New start for fresh water

Careful balancing decisions on the economic, ecological, cultural and
social value of water need to be made.

Dealing with the fresh water challenges New Zealand faces now, and in the future, means balancing difficult decisions between environment, economic potential and other values. There’s no denying that these throw up some intensely complex issues for consideration.
“Some difficult decisions on how we allocate and use water in New Zealand need to be made. This means that people will have to recognise their needs for fresh water, but also the needs of others, so realistic goals can be set,” says Sue Powell, Deputy Secretary Programmes at the Ministry for the Environment.

The Government’s recently announced new direction for fresh water management – New Start for Fresh Water – is aimed at developing a shared understanding through a stakeholder-led collaborative process of potential options to achieve outcomes and goals for New Zealand’s water management; and building the social consensus for change that is needed before proceeding to solutions.

New Start for Fresh Water sets out some of the choices we face and the implications of those choices, as well as the processes proposed to improve New Zealand's freshwater management.

There are opportunities to maximise
the value of primary production by
addressing issues around rural land
use and water quality.

Work is progressing on regulations
to require metering of water take
consents.

"New Zealand's abundant freshwater resources are the envy of many other countries and the key to our competitive advantage in agriculture and renewable energy – as well as being essential to our environment and lifestyle. The problem is that our system of management has not kept up with the extra pressure on our water system,” Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith says.

We have the second largest amount of fresh water per capita of any country (after Norway), but despite this New Zealand is approaching some water resource limits, which can be seen in areas with deteriorating water quality, water demand outstripping supply, and constrained economic opportunities.

The increasing intensification of agriculture in the past two decades has contributed greatly to our economy, but it has also meant that the area of irrigated land has more than doubled and nitrogen fertiliser use has increased more than five fold.

And while New Zealand water quality is amongst the very best internationally, there is increasing evidence of deterioration. Powell says, “recent Ministry reports on water quality indicate that there has been a decline in some aspects of river water quality and habitat health over the past 20 odd years. Lakes are also being increasingly polluted and there are some substantial clean-up initiatives for Lake Taupo, the Rotorua lakes and the Waikato River. But these are costly and we need to see more effective management to ensure ongoing maintenance of our water resources.”

The Government plans to
set some resource limits
to shape the actions taken
on managing water quality.

New Start for Fresh Water sets up a process with stakeholders to develop solutions through a collaborative process by the Land and Water Forum (previously the Sustainable Land Use Forum) involving major water users in agriculture, industry and power generation as well as major environmental and recreational groups. This process will run over the next year, with the Forum due to report to Government in July 2010. There is no doubt that stakeholders will be bringing very different views on how water should be managed and used to these discussions.

Dr Nick Smith has acknowledged that “sector groups, both industry and environmental, have tended to take extreme positions in the hope that it will move the balance their way, rather than engaging and finding solutions with other stakeholders. This culture has not served New Zealand well.”

He says developing more effective, more co-operative forms for governance, and finding balance in the competition for water between farmers, the forestry industry, regional councils, electricity generators, environmental advocates, and recreational users, as well as Māori, will be essential.

Alastair Bisley, Chair of the Land and Water Forum, says the collective governments' process “brings together a wide range of critical stakeholders whose use of land and water affect one another.

“Our task is to find outcomes, goals and long-term strategies for fresh water in New Zealand. We have a year of intensive work ahead,” he says.

In parallel to the collaborative process, the Government will continue ongoing engagement between the Crown and iwi leaders. At the same time, central government will do the background and technical work needed to scope policy options, and to develop tools to support the Government’s policy direction.

While the aim of the stakeholder-led process is to achieve common understanding and purpose around fresh water, the main elements of the Government’s policy programme are expected to:

“Developing more effective, more co-operative forms for governance, and finding balance in the competition for water between farmers, the forestry industry, regional councils, electricity generators, environmental advocates, and recreational users, as well as Māori, will be essential.”

ensure that water contributes to New Zealand’s economic growth and environmental integrity
provide stronger central government direction and leadership
address some of the scientific, technical, information and capability gaps that hold back improved management
establish supplementary measures to address the impacts of land-use intensification on water quality, and manage urban and rural demand
maintain Treaty-based engagement with Māori on water management options.

A detailed work programme is still being developed, but it is likely to involve a wide range of tools and possibly some economic instruments. Much existing work on water management tools will continue (such as the proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and some proposed national environmental standards).
“We need to ensure that the changes we make are workable and carefully balance New Zealand's important environmental reputation with the potential for ongoing economic growth from the primary sector. We are in a period of opportunity to develop a better system and outcomes; we risk squandering New Zealand’s natural advantages if the situation does not change,” says Powell.

For more information on the New Start for Fresh Water go to www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/water/freshwater/new-start-fresh-water.html

Previous|Next