What you need to know about the NPS for Freshwater Management 2020

The NPS-FM 2020 requires a marked increase in the mapping and monitoring requirements of freshwater systems whilst also requiring Councils to maintain closer reins on the loss of extent of these systems.

The health of New Zealand’s freshwater systems is a hot topic, frequently being discussed in the media and on political campaign trails. Part of the problem, it seems, is the concern over a lack of a nation-wide, coordinated approach to freshwater management, with notable concerns around the health and extent of these environments. The New Zealand Government, as a result, has created a new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) 2020, which came into force on 3 September, and provides further direction to Regional Councils on how New Zealand’s freshwater resources should be managed.

The NPS-FM 2020 takes an “ambulance at the top of the cliff” approach to managing freshwater. The core concept of Te Mana o Te Wai places the “health and well-being of water bodies and freshwater ecosystems” at the fore (Objective 1a). This approach allows freshwater systems, in turn, to provide for the health needs of people (Objective 1b), and subsequently provide for the social, economic, and cultural well-being to current and future communities (Objective 1c).

The NPS-FM 2020 includes 15 policies, which direct Councils to limit and / or avoid further loss in the extent and values of freshwater systems and prioritise the improvement of degraded systems while maintaining the health and well-being of all others. One of the key mechanisms for doing this is the setting of a series of “bottom lines” relating to a suite of parameters, which are now required to be monitored.

The parameters requiring monitoring are designed to depict the health and well-being of four core values associated with freshwater systems:

• Ecosystem health
• Human health for recreation (human contact)
• Threatened species
• Mahinga kai.

Councils are now required to monitor up to 11 attributes in lakes and 15 attributes in rivers depending on the nature of freshwater systems in their jurisdiction.

It doesn’t stop there – Councils are also required to develop action plans for each identified “freshwater management unit” to describe how the health of their freshwater systems will be maintained or improved. Included is the requirement to identify all in-stream structures within the region that includes physical descriptions and measurements for each structure.

Councils are also required to map and monitor all natural inland wetlands (defined in the RMA as being areas permanently or intermittently wet areas that support natural ecosystems of plants and animals which are adapted to water) that are 0.05 ha or greater in extent, and wetlands that contain threatened species but are naturally less than 0.05 ha (e.g. ephemeral wetlands). Each identified and mapped wetland will then have an associated monitoring plan developed.

In addition to this monitoring and management, Councils are directed to maintain closer limits on the loss of extent and values of our freshwater ecosystems. This is evident throughout the policies of the NPS-FM 2020 where Avoid and Protect are commonly used words. This new policy direction from Central Government will have far-reaching implications on how the land can be developed or converted.

Current practices of piping waterways to enable land development, such as commonly occurs in many of cities to provide for residential developments, may well become rare as new approaches will be sought to avoid waterway loss. The same is expected for natural inland wetlands, lakes, and larger rivers. In other words, the NPS-FM 2020 suggests the ability to manipulate the land for development purposes can only be achieved if direct and indirect effects on waterways and waterbodies can be avoided rather than subsequently mitigated or offset.

Overall, the NPS-FM 2020 requires a marked increase in the mapping and monitoring requirements of freshwater systems whilst also requiring Councils to maintain closer reins on the loss of extent of these systems. The monitoring and compliance workloads of local authorities has, as of 3 September 2020, ballooned.

While this nationwide approach applies, Councils and communities will still need to develop and implement solutions to respond to local catchment issues. Boffa Miskell’s freshwater ecologists can assist Councils with this new and upscaled workload, as well as assisting and advising on how land can still be feasibly and economically developed while avoiding further loss and effects on our important freshwater resources.

Find out more

Be Bold: Ideas for Freshwater

For further information please contact Hamish Wesney or Jeremy Garrett-Walker