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Fresh water Freshwater demand
Allocation compared with renewable freshwater resource
Compared internationally, New Zealand has an abundance of fresh water. It is ranked 12th out of 193 countries on a per capita basis for the size of its renewable freshwater resource. Within New Zealand, allocated water comprises less than 5 per cent of its renewable freshwater resource.
However, not all of the renewable resource is actually available to be used – much of it needs to be retained in the rivers, lakes and aquifers to maintain the various values of these water bodies (such as ecological, recreational and cultural values). Furthermore, water is not always in the right place at the right time for users. A large proportion of New Zealand’s annual rainfall occurs in winter when demand is relatively low.
The map below shows the water allocated from surface water sources relative to the average annual low flow of rivers. This highlights the difference in water availability and demand between the western and eastern regions of New Zealand.
Allocation of surface water as a percentage of average annual low flow of rivers, 2006
Source: Ministry for the Environment.
Test desciption
This map of New Zealand colour codes surface water catchments according to the proportion of average annual low flow that is currently allocated. There are four categories from '1-5% allocated' to '21-50% allocated'. Areas of high allocation (21-50%), occur in the eastern regions of Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago regions. There is no data available for catchments shown in white.
Several eastern regions (Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa, Marlborough, Tasman, Canterbury and Otago) have surface water catchments that are highly allocated (that is, 20 to 50 per cent of the river flow during low flow periods is allocated to users). Therefore, rivers in these catchments are likely to be under pressure during the drier parts of the year. In these regions, closer regard to managing water resources is required to ensure water takes do not adversely affect aquatic ecosystems or other water users.
This information has come from the latest state of the environment report, Environment New Zealand 2007.
Return to freshwater demand page.
Last updated: December 2007
