Troubled waters: a tale of two reports
. 26/02/2010 10:07:27 a.m.
In the last two weeks, two reports with significant implications for fresh water management in New Zealand have been released. The reports share a common starting point: there are serious issues with current approaches to fresh water management, including widespread over-allocation and the lack of an integrated approach to water management, with environmental and economic consequences which, already at an unacceptable level, could dramatically worsen in the future.
In response, the authors of the first report recommend a much clearer articulation of the national values relevant to fresh water management, and the provision of central government direction to how these values should be reflected in and implemented through subordinate planning documents.
Acknowledging that sustainable management involves an “overall broad judgment… that allows for a comparison of conflicting considerations” the authors of the first report nevertheless urge a recognition and protection of natural environmental values of water, even if this means limiting the availability of the resource for human use, including for commercial purposes:
Improvements in fresh water by phasing out over-allocation and contamination require that fresh water is used for enabling economic wellbeing only while, and to the extent that, life-supporting capacity of water and its associated ecosystems is fully safeguarded, and the potential to meet reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations is fully sustained.
….
Intrinsic values of fresh water are substantial in themselves. Maintenance, restoration and enhancement of them is not subordinate to economic values of fresh water for potential use for people and communities’ wellbeing.
The second report bemoans the “lack of balance between economic, social, cultural and environmental perspectives” in relation to the management of water resources in one New Zealand region, holding that (amongst other matters) it is an over-emphasis on environmental values, and under-emphasis on the economic benefits of water use that has inhibited the strategic management of water in that region.
There is insufficient consideration given to the fact that the purpose of the RMA is to weigh environmental, social, cultural and economic matters. [The] focus is mostly on ‘natural’ environmental matters.
There is a lack of economic perspective to balance what is perceived as a pro-natural environment approach in Plans and officer reports…
The second report’s recommendation is to remove all powers of water management, strategy and plan development, consent processing, monitoring and enforcement from an existing regional council, and establish a new standalone regional water authority under new legislation, membership to be appointed by central government. The new Act would have its own purpose, distinct from the purpose of the RMA, “which should involve a mix of economic development, environmental, social and cultural factors.”
The first report, of course, is the Report and Recommendations of the Board of Inquiry in the Proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management. Chaired by the former Principal Environment Judge Sheppard, and written in crisp prose reminiscent of many landmark Environment Court decisions issued under his direction, this is the outcome of an involved document development and consultation process which included 149 submissions on the draft NPS, 30 further submissions, hearings over 21 days with appearances from 80 submitters, and at least 4 months further deliberations before provision of the recommendations to Government.
If adopted, the NPS would require regional councils to include in new or amended policy statements and plans a raft of new provisions directed at addressing the key national issues identified as of significant concern, namely:
Over-allocation of fresh water;
Contamination of fresh water;
Loss of wetlands;
Incompletely integrated management.
The report frankly acknowledges that an NPS will be only part of a wider programme of review and reform. Much of its content is taken up with explaining why matters urged on it for consideration by submitters are outside of the scope if its inquiry, or indeed, the scope of the RMA. And while one environmental group, EDS, has criticized the 2030 target date for improved freshwater quality, it conceded that “there is some real merit in the policies and objectives the Board of Inquiry has proposed”.
There are no prizes for identifying the second report as the Report on the Investigation of the Performance of Environment Canterbury, released on 19 February. It is a no-holds-barred and wide ranging critique of Ecan’s water and senior management team and institutional processes. It appears likely to lead to the disestablishment of Ecan as we know it, quite possibly in a very short timeframe. If implemented, in Canterbury at least, the prospect of the RMA as 1-stop-shop is severely bruised, and with it, the hopes of meaningful integrated management – particularly a recognition of the links between land use development and water use and quality.
Some of the Ecan officers might read the Board of Inquiry report with interest, reflecting on the irony that, superficially at least, their approach of holding the intrinsic values of water as not necessarily subordinate to the economic values of commercial use seems to resonate with the tone and content of former Principal Environment Judge and his Board colleagues’ report. But that approach – held up as an example of misguided and unbalanced thinking by Messrs Creech and co - could well mean the imminent demise of any meaningful role for them at the council that manages around 70% of New Zealand’s fresh water resource.
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