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1 Introduction

The National Environmental Standard for Sources of Human Drinking Water (the NES) aims to reduce risks to the quality of water bodies from which the source water for drinking-water supplies is taken. It will do this by preventing discharge and water permits being granted, and preventing the inclusion of permitted activity rules in regional plans, if they will cause drinking water to become unsafe to drink after the existing treatment processes. To implement the NES, regional councils and consent applicants will need to understand the:

  • likely contaminants that might be associated with a particular activity

  • ability of the various treatment processes used in New Zealand to remove contaminants from the water.

This document provides guidance on these matters. It also identifies and briefly describes the groups, organisations and the Ministry of Health ‘tools’ that will help assess how planned new activities in a catchment could impact on the quality of drinking water sourced from that catchment.

This guide aims to provide regional councils and consent applicants with sufficient knowledge about treatment processes and sources of contaminants to enable them to implement and comply with the NES. It does not aim to make the reader an expert in assessing effects of activities on drinking water sources or drinking water treatment.

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