The water services landscape across Aotearoa New Zealand is undergoing one of the most significant structural shifts in decades.

Under the Local Water Done Well reforms, 44 councils have opted to deliver water services through a council-controlled organisation (CCO)... meaning 76 % of New Zealand’s population will receive three‑waters services via these new entities rather than traditional in-house models (beehive.govt.nz).

This isn’t just structural change, it’s a financial and operational transformation.

• Councils will invest $47.9 billion in water infrastructure over the next decade, up from earlier projections of $39 billion (RNZ).

• The long-run infrastructure need is estimated at $120–185 billion just to ensure resilience, regulatory compliance, and service continuity (Infrastructure NZ).

CCOs like IAWAI, Waikato Waters Ltd, and the proposed Tiaki Wai Metro Water entity in Wellington are being set up to take on this responsibility.

But amid the new boards, legal frameworks, and asset transfers, a critical question often gets overlooked:

How will these new entities report on their performance... clearly, credibly, and consistently... from day one?

🚧 Why Reporting is the Sleeper Risk in CCO Setup

If you’re involved in the leadership or governance of a new water CCO, you’ve got your hands full:

• Getting legal structures and shareholder agreements in place

• Transferring infrastructure, staff, and contracts

• Setting up operational teams

• Meeting compliance with the new Water Services Act and Taumata Arowai expectations

But here’s the risk: reporting is often left until last or worse, inherited piecemeal from councils.

This creates a perfect storm:

• Disconnected spreadsheets from different councils

• Legacy KPIs with no strategic link to new mandates

• Board papers that focus on past performance, not forward risk

• Frustrated teams doing manual workarounds just to build basic reports

This isn’t just inconvenient... it’s a governance liability. If you can’t show performance, you can’t demonstrate public value. And that undermines confidence from shareholders, regulators, and ratepayers alike.

🧩 Why Reporting Feels So Hard in New CCOs

Even experienced leadership teams struggle to set up reporting that’s:

• Integrated across strategy, operations, and risk

• Flexible enough to evolve as the entity grows

• Lightweight for users, but robust for governance

Why? Because:

• You're starting from scratch, with no common baseline

• Different councils bring different systems, cultures, and expectations

• The “build while running” pressure makes strategic reporting an afterthought

• Ops teams are already stretched, reporting gets delegated, not designed

It’s easy to fall into tactical reporting that satisfies short-term needs but doesn’t scale, doesn’t align, and doesn’t surface the right decisions.

✅ What Better Looks Like

We’ve supported CCOs and local government agencies across the motu to escape this cycle... using OPAL3, a purpose-built performance and risk reporting platform designed specifically for NZ public sector needs.

Here’s what better looks like:

1. Single Source of Truth

No more reconciling multiple Excel versions. One system holds the indicators, risks, actions, and comments, all in one place.

2. Forward-Focused Dashboards

Boards and executives see not just what happened but what’s likely to happen next, and what the organisation is doing about it.

3. Performance + Risk, Side by Side

Reporting that shows the interaction between service performance, project delivery, and strategic risks, not in silos.

4. Reports That Write Themselves

Templates for monthly, quarterly, and audit-ready reports... built once, updated with a click.

5. Scalable from Day One

Whether you’re serving 2 councils or 7, OPAL3 adapts to your governance model... without IT overhead.

🧠 Final Thought: Don’t Let Reporting Be the Bottleneck

You didn’t set up a new CCO just to replicate old problems. And yet, without a clear performance reporting framework, that’s exactly what can happen.

Corporate reporting isn’t a side task. It’s how you build trust, demonstrate value, and stay ahead of risks.

Make it one of the first systems you get right — not the last...

👉 Want to See How OPAL3 Can Help?

We’ve worked alongside CCOs, councils, and central agencies to build performance frameworks that are clear, scalable, and useful.

If you’re building your reporting and governance model, we’d love to show you how OPAL3 can help.

📅 Book a quick demo now to see OPAL3 in action.