1 Introduction
1.1 Background
In early December 2006 the Minister for the Environment notified a Proposed National Environmental Standard (NES) for Water Measuring Devices under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The proposal was outlined in the National Environmental Standard for Water Measuring Devices:Discussion document. The development of the standard is one part of the Government's Sustainable Water Programme of Action (SWPOA).
Public notices drawing attention to the proposal and the submission period were placed in all major and many provincial papers on 2 December 2006 (a copy of the notice is included in Appendix A of this report). The notice informed people of:
- the subject matter and rationale of the proposed standard
- where and how the proposed standard could be viewed
- how people could make a submission.
The deadline for submissions was 16 February 2007.
During the submission period seven workshops were held on the proposal around the country during December and January.
There was a high level of support in principle for the proposal from the 160 people who attended the workshops and those who made submissions. Questions and concerns centred on the scope of the standard's application, costs to consent holders and the implementation of the standard.
1.2 The proposal
The proposed NES would ensure the accurate and comprehensive measurement of the water extracted from various sources (termed "water takes") to facilitate the sustainable management of New Zealand's water resource. Many elements of the Sustainable Water Programme of Action's implementation package - for example, voluntary transfer of take consents, wider establishment of water-user groups, the management of environmental flows and over-allocated catchments - require users and regional councils to know how much water is actually taken.
The proposed NES would set minimum requirements for the installation and operation of new water measuring and recording devices, including the transfer of data to regional councils.
The discussion document proposed that the standard would apply to all water takes that need resource consent. The aim is not to include the household use of water, but to measure the water taken at the first point of abstraction from the resource - be it a river, lake, dam or aquifer.
The box below summarises the specific requirements of the NES.
Summary of the requirements of the proposed national environmental standard
It is proposed that the NES applies to all takes that require resource consents under operative or proposed regional plans. The NES would apply across all regions and all catchments or aquifers, but comments are being sought on appropriate exemptions.
Minimum requirements for water measuring devices
It is proposed that all new pipe water measuring devices installed after the NES comes into force:
- be capable of continuous measurement
- measure volume in cubic metres
- have data storage capability
- have an accuracy standard of ± 5%
- be capable of recording daily volume
- be fit for purpose
- be tamper-proof and sealed.
It is proposed that all new channel-measuring devices installed after the NES comes into force:
- continuously measure water levels
- have a water-level accuracy of ± 10 mm
- maintain a rating curve to convert water levels to flow
- fit a data logger to store the water-level data.
Installation and maintenance requirements for water measuring devices
It is proposed that:
- installation of water measuring devices be required as a condition of a water take consent
- installation should strictly comply with the manufacturer's installation instructions
- measuring devices should be installed as close as possible to the take point, and prior to the first outlet point
- the accuracy of all measuring devices must be independently verified every five years.
Data recording and transfer requirements for water measuring devices
It is proposed that:
- responsibility for recording the water measurement rests with the consent holder
- responsibility for transferring the data to the regional council rests with the consent holder and should occur on at least an annual basis
- data recording should occur at a minimum of daily intervals.
1.3 National environmental standard development process
An outline of the NES development process, including the informal and formal submission process, is shown in Figure 1. The Ministry has completed the public process stage, and the release of this Report on Submissions marks the end of the submissions stage.
Note that the NES development process differs from the statutory plan and resource consent process in that there are no hearings or appeal provisions as there are during First Schedule consultation processes.
The next steps in the NES development process are as follows:
- After completion of the cost-benefit report, a final report and recommendation will be presented to the Government. This is expected to occur towards the middle of this year.
- If there is a recommendation to proceed, and it is approved, the report and recommendations will be published. This report will contain the cost-benefit analysis, responses to submissions and the final recommendation. The proposed standard will then go through formal legal drafting.
- If approved by the Government, the proposed standard is likely to be introduced later this year.
1.4 Purpose and outline of this report
This document presents an overview of the submissions received on the Proposed NES for Water Measuring Devices.
- Section 2 is a summary of the key themes raised by submitters.
- Section 3 summarises general comments made by submitters.
- Section 4 summarises feedback from submitters on the specific components of the proposed standard.
- Section 5 summarises the responses of submitters on the implementation of the proposed standard.
This report is a mandatory requirement of the NES development process under section 44(b)(ii) of the RMA. The report is intended to provide a concise summary of the views expressed. It is not intended to provide an analysis of those views or recommendations in response to the submissions. This will be done in a separate report, which will be presented to Cabinet later this year.
