ss9/13/14/15, and s139C(2)(c) lets it specify RMA activity status — i.e. it could permit on-site wastewater where REG_013 did not. But it is consulted with network operators, and no made IDS was found (search not exhaustive). Watch item. | REG_014
Notes
Primary legislation, as at 27 November 2025, read verbatim via pdftotext -layout — data_quality: verified. Fetched by curl from legislation.govt.nz.
Recency matters here: s10 was replaced, and s8(e) amended, on 27 August 2025 by the Local Government (Water Services) (Repeals and Amendments) Act 2025 — the same Act that inserted the water-services instruments into RMA ss9/13/14/15 (REG_012). The carve-out CR_046 described may have been the pre-August-2025 rule. Re-check the “as at” date before relying on it.
Connections
Links to
Sources (3): CR_046 · REG_012 · REG_013
Cases (1): Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood
Referenced by
Concepts (1): Regulatory Consenting for Off-Grid Communities…