DWQAR Assurance Rule Applicability Engine v1.0
Derives the set of assurance rules and non-reporting rules that apply to a drinking water supply under the Water Services (Drinking Water Quality Assurance) Rules 2026, from the supply's category, subcategory, elections, source water classes, treatment claims and distribution configuration.
What it covers
- Assurance rules — systems, artefacts and evidence, self-declared annually as yes/no under G.RR.4 (level 2) or G.RR.7 (level 3).
- Non-reporting rules — real obligations that are never reported. Shown in a separate section.
- Monitoring rules — deliberately excluded. Those are numbers and limits reported as data; use the DWQAR Sampling Planner.
Rule table
87 assurance rules and 49 non-reporting rules, extracted from Schedule 1 of the 2026 rules. Requirements are paraphrased; rule numbers are cited so the source can be read.
Barrier adequacy
The protozoa log credit required by T3.PC.2 is set by source class. Claimed credits are combined under T3.PC.4, which permits cumulative credit only across one filtration process and one disinfection process. The bacteria and virus barrier is tested against T3.BC.2.
Rules module assignment
Preliminary rule 6. An election to a higher module is all-or-nothing (r6(2)); electing T3 forces S3 (r6(3)).
Glossary
- SQEP
- Suitably qualified and experienced person — someone with the qualifications and experience the task actually requires. Named in the rules; not defined by them.
- FAC
- Free available chlorine.
- FACE
- Free available chlorine equivalent — the FAC concentration that would have the same disinfecting power at pH 8.
- MAV
- Maximum acceptable value, set in the Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand.
- C.t
- The product of disinfectant concentration and contact time.
- T10
- Effective contact time — the time taken for 10% of the volume of a unit to pass through it.
- NTU
- Nephelometric turbidity unit.
- UVT
- Ultraviolet transmittance.
- UVI
- Ultraviolet intensity.
- RED
- Reduction equivalent dose — the UV dose established by bioassay validation.
- IANZ
- International Accreditation New Zealand.
- DAF
- Dissolved air flotation.
- CIP
- Clean in place.
- DWQAR
- Drinking Water Quality Assurance Rules.
- DWSNZ
- Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand.
Limits
- Navigation and planning aid. Not a substitute for the rules or for legal advice. Read the rule before you rely on it.
- Rule set: DWQAR 2026, in force 1 July 2027. The 2022 rules use a different numbering scheme and different source water classes; the transition delta is a separate increment.
- Source water class is not computed. Rule S3.CR.1 requires a suitably qualified and experienced person. The tool states the evidence a class claim needs; it does not make the claim for you.
References
- Water Services (Drinking Water Quality Assurance) Rules 2026
- Water Services (Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand) Regulations 2022
- USEPA Ultraviolet Disinfection Guidance Manual; USEPA LT2ESWTR Toolbox Guidance Manual
- NSF/ANSI 61, 419, 53, 55; AS/NZS 4348 and 3497