Draft Zone Implementation Programme Addendum
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Waimakariri WaterDRAFT Zone Committee Draft Zone Implementation Programme Addendum SEPTEMBER 2018 Waimakariri Zone Committee The Waimakariri Water Zone Committee is a joint committee of the Waimakariri District Council and Environment Canterbury. The Committee is made up of local residents – the members in 2018 are: David Ashby Grant Edge Carolyne Latham Gary Walton Judith Roper-Lindsay Cameron Henderson Michael Blackwell Cherie Williams – Ngāi Tūāhuriri Rūnanga representative Arapata Reuben – Ngāi Tūāhuriri Rūnanga representative Sandra Stewart – Councillor, Waimakariri District Council Claire McKay – Councillor, Environment Canterbury With support from: Technical support has been led by the strategy, planning and science sections of Environment Canterbury, with support from Waimakariri District Council staff l and specialist advisers DRAFTMō tātou, ā, mō kā uri ā muri ake nei For us and our children after us PROVIDING FEEDBACK THE ZONE COMMITTEE IS SEEKING YOUR FEEDBACK TO EXPAND OUR UNDERSTANDING OF FRESHWATER ISSUES AND HOW BEST TO ADDRESS THESE ISSUES. Please provide your feedback by visiting www.ecan.govt.nz/waimakariri-water or email [email protected] To provide direct feedback see us at one of the community workshops held in September and October 2018 or post your written feedback to: Meredith Macdonald, Environment Canterbury, PO Box 345, Christchurch 8140. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: www.ecan.govt.nz/waimakariri-water DRAFT Waimakariri Draft Zone Implementation Programme Addendum 1 CONTENTS PART A – INTRODUCTION 1. The Canterbury Water Management Strategy 2. Implementation of Recommendations PART B – OVERVIEW OF THE WAIMAKARIRI WATER ZONE 1. Catchment and Community Profile – an overview 2. Ngāi Tūāhuriri Values 3. The Zone Committee’s Vision, Key Principles and Role 4. Community Outcomes PART C – SOLUTIONS PROGRAMME 1. Scope of the Land and Water Solutions Programme 2. Current State and Future Pathways – Technical Overview PART D – DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Improving Stream Health 2. Protecting and Enhancing Indigenous Biodiversity 3. Reducing Nitrates 4. Managing Surface Water – flows and allocations 5. Managing Groundwater – allocations APPENDIX 1– MAPS X1. Waimakariri Nutrient Allocation Zones X2. Surface Water Allocation Zones – 1 X3. Surface Water Allocation Zones – 2 X4. Groundwater Allocation Zones X5. Private water supply well recharge areas X6. Interzone Transfer Source Area X7. Stream Recharge Zones X8. Recommended Nitrate and Runoff Priority Management Areas APPENDIX 2 – CANTERBURY REGIONAL BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY – SUMMARY APPENDIX 3 – GLOSSARYDRAFT Waimakariri Draft Zone Implementation Programme Addendum 2 PART A – INTRODUCTION A1. THE CANTERBURY WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY (CWMS) The Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) was developed by the Canterbury Mayoral Forum in 2008 as a collaboration between Canterbury’s 10 territorial authorities and Environment Canterbury. The aim of the strategy is: “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.” Canterbury Water Management Strategy – Targets A set of 10 targets provides the strategy with a direction and balance, while ensuring all aspects are advanced in parallel. The strategy also establishes first and second order priorities , as below: • First order priorities: environment, customary use, community supplies and stock water. • Second order priorities: irrigation, renewable electricity generation, recreation and amenity Achieving continued economic production and environmental quality are also key to the strategy, as it is for the Resource Management Act (RMA) and the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2017 (NPS-FM). The CWMS established 10 zone committees across Canterbury , largely defined by territorial authority boundaries. The zone committees implement the strategy through collaboration, assessment, and decision making. Each zone committee has developed a detailed ‘Zone Implementation Programme’ and works closely with their local community. Although Zone Implementation Programmes are not statutory documents there is a very clear expectation and commitment for the programmes to be implemented, resourced, and given effect to through both regulation and on the ground actions. The Zone Implementation Programme ‘Addendum’ (ZIPA) builds on the original Zone Implementation Programme and provides recommendations to guide both the sub-region plan change to section 8 (Waimakariri) of the Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan (LWRP), and actions to be advanced within the Waimakariri Water Zone and the Waimakariri District Plan. These recommendations, the sub-region