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Several regional councils are already engaged in implementing the

National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management and the

Government is finalizing the details of its further freshwater reform

package stemming from proposals based on, and consistent with,

LWF’s recommendations.

Responses at the regional level

The Canterbury region on the east side of New Zealand’s South

Island has relatively low rainfall, but with major agricultural

investments and significant growth opportunities if more water

is available and water quality can be maintained. While LWF was

deliberating at a national level, the Canterbury Regional Council

and its associated district councils had already embarked on a

collaborative form of regional water governance and manage-

ment. This is now at a stage where it will greatly facilitate the

LWF recommendations, the requirements of the National Policy

Statement on Freshwater Management and any new government

water reforms.

Water disputes in Canterbury have been particularly acrimoni-

ous in the past, resulting in a series of major court cases largely due

to the “breakdown of trust and confidence between environmen-

tal/conservation and farming/irrigation interests in the context of

unprecedented pressure on the water resource and the lack of a

clear strategic approach to water management.”

To address this,

the Canterbury Regional Council (in concert with local district

councils) called for a better way forward based on “collabora-

tion and integrated management to maximize the opportunities

for the environment, economy and community of Canterbury in

the years ahead.” This was the genesis of the Canterbury Water

Management Strategy (CWMS),

addressing challenges such as

the pressure on river systems (especially lowland

streams) and aquifer systems, cumulative effects on

ecosystems, cultural health of waterways, water use

efficiency, climate change, water quality impairment

and infrastructure issues.

The new strategy

A paradigm shift was needed in the way water is allo-

cated and managed with the following changes:

• a shift from effects-based management of individual

consents to integrated management based on

large community and catchment-oriented water

management zones

• management of the cumulative effects of water

abstraction and land use intensification

• water allocation decisions that address sustainable

environmental limits and climate variability

• actions to protect and restore freshwater

biodiversity, amenity values and natural character.

The CWMS is underpinned by a set of guiding prin-

ciples (which have legal status under the legislation

that mandates governance of the Canterbury Regional

Council) and 10 targets.

Principles and targets encom-

pass cultural, economic and social aspirations as well as

environmental ones, but the requirement to manage the

water resource sustainably is a ‘first order’ principle.

Key to the implementation of the CWMS was the

establishment of 10 cooperatively managed water

management zones. Zones involve one or more major

The Canterbury Plains and Lake Ellesmere /Te Waihora. The lake’s water quality depends on cooperative management under the CWMS

Image: Canterbury Regional Council