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Abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Executive Summary

1 Introduction

2 Methodology

3 Allocations and Areas

4 Comparisons and Trends

5 Surface-water Allocation

6 Water Use

Appendix A: Database Format

Appendix B: Assumptions and Parameters

Appendix C: Consent Database Summaries

Appendix D: Regional Summaries

References

3 Allocations and Areas

This section presents a summary of consumptive water use consents by number, allocations and consented irrigated area. The information below is derived from the consent database and presented in further detail in the supporting appendices.

3.1 Consent numbers

There are a total of 19,833 consumptive water use consents in the 2006 consent database of which 19,531 are coldwater takes and 302 geothermal water. The series of figures below show the distribution of consents (numbers) in total and by regional authority for primary source and use.

Key points to note are:

• 66 percent and 32 percent of consents are from groundwater and surface water (direct takes and storage) respectively (Figure 3.1)
• irrigation accounts for 78 percent of all consents (Figure 3.2)
• irrigation accounts for 72 percent of surface-water consents (Figure 3.3) and 81 percent of groundwater consents (Figure 3.4)
• Figure 3.5 shows the distribution of consents by region and primary source; note the predominance of groundwater consents in all regions except Otago where there are a large number of mining water rights from surface water which are currently used for irrigation
• Figure 3.6 shows the distribution of consents by use; irrigation consents account for the largest proportion of consents in most regions (apart from Southland and West Coast).

The distribution of surface-water and groundwater consents is shown in Figures 3.7 and 3.8 respectively. Figure 3.9 shows the distribution of irrigation consents.

Appendix C lists details of number of consents in total and by region for water source and primary use.

3.2 Water allocation

The tables and figures below present a summary of weekly and annual allocations by water source and use. Further details of both the consent number and allocations are listed in Appendix C. Summaries of consents and allocation are also listed by regional authority in Appendix D.

Table 3.1 is a summary of weekly allocations (m³/s) by council for cold and geothermal water along with percentage of allocation from primary source. Key points to note are:

• coldwater allocations:
  • total weekly allocation is 676 m³/s
  • surface-water weekly allocation is 60 percent of allocations (406 m³/s)
  • groundwater weekly allocation is 34 percent of allocations (227 m³/s)
  • weekly allocation from storage sources is approx. 6 percent (43 m³/s)
  • Canterbury and Otago regions account for 54 percent (373 m³/s) and 18 percent (125 m³/s) of weekly allocations respectively
• geothermal allocations:
  • total weekly allocation is just over 4 m³/s
  • the Waikato region accounts for 87 percent (3.5 m³/s) of weekly allocations.

Table 3.1: Weekly allocation (m³/s) by water source

View weekly allocation by water source (large table)

Table 3.2 is a summary of annual allocations (Mm³) by council and primary source. Note geothermal water is excluded from this summary as annual allocations were not included in the analysis. Total annual allocation for consumptive water use is approximately 9.8 Bm³/y of which 63 percent (6.1 Bm³/y) is from direct takes from surface water, 28 percent (2.7 Bm³/y) from groundwater and 9 percent (0.9 Mm³/y) from storage sources. There is considerable variation between regions in the contribution of water from sources. While storage contributes a relative low proportion of total national water allocation, for some councils (Auckland, Gisborne and Tasman) it is the largest contribution. Figure 3.10 illustrates the variations in annual allocation between councils and water sources.

Table 3.2: Annual allocation (Mm³/y) by water source

Table 3.3 lists weekly allocation by council for primary water uses. Irrigation accounts for 77 percent weekly allocation (518 m³/s), public supply [Public supply includes water for reticulated municipal and community supply for domestic, commercial and industrial consumption.] for 11 percent (73 m³/s), industry for 10 percent (65 m³/s) and stock water for 3 percent (19 m³/s). In Canterbury, Marlborough and Tasman councils; irrigation accounts for more than 80 percent of allocations. Allocations to stock water only represented those takes requiring consent approval, however it should be borne in mind that the vast major of stock takes are permitted activities under the RMA and regional plans.

Table 3.3: Weekly allocation (m³/s) by water use

Table 3.4 lists annual allocation by council for primary water use. Note that irrigation accounts for just over 50 percent of annual allocation (the proportion is lower than the weekly allocation due to seasonal demand), public water supply for 24 percent, industry for 19 percent and stock water supply for 6 percent.

Table 3.4: Annual allocation (Mm³/y) by water use

3.3 Consented irrigated area

This section provides information on consented irrigated area by region. It compares these values with areas reported in the 2002 Agricultural Census.

Table 3.5 lists a summary of consented irrigated area by council and percentage of area by water source. The total area is estimated to be in the order of 972,000 hectares with 51 percent supplied from surface water, 46 percent from groundwater and 3 percent from storage. The highest proportion of area occurs in Canterbury with 647,000 hectares (66 percent), followed by Otago with 141,000 hectares (15 percent).

Table 3.5: Consented irrigated area (ha) by water source

Note 1: includes area supplied from mining water rights estimated to be approximately 80,000 ha.

Table 3.6: Consented irrigated area by water use

Note 1: For some councils crop type was not specified for all consents and such records have been assigned to the 'other' category. It is therefore likely that a substantial proportion of crop use currently assigned in the 'other' category actually relates to pasture.

Note that consented irrigated area accrued per region is based on the consent location. While the irrigation command area generally falls within the consenting authority boundary, there are a small number of cross-boundary transfers, most notably the lower end of the Lower Waitaki Irrigation Scheme and the recently commissioned Downlands Irrigation Scheme. Both have takes from Canterbury region but with part and all the command areas in Otago region respectively.