5 Gap Analysis

Roles and relationships

• clear roles and accountabilities
• partnerships and engagement

Response to and accountability for land use effects on water quality is unclear between some territorial authorities and regional councils. What's missing:

• clarification of mandates
• Crown guidance and expectations to regional councils
• addressing/mitigating potentially contentious political issues.

There is patchy engagement with Māori. This has the implication of insufficient consideration being given to the cultural aspects and implications for implementing water management. What's missing:

• better engagement with Māori (note: this issue may be addressed through the current RMA review and work under the WPoA would need aligning with the RMA review outcomes).

Partnerships are occurring but only to a limited extent. What's missing:

• more effective partnerships to address water quality issues.

Strategic direction

The national interest in water quality is not well articulated in addressing strategic planning issues (ie, adaptive management, optimising SD outcomes, acknowledgement of trade-offs). What's missing:

• articulation of national interest by central government
• strategic planning to occur nationally, regionally and at industry level.

The management of land use to sustain water quality has only been addressed to a limited degree in regional planning which has been discretionary. What's missing:

• mandatory planning and water quality management by local government (Note: the RMA review may allow the Government to require regional councils to develop plans addressing specific issues. The WPoA work will need aligning with the RMA review outcomes)
• identification of community outcomes.

Consultation

The state of consultation appears generally acceptable, although there are concerns regarding how much the ideas/feedback from consultation flows through into decision-making. There are also concerns by developers and people being consulted over the costs and time commitments required during consultation.

Information/research/ technology

Smaller councils have less access to information and research that enables innovation. Innovation is essential to identifying better solutions taking a sustainable development approach. Science and information is incomplete and not widely disseminated. What's missing:

• better dissemination and uptake of information and science to water quality decision makers
• integration of science and policy and guidance on acceptable levels of certainty around use of information
• understanding time delays in cause/effect/fix
• better understanding of diffuse discharges
• addressing the fact that pressure to intensify land use is likely to continue/increase and how to deal with the impacts
• better understanding and integration of social science and traditional Māori knowledge
• research that fosters innovation and holistic solutions to water quality issues.

Effective tools

• legislation
• policy tools
• economic instruments

There is uncertainty around the legal interpretation of the discharge provisions in the RMA, and their application to diffuse discharges. Most regional councils have not, to date, directly authorised or regulated diffuse discharges or the related land uses. What's missing:

• clarity around the interpretation of the legal requirements for diffuse discharges.

The range of policy tools has not been fully utilised. What's missing:

• the "tool box" of policy instruments for councils to manage water quality impacts is incomplete.

Community awareness

There is insufficient public awareness regarding the impacts of land use on water quality, and where innovative solutions cannot be found trade-offs may be required between priorities. What's missing:

• good public awareness of water quality issues, how land use can impact on water quality and what can be done to reduce these impacts.

Capacity

• people skills/ experience
• funding

There is a need for more skilled and, experienced staff and practitioners in water quality management. What's missing:

• strategic training, education, employment of staff to address the gap
• ability to efficiently interpret and implement the tools that exist.

Some councils are adequately funded to do water quality work, others are not. What's missing:

• consideration of the options for the provision of assistance to councils.