FAQ's

The Waimakariri Water Zone Committee has been working with the community over the past few years to develop a shared vision for freshwater in the zone. 

The zone committee’s recommendations fall in to five key areas. The table below identifies these key areas and provides an example of the kinds of actions that could help freshwater challenges in the zone. 

Once finalised, the recommendations will inform council plans for water management.

This will be done by Environment Canterbury through a formal plan change to the Waimakariri section 8 of the Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan.

The Waimakariri District Council will consider the recommendations when they review their district plan. The community will have a chance to submit on both formal processes.

There will also be practical actions the community, industry, and other organisations can make to reflect the intent of the recommendations. For urban people this could be as simple as washing your car on the lawn instead of your driveway so toxins don’t enter our streams via the wastewater system.

By attending the public feedback sessions being held from September 26^th – October 4^th.

For further details visit: www.ecan.govt.nz/waimakariri-water

By booking a 10-minute one-on-one session in Rangiora on 1^st October. Email waimakaririzone@ecan.govt.nz to book a session.

By providing feedback via email to:  waimakaririzone@ecan.govt.nz

The Waimakariri Water Zone Committee provides funding for Immediate Steps Projects for community groups and farmers who are making positive changes on their land and across Waimakariri’s waterways.

An infiltration trial and denitrification wall trial are underway at Silverstream to assess their effectiveness in reducing nitrate levels. Waterways are being fenced off with larger setbacks from streams and rivers and riparian planting projects are being carried out across the zone.

Irrigation schemes are using cloud-based technology to provide farmers with science-based information to promote effective use of irrigation. Most farmers across the zone are well on the way to reaching Good Management Practice and have made on-farm changes to reduce their impact on the environment.

Community groups are carrying out also riparian planting projects with assistance from the zone committee. This helps reduce the amount of contaminants entering our waterways. 

The Waimakariri Water Zone Committee’s starting point for managing nitrates is Plan Change 5 to the Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan.

When Plan Change 5 becomes operative it will bring in new definitions, policies, rules, limits and schedules to require, from July 2020, farming activities to operate at “Good Management Practice” including for nitrate loss.

However, science information highlights that Good Management Practice under Plan Change 5 will not be enough to meet the nitrate limits proposed for some rivers and drinking water supply wells. Therefore, the Zone Committee is recommending that landowners reduce their nitrate losses “beyond Good Management Practice” in the part of the zone that it has called a Nitrate Priority Management Area. 

They propose farming activities within the zone will need to comply with new nutrient management rules and adopt good management practices (GMP) to reduce the impact their operation has on our land and waterways.

A Nitrate Priority Management Area has also been established where further reductions in nitrate losses will need to be made over time to protect and enhance freshwater quality.

The draft recommendations require consented dairy farms to reduce losses by a further 10-15% beyond what is required by GMP and all other consented farming activities will need to reduce losses by 5-10% over time.

Nitrate concentrations will be monitored to see whether further reductions need to be made. 

The zone committee has tried to find a balance between moving as fast as possible towards meeting nitrate concentrations that support healthy ecosystems and Ngāi Tūāhuriri values while at the same time, providing for a future that supports the lifestyles and communities of Waimakariri.

The staged approach sets clear expectations that further reductions will be needed whilst also providing an opportunity to adapt the steps in response to new information on progress towards meeting the limits, new tools and management practices.

The zone committee wants to extend a pilot education programme targeted at small block holders and promote the development of Lifestyle Block Management Plans.

In Plan Change 5 to the Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan, it was found that the permitted winter grazing allowances potentially allowed for further increases in nitrate losses.

This means some small block owners who may not have needed a consent will now need to get consent if their property is a certain size and the amount of area they are providing for winter grazing. See Section D3 in the draft ZIPA for details. 

In Plan Change 5 is it defined as meaning the grazing of cattle within the period of 1 May to 30 September, where the cattle are contained for break-feeding of in-situ brassica and root vegetableforage crops or for consumingsupplementary feed that has been brought onto the property.