This fact sheet is an extract from the relevant information from the Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules 2022 to help suppliers determine how to apply each rule module and associated compliance and reporting requirements. We recommend reading Fact Sheet 10 first to familiarize yourselves with the Water Supplies Categories and Rules Modules.
Drinking water suppliers must select the Rule modules that apply to each of their registered supplies based on the category that best fits their drinking water supply. Drinking water suppliers must demonstrate compliance against those rule modules for each registered supply. For example, if a networked supply serves 10,000 people, level 3 rules must be used for all source, treatment, and distribution zone compliance, regardless of the number of people served by any single source, treatment plant, or distribution zone.
If a distribution zone in a community of 10,000 people serves only 450 people, that zone must still demonstrate compliance against the level 3 rules.
Where population thresholds are provided, the population supplied should be calculated on the base population, the population that is normally supplied drinking water regardless of any seasonal increases.
Any drinking water supplier can elect to demonstrate compliance with a higher level of source, treatment, or distribution zone rule module if they choose.
For example, a drinking water supply which is required to comply with the level 2 rules modules for source, treatment, and distribution zone, may choose to demonstrate compliance against the level 2 rule modules for source and distribution zone, but the level 3 rule module for treatment if that is more suitable for them. In that case, the rules that they would demonstrate compliance against would be G+S2+T3+D2+VP.
Drinking water suppliers submit compliance reports to Taumata Arowai at varying frequencies depending on the level of rules they follow. Compliance reports are reported in a approved from which Taumata Arowai makes available to suppliers.
Reporting requirements are set out in the General: G1, G2, G3, G4, and G5. Each compliance report must indicate the number of compliance periods in the reporting period that the supply was non-compliant with, where applicable, and outline the reason for any non-compliance.
Compliance periods are the length of time over which compliance is assessed for reporting purposes. Two types of rules are assigned a compliance period: assurance rules and monitoring rules. Some rules don’t have a compliance period, these are non-reporting rules.
Assurance rules cover activities that water suppliers need to undertake, for example the preparation of a backflow prevention programme or a distribution zone sampling plan. Assurance rules are not used to demonstrate compliance with the Drinking Water Standards but indicate whether water suppliers undertake activities that contribute to the provision of safe drinking water. Assurance rules have a compliance period of one year.
If a drinking water supplier chooses to comply with a higher-level rule module e.g., T3, they must comply with all of the rules in that module. It is up to each water supplier to determine whether they will demonstrate compliance against a higher-level rule module, and over which compliance periods.
Drinking water suppliers only need to demonstrate compliance against the Rules for periods when a drinking water supply is operating.
Example 1 : A bore may only be used during the summer period when there is a high level of demand. The source water requirements for that bore would only need to be demonstrated for the period that the bore is in operation.
Example 2: A treatment plant may be off-line for several reasons, so compliance does not need to be demonstrated for the period that the plant is not operating. However, if a treatment plant operates for only part of a compliance period, data/information must be reported for that compliance period.
Example 3: A distribution zone is expected to be in operation continually, even when a treatment plant is not, so demonstration of compliance for the distribution zone will be continual.
Drinking water suppliers must assess their compliance with the Rules and provide a report of compliance to Taumata Arowai.
Monitoring rules set out requirements to monitor the quality of source water and treated water. They cover determinands and parameters that need to be either continuously monitored, or regularly sampled. Monitoring rules have compliance periods of 1 day, 1 month, 3 months, or 1 year, which typically depends on the frequency of monitoring required in the rule.
- 1-day compliance periods: A monitoring rule which requires a determinand or parameter to be continuously monitored or monitored daily, irrespective of the period of the day that the supply is operating, has a compliance period of 1 day, i.e. 24 hours (midnight to midnight).
- 1-month compliance periods: A monitoring rule which requires a determinand or parameter to be monitored on a monthly or weekly basis, e.g. 2 per week, 8 per month, etc., has a compliance period of 1 month.
- 3-month compliance periods: A monitoring rule which requires a determinand or parameter to be monitored at least every 3 months has a compliance period of 3 months.
- 1-year compliance periods: All other monitoring rules have a compliance period of 1 year.
Note: Where monitoring occurs at least every 3 years or at least every 5 years, the rule may be reported as compliant if the sampling frequency has been met by the end of the calendar year being reported on.
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