Essential Freshwater - new national water rules

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.

Feedlots

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:

• 90% of the cattle held in the feedlot are younger than 4 months old OR
• 90% of the cattle held in the feedlot are 120kg or less.

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:

• Manage the permeability of the base area so that it’s sealed to a minimum permeability standard of 10^-9 metres per second; and
• Collect, store and dispose of effluent in accordance with HBRC rules or a current discharge permit; and
• Situate the feedlot at least 50m away from waterbodies, water abstraction bores, drainage ditches and coastal marine areas.

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.

Feedlot information sheet

Stockholding Areas

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

Further guidance and interpretation on the stock holding regulations what is considered a stock holding area here  

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:

• Increase your existing dairy farm irrigation system by more than 10 hectares or install or resurrect more than 10 hectares of dairy farm irrigation that wasn’t in place or used in the 12 months prior to 3 September 2020
• Change any pre-existing land use (above 10 hectares) to dairy farm land use
• Convert more than 10 hectares of forestry to pastoral farming land
• Increase the area of land used for dairy support above the highest annual amount used for this purpose within any previous farm year between 1 July 2014 and 30 June 2019.

For more information, please read the MfE factsheet here.

We have a dedicated Good Winter Practice page here.

From 3 September 2020, you will need to:

• Avoid clearing indigenous vegetation, earthworks, drainage or taking, damming or diverting water in and around a natural wetland unless in limited circumstances.
• You can still sustainably harvest sphagnum if you are already doing this and it meets the permitted conditions.
• You can do some work in a natural wetland for restoration, or scientific or cultural purposes if this complies with the permitted conditions.
• In most cases, if you want to put in new structures, or make other changes that affect the drainage of a natural wetland, you will need to get a resource consent from HBRC.
• Report information to HBRC if you undertake a permitted activity under the Freshwater NES.

For more information, please read the MfE factsheet here.

• From 3 September 2020, additional minimum standards will apply to any future proposed culvert or weir structure being placed in or on the bed of a lake or river.
• Resource consent will be required if these additional standards cannot be met.
• All future proposed passive flap gates will also require a resource consent.
• You may also need to report information to HBRC if required under the Freshwater NES.

For more information, please read the MfE factsheet here.

From 3 September 2020:

• A resource consent will be required for any river reclamation.
• Streams in urban and rural areas must not be filled in (reclaimed) unless there is no other option.
• For works that need a consent, applicants will need to demonstrate they have first avoided significant adverse effects, and minimised loss and degradation, and offset any unavoidable loss.

For more information, please read the MfE factsheet here.

• Dairy and beef cattle, deer and pigs farmed in low-slope areas (less than a 10-degree slope if your farm is in a low-slope area) are not permitted in any natural wetland, lake, or in any river or stream more than a metre wide (bank-to-bank). Stock must be restricted from grazing within three metres from the banks of these waterways.
• On steeper hill country, stock exclusion applies for all dairy cattle and pigs. It also applies to deer and beef cattle, for some wetlands, and where intensive farming practices are undertaken.
• Sheep are not included in these regulations.
• Compliance with these regulations will be required immediately for new pastoral systems, and from 1 July 2023 or 1 July 2025 for existing systems depending on the stock type, activities and location.

For more information, please read the MfE factsheet here.

Find out more on this page.

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:

• A farm map identifying features such as waterways, critical source (discharge of contaminant) areas, high erosion-prone areas, and other risks to the health of the freshwater ecosystem
• A risk assessment for activities including irrigation, application of nutrients and effluent, winter grazing, stock-holding areas, stock exclusion, offal pits and farm rubbish pits
• A schedule of actions to manage identified features and address risks

More information about farm planning in Hawke's Bay can be found here.