PublicationsDraft Canterbury Water Management Strategy

The purpose of the strategy is to find a better way of managing Canterbury's water resources. The strategy recognises the importance of water to Canterbury for a variety of uses and the pressure on water resources, both now and in the future. The Strategy also identifies the shortcomings of the present adversarial approach to allocation and management of water.
The draft Canterbury Water Management Strategy was published on 3 September 2009. It is an initiative of the Canterbury Mayoral Forum with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry for the Environment.  The draft was prepared after an initial consultation process. 1100 submissions were received which indicates the importance of the issue of water to Canterbury residents whether it is for irrigation, recreation or cultural purposes.

The purpose of the strategy is to find a better way of managing Canterbury's water resources. The strategy recognises the importance of water to Canterbury for a variety of uses and the pressure on water resources, both now and in the future. The Strategy also identifies the shortcomings of the present adversarial approach to allocation and management of water.

The strategy's vision is expressed as:
To enable present and future generations to gain the greatest social, economic, recreational and cultural benefits from our water resources within an environmentally sustainable framework.

The Strategy proposes ten water management zones throughout Canterbury, starting at Kaikoura in the North and finishing at the Lower Waitaki South Coast of Canterbury. The zones have been designed to ensure that groundwater and surface water catchments are aligned.

Within each zone, a Zone Water Management Committee made up of Council representatives, tangata whenua, irrigators and other stakeholders will be responsible for overseeing the development of a zone implementation programme. The programme will address issues such as environmental restoration and development, land use practices, environmental flows, water quality and quantity, customary use and recreational provision.

A regional programme will also operate across Canterbury and this will provide for matters such as environmental limits for water quality and water quantity, cross zone biodiversity issues, water demand and storage and distribution options that cross boundaries, management of water allocation and water brokerage, transfer and allocation of consents.

A Regional Water Management Committee will be responsible for the development and implementation of the regional programme. A National Tri-Partite Forum consisting of the Government, Ngai Tahu and the Canterbury Councils will be formed to address any national issues. 

All Committees will be supported by a Water Executive within Environment Canterbury.

The strategy also proposes a commercial entity run under the auspices of the Canterbury local authorities to provide for the larger water storage and distribution projects.  This entity could be a public private partnership and will be responsible for designing, building, financing and operating regional water storage.  The Strategy recognises that large scale water storage projects are difficult to finance and consent under the present regime.  The water entity will differ from current storage scheme proposers in that it will be obliged to supply water to maintain and protect environmental flows and to pay a levy to the Water Executive to fund restoration projects. 

In addition to reforming the management of water in Canterbury, the Strategy sets out a programme of work. Among the targets identified is the development of infrastructure. The Strategy has identified 7 projects that may assist in the delivery of reliable water throughout the region  including the use of Lake Coleridge for storage, Lees Valley Storage, an integrated Hurunui option, groundwater storage in mid Canterbury, water from Lake Tekapo and the extension of Hunter Downs.

The other work targets identified are ecosystem protection and restoration, groundwater allocation and use to reduce the reliance on deep aquifers, development of a charging regime; land management practices, water use efficiency; and auditing and enforcement.

The strategy will operate within the Resource Management Act framework already in place. The strategy states that national environment standards and a National Policy Statement for water will be a given for the future management of water. The implementation programmes for each zone will have to be consistent with the Regional Policy Statement, the Natural Resources Regional Plan and any other relevant regional plan.

Individual resource consents will remain, however it is anticipated that decisions about allocation will be made with reference to the relevant water zone implementation programmes. The strategy implies that applications that are consistent with the implementation programme will be more "consentable" that inconsistent applications.

Although the new management structure is intended to operate under the Resource Management Act, the strategy recognises that the proposals may not fit within the Resource Management Act and that amendments may be required to the Act. 

The draft is open for further comment until 2 October 2009 and it is anticipated that the final strategy will be released in late October 2009.

If you would like more information about any aspect of the strategy or assistance in providing comments to the Steering Committee please contact Maree Baker.