Government has appointed Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP) to manage and work with the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) to deliver a $30m Rural Drinking Water Programme to provide communities with treatment systems, training and maintenance to help them keep their water safe, as well as to meet new regulatory requirements and drinking water rules. This programme is intended to build capacity and capability of water treatment plant installers, operators and maintainers in rural areas. CIP is working together with Te Puni Kōkiri and Taumata Arowai to deliver this programme of work.
Update as of 8 September 2023:
Funds for rural marae, kāinga and kōhanga reo, as well as other private drinking water suppliers have now been fully subscribed and the Government has advised that registrations are now closed.
The Rural Drinking Water Programme is intended to improve drinking water infrastructure for marae, kōhanga reo, and papakāinga and other private rural supplies that are not connected to a town supply, and to provide training to maintain water treatment to the Taumata Arowai drinking water standards.
Of the total $30 million available to the Programme:
- $20 million was set aside specifically to upgrade water treatment systems for rural marae, kāinga and kōhanga reo, and
- $10 million was set aside specifically for other private drinking water suppliers that are not for profit and in areas of high vulnerability.
The funding acknowledges the historic inequities of access to safe drinking water in rural areas.
More information about who can register to receive drinking water infrastructure is here