Land and Water Forum report released

The Land and Water Forum today released its report into how to improve freshwater management
in New Zealand.

The Chair of the Forum, Alastair Bisley, said that the Forum had come together because water
provided great opportunities for all New Zealanders.

“We’ve agreed if we want to make the most of these opportunities – for our environment, our
economy and our way of life - the way that water is managed needs to change,” he said.

“Our freshwater is still good overall and rates well internationally, but its quality and availability
have been deteriorating, and we must take steps on several fronts to reverse this trend.”

The report identifies a set of outcomes and goals for freshwater management and makes a number
of recommendations on the major areas where change is needed:

• Setting standards, limits and targets for water quality and quantity while taking into account
the variety of New Zealand’s geography, and the diversity of cultural, economic,
environmental and social interests in water

• Water allocation and the transfer of water permits

• Irrigation, storage and hydro projects

• Governance arrangements and the knowledge required for water management

• Urban water services issues, and

• Collaborative processes for better stakeholder engagement and outcomes.

“The Forum believes that to deal with the issue of water quality we need for both environmental
and economic reasons to set standards, limits and targets around contaminants and flows; that we
need national leadership and local partnership; more consistent practices; and monitoring of
performance.

“We need better tools for allocating water permits and facilitating their transfer to increase the
efficiency of water use. The Forum also believes that water storage may bring gains for the
environment as well as economic benefits.”

The report says that New Zealand needs an overall water strategy and that a non-statutory Land and
Water Commission be established on a co-governance basis, to advise Ministers.
Mr Bisley said that the Forum hoped that its report would move the national debate on water
forward.

“Our report makes substantive recommendations across the important issues for water - and land
management - but it does not attempt to set out detailed technical solutions.

“We believe this provides the basis for a real shift in the national conversation on water, and over
the next few months we will be engaging with a wide range of groups across regions to discuss the
report’s direction. We want the report and this broader discussion to help inform the government
when it considers changes to water management”.

ENDS

A copy of the report is available at
http://www.landandwater.org.nz/land_and_water_forum_report.pdf