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The Essential Freshwater package is a new set of regulations and standards which aim to restore and protect the health of New Zealand waterways within a generation.
The Hawke’s Bay community values healthy waterways for recreation, drinking water, mahinga kai, ecological health and to support industries such as farming and tourism.
The Essential Freshwater package is made up of several policy documents and regulations that requires landowners, farmers and communities to put the health of our waterways first. The new national rules in the National Environmental Standard for Freshwater and regulations will provide certainty and clarity for our communities. We will need to work together to achieve the improvements we all want to see. Achieving healthy waterways for Hawke’s Bay is everyone’s responsibility.
At Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, we are responsible for implementing the new regulations and rules, and monitoring compliance. We will work alongside the region’s rural landowners and our urban residents to provide information and support as the new rules roll out.
We are already underway with a work programme to implement the new Essential Freshwater rules, including information about when each new rule will apply and what rural landowners will need to do. We are taking an “education first” approach to the implementation of these changes and working proactively with the community to ensure the understanding of new requirements and obligations.
At the heart of the new Essential Freshwater regulations is the concept framework of Te Mana o te Wai.
Te Mana o te Wai recognises the vital importance of New Zealand’s freshwater, whose health is integral to the social, cultural, economic and environmental wellbeing of communities.
The Essential Freshwater regulations put the health and wellbeing of water before providing for human health needs, and then other uses.
At Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, we are responsible for implementing the new regulations and rules, and monitoring compliance. We will work alongside the region’s rural landowners and our urban residents to provide information and support as the new rules roll out.
We are already underway with a work programme to implement the new Essential Freshwater rules, including information about when each new rule will apply and what rural landowners will need to do. We are taking an “education first” approach to the implementation of these changes and working proactively with the community to ensure the understanding of new requirements and obligations.
We know there are a lot of changes to take in and understand. We’re here to help.
If you would like more information about the new rules and how they might affect you please call 06 835 9200 and ask to speak to our consents team if it’s about whether you need a resource consent. You could also email Consentadvisor@hbrc.govt.nz. There’s more information about applying for a resource consent here.
Visit our Farmer’s Hub to find out more about the specific requirements under the Essential Freshwater package.
The new rules come in stages, so you will be able to adapt to the new regulations over a period of time.
The rules that came into effect on 3 September 2020 cover the following topics:
Regulations for measuring and reporting water takes have also been revised.
The following topics are covered by the new national rules. Find out more below:
The Government announced that consultation on freshwater farm plan regulations and the low slope map opened on 26 July.
We encourage farmers to work with farming organisations and farmer representative bodies to give their views.
See the discussion documents below for more information.
Stock exclusion regulations – proposed changes
Freshwater farm plan regulations discussion document
Freshwater farm plan regulations supporting document
Feedlots and stockholding areas pose a high-risk to the quality of our waterways if not managed well. The new rules for feedlots comes into force on 3 September 2020. The rules for other stockholding areas comes into force on 1 July 2021
Under the new Essential Freshwater package, feedlots and other stockholding areas must be an appropriate distance from waterbodies, meet minimum permeability standards and provide for effluent management.
The new regulations apply to farms with five hectares or more of horticulture, 20 hectares or more of pasture or arable crops or 20 hectares or more of a combination of the above.
You’ll need to consider these regulations alongside the feedlot rules 5 and 6 in Regional Resource Management Plan.
A feedlot is defined under the NES as ‘a stockholding area where cattle: (a) are kept for at least 80 days in any 6-month period; and (b) are fed exclusively by hand or machine’.
If you meet the following conditions in your feedlot you won’t need a consent to meet the Essential Freshwater rules:
If you operate a feedlot, you may need a resource consent from the Regional Council if you don't meet the conditions set out above. You will need to be able to demonstrate in your resource consent application that you can:
The Regional Council also has a separate feedlot rule in our Regional Plan, which has a different definition. See the factsheet link below to see if this applies to your activity.
A stockholding is defined under the NES as ‘an area for holding cattle at a density that means pasture or other vegetative cover cannot be maintained. These areas include feed pads (including beef feeding areas), winter pads, stand-off pads, loafing pads and silage pits’
If you have or plan to create a stock-holding area, then similar standards will apply from 1 July 2021. If your stock holding area is existing (before the regulations commenced) you required consent by 1 January 2022 Please contact our consent team if you have any questions about whether you need a consent Contact Consent Advisor +646 833 8090, or email here.
The below table shows example of what is and isn’t considered a stock holding area.
For more information, please read the MfE factsheet here on stockholding areas
Contact our consents team on 06 835 9200 if you have any questions about feedlots, stockholding areas and their consent requirements.
If you want to do any of the following between now and the end of 2024, you will have to obtain a resource consent from HBRC to:
From 3 September 2020, you will need to:
From 3 September 2020:
For more information, please read the MfE factsheet here.
These aren’t required immediately, but over the next 12+ months the government will work with stakeholder groups to develop the requirements of these, so it’s a good time to start preparing. It’s likely that they will need to include:
More information about farm planning in Hawke's Bay can be found here.
The regulations about measuring water takes have been extended. If you have a resource consent to take 5 litres or more of water per second (e.g. for irrigation) you will need to measure the water you take every 15 minutes and report this electronically to HBRC on a daily basis. This is achieved using a telemetry system.
The introduction of this requirement is being staggered. You must comply within:
Note: Resource consent conditions may require telemetry before the dates outlined in the regulations.
The Ministry for the Environment also has more detailed information about how different groups and communities will be affected by the reforms and when they need to do what:
For more information, visit the Ministry for the Environment website.
The Government is still developing some other national rules, including for stormwater and wastewater discharges, and developing more details on the mandatory freshwater farm plan modules.
The Government is providing some funding for freshwater initiatives, in particular the Freshwater Improvement Fund and Te Mana o te Wai Fund. For more information visit the MfE website.
A new freshwater planning process was introduced in the Amendment to the Resource Management Act (August 2020).
The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM 2020) has also been updated, coming into force on 3 September 2020.
Together, these two changes mean that we will review all freshwater provision in the Regional Resource Management Plan to implement the NPS-FM 2020. By law we must notify the proposed new freshwater provisions for every catchment in Hawke's Bay by 31 December 2024. The new freshwater planning process will be used in the hearing and decision-making process.
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