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What is in store for rivers this year?


What is in store for rivers this year?

Who owns water?

A big challenge for the Government this year is to decide who owns water, or at least confirm for Maori the extent of their proprietary rights to water. The Government’s initial stance was that nobody owns water. This might turn out to be the case in a practical sense – water is a bit difficult to pin down. But it has become enormously valuable to farmers, industry and electricity generators, not to mention the traditional value of rivers and freshwater to Maori and the more recent realisation that rivers and clean water are a recreational asset that is valued by ordinary Kiwis and the tourism industry.

Consumers and users of water would like a high degree of certainty about their access to good quality water. Ownership or title would be ideal, but because of the fluid nature of the resource and the volatility of its flow or availability, traditional forms of ownership are probably not appropriate. So the Government is faced with sorting out a fair, effective and flexible system of rights to water, and in particular Maori water rights. But there are many challenges - how long should these rights last for; how does the system prevent capture or concentration of water rights; how certain will the rights be in terms of permissible take; will the rights be transferable and if so under what conditions? Etc, etc.

Pricing

It is a small step from defining ownership or water rights to pricing water. If we want the water that is taken from rivers, lakes and aquifers to be used as efficiently as possible we need something better than regional councils allocating water rights on a first come first served basis. Just how water is priced will be another big challenge for the Government. Other countries have put a price on water so we can learn from their experience. Our guess is that we’ll end up with an auction system for water rights.

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Review of Freshwater Policy

When it released its National Policy Statement (NPS) for freshwater management in 2014 the Government committed to an independent review of the implementation and effectiveness of the NPS before 1 July 2016. While the 2014 NPS was a step in the right direction, it had a number of shortcomings including the vaguest of statements about maintaining or improving overall water quality in each region. There were a number of water quality indicators that either weren’t included in the national objectives framework (a macro-invertebrate index, water temperature, and sedimentation, for example), or were set too low, such as the national bottom line for human health which permitted waterways to be unsafe for swimming. Will the independent reviewers have the courage to recommend substantial improvements to the NPS?

Excluding stock from waterways

Before the last election the Government announced that it would make it mandatory for dairy farmers to fence waterways by July 2017, thus excluding dairy cattle from waterways.

The Land and Water Forum has recommended that a national stock exclusion policy should be developed for more than just dairy cattle. Beef cattle, deer and pigs can also cause significant damage to waterways and water quality. Good news, one would have thought. But strangely the Forum recommends giving dairy farmers until at least July 2020 to exclude their stock from waterways – three years longer than the industry has committed to and also three years later than the Government has mandated.

The deadline for beef cattle is between 2025 and 2030 depending on land type. The recent news coverage of beef cattle wading in Lake Taylor in North Canterbury may help accelerate the timetable for action to exclude all cattle from waterways (see:http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/294875/cows-in-lake-a-'public-relations-disaster).

NZ River Awards and Riverprize

The results of the 2015 NZ Most Improved River Awards are available on the LAWA website - http://www.lawa.org.nz/get-involved/news-and-stories/otago-regional-council/2015/november/the-new-zealand-river-awards/

We are now working on 2016 Awards and in particular the indicator we will use this year to determine improvement. We’re also looking for great river stories and a standout advocate for our rivers for the Reo mo te Awa River Voice Award.

We have discussed the difference between the River Awards and the Riverprize in previous Newsletters. In simple terms the Most Improved River Awards are based almost entirely on significant and meaningful trend improvements in a specific water quality indicator, whereas the Riverprize is judged on a range of criteria relating to the quality, effectiveness, outcomes, etc of catchment management projects. The winner of the 2015 NZ Riverprize was the Aorere River in Golden Bay.

The International River Foundation, which manages the various Riverprizes, has decided to shift to a two-year cycle for Riverprizes, and to make them regional rather than country specific. So, New Zealand and Australia will be combined and the Pacific included in the Australasian/Pacific Riverprize. Potential New Zealand applicants should focus on developing an application from around October 2017 for the first Australasian/Pacific Riverprize in 2018.

This year the International River Symposium is being held in New Delhi in September. The Aorere River is in the running for the Thiess International Riverprize – the winner will be announced at the River Symposium in New Delhi.

ends

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