plan change, and the programme of actions are collectively referred to as the Waimakariri Land and Water Solutions Programme. For more information on the CWMS go to: https://www.ecan.govt.nz/your-region/plans-strategies-and-bylaws/canterbury-water-management-strategy/ The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management The NPS-FM sets out the direction for freshwater quality and quantity management in New Zealand. Regional councils must give effect to the requirements of the NPS-FM when developing statutory plans and plan changes. The NPS-FM requires freshwater quality to be maintained (where it is of good quality),or improved over time (where it does not meet the requirements of the NPS-FM), and includes a national objectives framework for achieving this. The NPS-FM also requires engagement with iwi, hapū, and the community in setting freshwater outcomes, and enables different methods and timeframes to be set. This document has provided the basis for the committee’s recommendations in terms of the freshwater outcomes and timeframes. For more information on the NPS-FM go to: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/fresh-water/national-policy-statement/about-nps A2. IMPLEMENTATIONDRAFT OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS The recommendations will be implemented through a sub-region plan change to section 8 of the LWRP, and importantly through practical actions in priority areas and catchments. The zone committee wants actions delivered in a coordinated way through non-statutory catchment management plans. The development of these plans and the practical actions that follow requires funding from a variety of sources. The LWRP sets out the planning framework for the management of land and water resources in Canterbury and is one method for implementing the CWMS. Waimakariri Draft Zone Implementation Programme Addendum 3 Plan Change 5 (PC5) to the LWRP addresses water quality issues throughout the Canterbury region. When made operative it will introduce new definitions, policies, rules, limits and schedules which require farming activities to operate at “Good Management Practice”. PC5 provides both the foundation and starting point for managing nutrient losses from farming within the Waimakariri Water Zone. The Waimakariri River Regional Plan (WRRP) also has legal effect in part of the Waimakariri Water Zone, and manages water quantity, water quality and works in river and lake beds. Having two regional plans managing freshwater in the same zone adds unnecessary complexity for the regulator and plan user. This process provides an opportunity to create a simpler framework by incorporating the part of the WRRP that applies to the Waimakariri sub-region into section 8 of the LWRP. The Waimakariri District Council will also consider the zone committee’s recommendations when developing work programmes, budgets and reviewing their district plan. PART B. OVERVIEW OF THE WAIMAKARIRI WATER ZONE B1. CATCHMENT & COMMUNITY PROFILE – AN OVERVIEW The Waimakariri Water Zone (Maps B1 & B2) encompasses • The Ashley River/Rakahuri catchment and Ashley Estuary (Te Aka Aka); • The catchments of the northern tributaries of the Waimakariri River; • The Loburn Fan; • The Ashley-Waimakariri Plain and associated groundwater zones (Ashley, Eyre, and Cust); • A network of spring-fed streams and lagoons near the coast and • Hill and high country in the north-western portion. Much of the land east of Rangiora, where the spring-fed streams are located, is reclaimed swamp which is still subject to poor drainage, occasional flooding and an extensive land drainage network. Waimakariri Water Zone The Waimakariri Water Zone boundaries are similar to those of the Waimakariri District Council. The zone lies north of the Waimakariri River and extends from Pegasus Bay in the east to the Puketeraki Range in the west. Much of the land to the eastern part of the water zone is subject to poor drainage and occasional flooding. The rivers, streams, lagoons and wetlands have always been important places and a food basket for Ngāi Tūāhuriri. The water zone is part of the Rūnanga’s takiwā.DRAFT Waimakariri Draft Zone Implementation Programme Addendum 4 MAP B1. WAIMAKARIRI WATER ZONE BOUNDARIES DRAFT Waimakariri Draft Zone Implementation Programme Addendum 5 MAP B2. ASHLEY RIVER/RAKAHURI TRIBUTARIES AND NORTHERN WAIMAKARIRI TRIBUTARIES CATCHMENTS DRAFT Waimakariri Draft Zone Implementation Programme Addendum 6 Topography generally provides a higher level of protection. But transition to the LWRP method will mean that more groundwater The topography of the zone ranges from hills and takes in the area covered by the WRRP will be classified as mountains, as high as 1800m, in the northwest to flat stream depleting. These newly identified stream depleting coastal plains in the southeast. Alluvial sand and