Helpful advice for the rural community on the Essential Freshwater Package can be found in our Rural Hub section.
On 28 May 2020, the Minister for the Environment announced Central Government's national direction for halting the degradation of our rivers, lakes and streams.
The Essential Freshwater announcement signalled where changes to the proposed policy package had been made in response to consultation in September 2019.
From 3 September 2020, the revised National Policy Statement (NPS-FM), new National Environmental Standards (NES-FW) for freshwater management, and Resource Management Act s360 regulations for stock exclusion and measurement and reporting of water takes came into effect.
More recently, the Government has said it will be replacing the NPS-FM 2020 with a new version, expected late 2025 or early 2026. Changes to the RMA have been made that prevent councils from notifying any plan changes to implement the NPS-FM 2020. In the interim the council is seeking ministerial approval to notify a plan change to implement Te Waikoropupū Water Conservation Order while it awaits the new NPS-FM.
For further information, the Ministry for the Environment’s policies and regulations factsheets and your industry groups are a good place to start. We have also prepared some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in response to questions posed to us by landowners.
A key concept from national direction on freshwater management is Te Mana o te Wai. Read more about it here.
Council is working in partnership with nine iwi from across Te Tauihu/the Top of the South in conjunction with Nelson and Marlborough councils as part of a collaborative group - Te Puna Kōrero ki te Tauihu (TPK). The aim of the group is to develop a shared understanding of how we can apply Te Mana o te Wai across Te Tauihu and in each region.
The outputs of the TPK process so far are available on Ngāti Tama’s website(external link).
New requirements introduced by the Freshwater NES came into effect from 3 September 2020, with the key changes outlined below.
FROM 3 SEPTEMBER 2020:
Interim restrictions on agricultural intensification, for the activities listed below:
· increases in the area of land used for dairy farming, from any other type of farming, by more than 10 hectares
· conversion of more than 10ha of forestry to any form of pastoral farming
· increases in the area of land used for irrigated pasture for dairy farming by more than 10ha
· increases in the area of land used for dairy support activities above the annual highest amount between 2014/15 and 2018/19.
Rivers and wetland protection and maintenance – resource consent will be required for:
· structures in rivers that do not comply with permitted activity standards for fish passage, so that desirable fish movement is not prevented
· reclamation of rivers including most earthworks in wetlands and rivers
· clearance of vegetation, earthworks, drainage or taking, damming or diverting water from in and around a wetland.
Feedlots – all feedlots that do not comply with permitted activity standards will need to apply for resource consent.
FROM 1 MAY 2021:
Intensive winter grazing – all intensive winter grazing that does not comply with permitted activity standards will need to apply for resource consent. This flowchart will help you understand the consenting requirements.
FROM 1 JULY 2021:
A national synthetic nitrogen-fertiliser cap has been set for all pastoral farms in New Zealand. Fertiliser applications of more than 190 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare per year will be a non-complying activity and will require resource consent. Dairy farmers must report their fertiliser use to us.
Dairy and beef cattle, pigs and deer must be excluded from wetlands, lakes and rivers with a bed greater than or equal to one metre wide. Dates for compliance vary according to stock type and terrain.
Minimum setbacks of three metres between stock and the bed of a lake or river will be required, except where permanent fences or riparian planting is already in place to exclude stock. Where practicable, bridges and culverts must be used to facilitate stock crossing waterways.
Where such structures are impracticable, stock may only cross waterways where stock are being actively driven through the water.
Current provisions have been strengthened by including the requirement to provide telemetered data to us for takes of five litres per second by specified dates. This adds to existing requirements to meter these flows and provide records.
View the Measurement and Reporting of Water Takes s360 Regulations.
As part of giving effect to the 2017 NPS - FW, we have made good progress identifying the Freshwater Management Units, monitoring sites and attribute data needed, and these form the basis for setting in place a representative monitoring framework. We have one new FMU monitoring site and are in the process of deploying monitoring equipment.
The current and planned water resources monitoring and investigations work will continue and be adapted. Further data accounting systems may be needed to store and analyse new information. By the time the replacement Freshwater Plan is prepared we will have insufficient trend series data for some aspects so will have to rely on precautionary default settings in these cases until sufficient data is obtained.
The Essential Freshwater Package requires us to map wetlands and identify culverts which may obstruct fish passage. We have for some time now had a wetlands identification process in place and we have largely completed the Buller and Golden Bay areas.
Desktop mapping for the balance of the District has been underway, with ground-truthing completed over the next seven to eight years. The law already restricts people from altering wetlands without Council consent and we intend to continue to work with landowners involved in farming that have wetlands located on them.
We already have a very good inventory of fish passage obstructions and for some time has been working with our engineering staff and private landowners to improve fish passage. This inventory will be refined and updated as time goes on.
While we wait for the Government to gazette a new NPS-FM, we are continuing with background policy work to ensure the Council is well placed to respond quickly to any new legal requirements. The Council already has a strong understanding of the region’s freshwater resources. This is due, in part, to our comprehensive monitoring, research and science programmes. We also have well established non-regulatory programmes and have been working with landowners, iwi, and community groups on fencing, riparian planting, effluent management, and biodiversity initiatives for decades.
This includes identifying key issues such as using fertiliser effectively, which can help bring down nutrient leaching on farms. The recent Jobs for Nature funding is contributing to accelerating new fencing and planting, and fish passage remediation programmes alongside the ones we already had underway.
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