Who supplies water to my address (NZ)

Start with your territorial authority

For most of New Zealand, the city or district council that rates your property also supplies its water. That makes the council the default answer and the right first place to ask.

Check whether a CCO delivers it instead

In several parts of the country, water services are delivered by a council-controlled organisation rather than the council directly. Where that is the case, the CCO holds the network plans and handles connections and faults.

Rural addresses: look for a scheme

Outside the reticulated town supplies, water often comes from a rural water scheme, an irrigation company or a community-owned supply. These are separate operators with their own contacts and their own records.

If nothing serves you, you are your own supplier

Plenty of rural New Zealand properties run on roof-fed tanks or a private bore. There is no network operator to contact, and no network plan - the pipework on the property is entirely private.

Check who runs the other two waters

Drinking water, wastewater and stormwater are not always the same organisation in the same district. Once you have your water supplier, confirm separately who takes your wastewater and who runs the stormwater network - the answers can be three different bodies.

Know what they are and aren't responsible for

The supplier owns the network up to your connection point. Everything on the house side is yours, including the leak that shows up on your meter. Knowing where that line falls saves an argument later.

For where the pipe physically runs, request the network plan - that is a different request, covered in the water mains guide.