The Water Quantity and Allocation chapter of the plan is about managing the taking of water from rivers, streams and groundwater for various uses, while ensuring ecosystem health and cultural values are provided for. We are preparing new draft minimum flows and water take limits on a catchment-by-catchment basis, which will be explained in FMU booklets. Where a catchment is overallocated, policy will direct how this will be phased out over time. In some cases the new limits may be less restrictive than the current ones because we have newer information on what minimum flows ecosystem health may need, but some are more stringent too. We also have drafted measures to improve the efficiency of water allocation and use, so that water is not wasted, nor unnecessarily tied up by consent holders who do not use it. New provisions to ensure that dams allow fish passage and important stream functioning, and a strong preference for any future dams to be ‘off line’ support the importance of ecosystem health. A draft option is for all permitted takes to record their water take data to improve the quality of information available for water management purposes. We are also suggesting the amount of groundwater able to be taken without a resource consent be decreased from 35m3/property/day to 15m3, consistent with the surface water limit.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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