Media Release 15 April 2009
Water Transfers Monitored
Transfers of water between consent holders is increasing in Hawke’s Bay as more rivers and streams are fully allocated for irrigation, in a trend reflected across New Zealand, according to Hawke's Bay Regional Council.
The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) allows water transfers within catchments anywhere in New Zealand and with pressure coming on the country’s water resources, this is becoming a more common practice.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council’s Regional Resource Management Plan, like many other regional plans, follows the RMA and allows water transfers within defined water management zones, and not across whole catchments. Water management zones are smaller parts of catchments.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council’s manager regulation, Darryl Lew, says that over the last two years there had been about 10 transfers a year in the region. This is a low level of activity compared to other parts of the country where transfers are commonplace as water for irrigation has been fully allocated for some years.
The Regional Council is not party to any financial transaction involved in a transfer of water rights. The Council has a role in the transfer of consents between one point within the water management zone and another, and in the associated assessment of environmental effects to ensure the transfer of water use is sustainable.
Council can turn down water consent transfers where these are between defined water management zones or can impose consent conditions if the effects are significant, as the Regional Plan requires that the consent will be notified and subject to a hearing if the effects are more than minor.
To date, transfers of water rights are generally between neighbouring farmers sharing a waterway within a water management zone, where there is low environmental change.
Council routinely requires both the existing and the transfer consent holder to install water meters at the take to ensure that they are complying with the amounts in the consent.
Andrew Newman, Chief Executive of Hawke's Bay Regional Council, says that water is a public resource and in the future it will become increasingly important to have a more transparent process for both water users and the public regarding water transfers.
“If there is a choice between water that is used sustainably for productive economic purposes, or water that is ‘water banked’, ie not used by consent holders, it is preferable that the water is used,” he said. “It’s in the interest of the region to use the water that’s sustainably available.”
“The RMA legally provides for transfers without any transparency. Legislation changes would be needed to make the process more transparent, but given new tools and appropriate local community input, regional councils are best placed to manage water resources.”
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has already signalled in its draft Ten Year Plan that it is embarking on a water strategy, with one objective being to identify and ensure that the amounts of water Council is able to allocate are correct.
Media contact:
Andrew Newman, Chief Executive, ph 06 835 9202, 027 344 6300
Darryl Lew, Manager Regulation, ph 06 833 8011
Susan Wylie, Communications Coordinator, ph: 06 835 9208
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