What Council provides
Council is currently responsible for providing drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services, essential for the smooth functioning of Ashburton District.
However, maintaining and improving these services costs a lot of money – in 2024/25 almost 20% of all council operational expenditure was spent on running these services and nearly half of our capital expenditure was on investment in water infrastructure (e.g. upgrades and pipe renewals).These costs are expected to rise in the future.
The charges you pay through your rates cover daily operations and replacement of crucial infrastructure such as pipes, pumps, and treatment facilities. By funding these services, you ensure access to clean drinking water, proper treatment and disposal of wastewater, and stormwater management.
Our water services
Drinking Water
When you turn on the tap, you’re provided with clean, treated water that is safe for drinking but also used for other purposes such as cooking, showering and watering the garden. Our responsibilities include constructing and operating water supplies, treating the water, maintaining equipment and pipes and monitoring water quality.
Wastewater
Our wastewater system collects the used water from homes and businesses, including what’s flushed down toilets, and ‘greywater’ from sinks, showers and washing machines. Some wastewater is also created from industrial activity. We ensure safe, reliable and proper disposal of wastewater. This includes meeting strict regulations for wastewater treatment, and maintaining and upgrading our wastewater network.
Stormwater
Stormwater is collected from roads, footpaths and other hard surfaces in urban areas during wet weather. Our stormwater services include collecting, treating and disposing of excess stormwater.
Our current spending
The Long Term Plan 2024-34 (LTP) allocates around $133M to run daily water services and $136M to improve water services infrastructure over the next decade.
The average Ashburton township ratepayer will pay around $1,450 for water services in 2024/25, broken down as follows:
These charges vary across the district, depending on your location and property value. The LTP forecasts these charges to rise over the next 10 years.
