Not backing down on water control

Fiercely debated rules to control the use of the region's water and threats to its quality are gaining traction with the Government, who are considering enforcing similar rules nationwide.

Rules that Horizons Regional Council has already been enforcing around water, and tighter rules its been battling to implement in the region since 2004, through its hotly contested One Plan - a new regional plan for the management of the Manawatu-Wanganui region’s natural resources, are reinforced in recommendations in yesterday's release of a report from the Land and Water Forum.

Horizons’ planning and regulation group manager Greg Carlyon said the report shows the council has been on the right track despite resistance from some sectors of the community.

“Declining water quality and increasing demand for water are two of the four key issues the One Plan addresses.

“Throughout the One Plan process we’ve been grappling with ways to improve water quality, both through regulation and voluntary measures. We’ve had to have some tough conversations and some of the regulation proposed has been fiercely debated.

“The land and water forum’s report reflects much of what we’ve been trying to implement, calling for tighter controls on water quality and quantity while considering the variety of New Zealand’s geography, and the diversity of cultural, economic, environmental and social interests in water.”

Horizons’ One Plan addresses water quality by putting tighter controls on dairy farming in priority areas within the region. It also applies nutrient loss standards for any new dairy farm conversion in the region and sets a 2020 deadline for all existing sewage discharges to be upgraded and rules apply to all new discharges.

While the recommendations of the Land and Water Forum's report are still to be put to Government, in the Horizons Region, water rules could come into force as soon as November, subject to appeals.

Horizons has also addressed issues the report raised with respect to water takes. The plan puts restrictions on how much water can be taken from the region's waterways, it measures volumes of water used as it is happening, and allows people to share water if they are not going to use all water allocated to them.

The Land and Water Forum was set up by the government 14 months ago to resolve disputes over fresh water between almost 60 farmer, industry, iwi and environmental groups. The forum’s final report recommends that a National Land and Water Commission should be established with new national policy statements and environmental standards for water quality, allocation and use.

ENDS

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