The Selwyn District continues to experience a period of significant growth, a trend that has led to a sustained high volume of resource consent applications. The Council is committed to processing these applications within statutory timeframes. To facilitate a more streamlined consenting process, certification is required to confirm that there is adequate network capacity to service proposed developments. This certification will be in the form of a 2 Waters and a Surface Water Certificate – issued by Selwyn Water Ltd and Selwyn District Council respectively.

Who provides water services in Selwyn?

Selwyn Water Ltd (SWL)

Selwyn Water Ltd is responsible for 2 Waters which includes:

  • Drinking water
  • Wastewater

SWL provides servicing advice, confirms network capacity, and issues certificates for drinking water and wastewater servicing.

Selwyn District Council (SDC)

Selwyn District Council is responsible for Surface Water which includes:

  • Stormwater
  • Water races
  • Land drainage

SDC provides servicing advice, confirms network capacity, and issues certificates for stormwater, water race, and land drainage servicing.

For more than three unit multi-unit development in the residential, commercial/mixed use or industrial zones, where it is sought that these developments connect to or undertake works to water, wastewater, stormwater, water race or land drainage services, a Surface Water Certificate ’ & a '2 Waters Certificate’ must be obtained and provided with the Engineering Acceptance application made prior to building or resource consent application. The Servicing Certificates will confirm that there is adequate capacity for your proposal.

A Surface Water Certificate & a 2 Waters Certificate is also required for any subdivision application to confirm that there is sufficient network capacity for the additional

connections proposed. This certificate must be provided as part of the subdivision application. Please note: This requirement does not apply to rural subdivisions with on-site water and wastewater services supplied by the property owner.

The Infrastructure Servicing Certificates issued by SDC and SWL will be valid for 6 months from the date of issue.

This process will provide:

  • Formal servicing advice as part of due diligent stage of a project,
  • Early identification of servicing constraints (don’t need to wait for RC RFI process),
  • Approval of multiple Points of Discharge per premise in relation to Council Bylaws, for stormwater
  • Streamlined Resource Consent process in terms of 5 Waters servicing assessment
  • Servicing Assessments will fold into the PIM process if required

Fee Structure: Please note that our billing is conducted on an hourly basis. The current engineering rates, as outlined in our Annual Plan for 2025/2026, is $195 for an Engineer or $215 for a Senior Engineer (this will change from 1 July in accordance with the updated Fees & Charges Schedule). Invoices will be sent to the applicant after the certificates have been issued and will be due in accordance with standard payment terms. Assessing applications where the estimated time required for completion is greater than 5 hours, or where additional modelling or other activities are required, will be presented to applicants for their review and approval before progressing This work will be charged on a time‑and‑materials basis, as per our fees and charges policy, and may impact the overall delivery timeframe. .

Timeframes: Please be assured that we prioritise all requests and strive for efficiency in our processes. Our goal is to respond to your request within a timeframe of 15 business days.

Information to be submitted: To submit your application please use this link

Your applications must include a ‘servicing report’ which includes the following information:

  • Assessment of network(s) the development requires connections to: drinking water, wastewater and stormwater. Any proposed changes to the water race or land drainage network.
  • Concept plan showing existing water, wastewater, stormwater, water race and land drainage services (as applicable) to the application. This plan will include each required point of connection to Councils & SWL network and any extensions of Council’s & SWL’s network necessary to service the proposed development.
  • Demand calculations including average and peak flowrates as are applicable to the networks to be connected. Details of any proposed wet industry.
  • How your proposal will align with the engineering code of practice.