2.3 Who Are Our Customers The expression ‘customers’ is a concept widely understood in the free enterprise economy. It has been less readily adopted to describe the relationship between the ratepayer and the council. The reluctance is partly due to the monopoly the Council has over many services, the charging mechanism through the general rates and the provision of regulatory functions that is beyond the normal concept of purchasing goods and services. The Council has more complex role to play than a simple purveyor of services. They also have a statutory duty to provide certain services and various regulatory functions. This is particularly relevant for the water supply services and for this reason it is probably more accurate for this section to consider all of the stakeholders. Commercial properties and domestic households connected to the reticulation are more traditional customers. 82% of properties in Marlborough receive water services and rely on the Council to provide reticulated water supply for drinking, cooking, food preparation, the provision of sanitary living conditions and domestic irrigation. Industries and businesses are heavily reliant on the water supply. Many businesses use water in their processes and all rely on water as a facility for their staff Central government is an important stakeholder in the provision of water supply services through its legislative powers. The obligation to supply water and the standards and quality of supply are included in the Public Health Act 1956, the Local Government Act 2002 and others (see Section 2.4). The abstraction of water from the environment is controlled through the Resource Management Act and effected by the local territorial authority - the Regulatory Department of Marlborough District Council. Drinking water standards are a fundamental public health issue monitored and regulated by the Nelson-Marlborough Health Board. The New Zealand Fire Service is an occasional but important stake holder in the water supply. Providing sufficient flow and pressure in the reticulation to meet the requirements of the SNZ PAS4509 (2008) New Zealand Fire Service Firefighting Water Supplies Code of Practice is one of the constraining limitations to the design and operation of the reticulation. Environmental groups such as Forest and Bird, Guardians of the Sounds, Kaipupu Point Inland Island, Grovetown Lagoon Working Group and iwi retain an interest in management of water resources. Iwi have a special cultural relationship with the environment which is an important element to consider in the abstraction and distribution of water and construction of related infrastructure. 2.4 What Customers Want The levels of service and the subsequent performance measures are derived from the fundamental objectives of a water supply: • Provide safe and reliable source of drinking water. • Provide a resource for washing, cleaning and sanitary purposes. • Provide a consistent, constant and unlimited supply. • Provide the service at reasonable and equitable cost. In practice there is a tension between the provision of the first three objectives and the willingness to pay for the service. Some of the standards are pre-empted by legislation and not open to negotiation; others recognise the realities of delivering the desired goals within financial Page 17