The council's old bylaw lapsed in 2010, making it difficult to deal with people who had interfered with their supplies, damaged them or taken more water than they were entitled to.
But some water scheme officials and councillors were concerned about the implications of the new bylaw and how it would be enforced.
Mr Ross said if any concerns arose from implementation of the bylaw they would be addressed.
''You can trust we can apply [the bylaw] sensibly,'' he said.
The bylaw was to deal with recalcitrant water-takers who did something they should not be doing.
''We need to be able to bang them over the head with action.''
Mr Ross said there had been ''lots of examples'' where water consumers had suffered due to the actions of other consumers.
Getting the bylaw approved has not been without difficulties, some schemes questioning provisions and Corriedale Water Ltd, which manages the Windsor, Tokarahi, Kauru Hill and Awamoko schemes, wanting to be excluded.
However, it would be over to the council to decide whether these needed to be addressed,'' Dr Brookes said in the public forum before yesterday's council meeting.
The draft bylaw was advertised for public comment and 11 submissions received and considered by the council in September. Additional clarification and explanation of some technical issues and the preface were made in response.
Cr June Slee questioned some of the provisions, including delegation of powers to managers, and wanted water distribution and use ''in democratic hands''.
''Water is the lifeblood of this district and I would hate to see us [councillors] lose control,'' she said.
However, she was assured by assets group manager Neil Jorgensen that was not the case, and control over allocating water to users remained with water supply committees, with advice from council staff.david.bruce@odt.co.nz
