Freshwater plan

There are several strategic issues with the potential to affect water availability and quality in the Gisborne district including changing land use and development, changes in climate and affordability.  We will be exploring these issues as we develop a freshwater plan.

How we manage freshwater now

Council has a pragmatic approach to water management and manages freshwater in a number of ways: 

• discharges to freshwater are managed through the Discharges Plan
• sedimentation of freshwater is managed through the District Plan including requirements to plant 'Land Overlay 3A' – the worst eroding land in the district
• the transitional regional plan outlines how council manages water allocation and some aspects of water quality
  Transitional Regional Plan 
• water permits are granted for a maximum of 5 years.  This allows adaptation to medium-term fluctuations in water availability and changes in land use
• permits for surface water takes within the Waipaoa catchment, include conditions with shut-off levels should water levels drop below specific thresholds
• the Poverty Bay Water Users’ Group collaborates to manage water resources across the Waipaoa catchment within Council minimum flow levels.

We are currently identifying how effective and efficient these practices are for managing freshwater resources.

Developing a freshwater plan

We will follow the lead of the proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.  That process involves:

• identifying freshwater values – ecological, economic, and cultural
• developing water quality standards and allocation limits

Due to the size of our district, the focus initially has been on the Waipaoa Catchment where we have reasonable data and there are several important values.

We are open to a broad range of methods for managing water, not just policies and rules under the Resource Management Act.  We will also look at services, advocacy and collaborative opportunities.

Progress on a freshwater plan

We have gathered a lot of information for the project including groundwater, annual flows, tangata whenua values and ecological flows.

Read the freshwater reports.

Funding projects for a freshwater plan

Some project funding has been sourced from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s Community Irrigation Fund.  For 2009/10 a grant of $23,330 was approved for an ecological flows assessment of the Waipaoa and Te Arai and for assessing groundwater recharge rates (August 2010 – June 2011) and determining total allocatable water volumes in the catchment. 

For 2010–2012 a further community irrigation fund grant of $50,000 was approved for research related to agriculture and horticulture freshwater uses on the Poverty Bay Flats and engagement with key stakeholders.

We have been able to fund the remainder of research through the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology’s
Envirolink grant scheme.  Envirolink has approved a total of $155,000 worth of grants - paid direct to providers.  The Envirolink funding has enabled us to access robust and defensible data for decision-making. 

Gisborne Fresh Water Advisory Group

The development of a freshwater plan will be of interest to a range of stakeholders. We have received support for establishing a Fresh Water Advisory Group to guide us through the policy process.   The group had its inaugural meeting on 8 December 2010 and continues to meet regularly. The purpose of the group is to provide:

• for a collaborative approach to the development of a freshwater plan
• a forum for discussion on freshwater management issues
• for information sharing between group members, their respective organisations and the community.

The group represents a balance of freshwater interests including abstractors/water users; farming interests; iwi representatives; government departments; recreational and environmental users; and council staff.  While the group has a purely advisory capacity, it has the endorsement of the Environment and Policy Committee of Council.   

To contact a member of the Fresh Water Advisory Group,  you can copy and paste their email: