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The Water Programme of Action

November 2003

Introduction

Plentiful, clean water is part of New Zealand’s heritage. Managing our waters to make sure they stay that way – or are restored to this state – is a task for all of us.

Our rivers and lakes are valuable for many reasons – for drinking water, for the environment, for irrigation, for energy, for cultural values, for recreation and for tourism. So, it is important that we, as a nation, determine how to fairly use, protect and preserve water.

This is why the Government is embarking on a Water Programme of Action. Falling under the Sustainable Development Programme of Action, the Programme is coordinated by the Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

The Water Programme of Action is an open and participatory process and will examine all aspects of water – cultural, economic, environmental and social. The process will provide opportunities for fair and equitable input from all interests. There are no pre-determined outcomes.

The programme initially consists of a number of projects within three separate strands covering:

water allocation and use
water quality
water bodies of national importance.

Within these strands, a series of projects will:

look at how to manage water allocation and factors affecting water quality and how to get the best balance
determine what the national interest in water is and how to get the best results from this
identify the water bodies of national importance
develop ways to get sustainable and fair results.

Project teams involve representatives from government departments and regional councils. A Chief Executives’ Group, made up of government department chief executives and a representative nominated by regional government, oversees the Programme. A Māori reference group is being established to advise the project managers and teams.

How the Projects Fit Together

Project 1: Allocation and Use

This project aims to develop the best possible way of making decisions about how we allocate and use water in New Zealand. Options could range from improving current Resource Management Act processes, through to fundamental changes.

The project will:

clearly identify the issues and problems with the current ways we allocate and use water. For example, concerns about the current ’first in, first considered‘ model under the Resource Management Act
determine what we want to achieve with water allocation
identify the types of legal rights associated with water
identify ways we could improve current water allocation processes
identify the options that best meet cultural, economic, environmental and social outcomes.

Project 2: Managing Land Use for Water Quality

This project will look at how we currently manage the impact of land use on water quality, the options for doing this better where it is needed, and how we can reduce or mitigate the negative impacts of land use on freshwater quality. The project will define central government expectations and produce principles for ideal outcomes in water quality management.

The project will:

collate existing information to identify the known impacts of land use on water quality
identify what risks there are to the economy, society, culture and the environment of poor and inappropriate land use
describe how we currently govern land use
identify key features and principles of land use management and regulatory processes necessary to meet sustainable water quality outcomes, including issues of governance
develop options for changing and offsetting the effects of land use.

Project 3: Potential Water Bodies of National Importance

This project will develop a list of water bodies that may be considered to have nationally important values, both now and in the future. Water bodies will be assessed against the following values:

tourism
irrigation
energy generation
industrial uses
recreation
natural heritage
cultural heritage.

Project 4: How to Determine the National Interest

If something is ‘in the interests of all sections of the community at the national scale, now and in the future’, then it’s considered to be in the national interest. This project will draw together the results of the three strands – water allocation, water quality, and the potential water bodies of national importance projects. Principles and processes for determining the national interest in water, and how they can be used in decision making will be recommended.

This project will:

identify how we can determine the national interest in water and how we can get the best results from water management
encourage partnerships and sector participation in determining the national interest
assess how the needs of different groups should be recognised in determining the national interest
identify how the national interest would feed into decision making – now and in the future.

Project 5: How to Optimise Outcomes

This project will develop a system to better manage competing values and priorities in managing water. This will take into account the specific circumstances for different water bodies.

Elements of this project include:

looking at the data we need to make decisions and how to use the data
identifying the relationships between the values and examining the impact of changing one value on the other values
identifying governance and decision making arrangements that provide appropriate incentives and accountability
looking at how to achieve complementary and ‘win-win’ outcomes.

After this project is completed, the candidate lists of water bodies of national importance will be reconciled. The project may recommend principles or policies to be included in a National Policy Statement, or standard procedures for a National Environmental Standard.

Project 6: Identify Water Bodies of National Importance

This follows on from project three, which developed lists of potential water bodies of national importance. This project will identify the ‘Water Bodies of National Importance’ and agree on the values to be secured in those water bodies. The process for the project will be heavily consultative and will rely on partnerships with major sectors.

Elements include:

identifying complementary values and mutually exclusive values for each candidate water body
identifying the risks to the values if there was no Crown intervention
agreeing on the overall list of Water Bodies of National Importance and the values to be secured
developing options for new tools, or changes to existing tools to secure the values of the Water Bodies of National Importance.

Project 7: Tools – Ways to Improve Water Management

This work programme will develop the tools required to implement recommendations of the other projects. These could include:

economic instruments
Environmental Impact Assessment
non-market valuation tools to feed into Cost Benefit Analysis
Cost Benefit Analysis for water, section 32 (Resource Management Act)
information
science
land use intensification modelling
risk assessment tool for predicting long term impacts
National Policy Statement, National Environmental Standard, national guidelines
legislation
incentives.

Outcome

Any changes to water management resulting from the above programmes would be made, at the earliest, in the 2004 – 2005 financial year.

Further Information

Further information on these projects will be made available as it comes to hand and will be available at www.mfe.govt.nz and www.maf.govt.nz. If you would like to be part of consultation on the Water Programme of Action, please contact:

Water Programme of Action team
Ministry for the Environment
Phone (04) 439 7400
Email waterprogramme@mfe.govt.nz