Changes imminent to Otago Water Plan

Two important changes to the Regional Water Plan for Otago are about to become operative, building on the regulatory work already done to improve water management in the region

Plan Change 1C, relating to water allocation use, and Plan Change 4A, promulgating the newly-defined North Otago Volcanic Aquifer, are set to become operative on March 1 after they were approved at a meeting of the Otago Regional Council (ORC) yesterday.
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ORC chairman Stephen Woodhead said Plan Change 1C puts in place a robust regime for the allocation of water in the region.

It also supports improved water allocation and use provisions (including recognition of connected groundwater). It will also facilitate the transition from deemed permits to resource consents, enable community management of water, and secure wider benefits from water that is available to be taken.

Cr Woodhead said ORC’s community water management strategy encourages collaborative approaches to water management allocation, particularly in Central Otago, where water allocation has been traditionally dominated by deemed permits (mining privileges). These permits date back to the 19th century gold mining era, and were once valid in perpetuity.

An end date of October 2021 was set for the life of these permits, which then become governed by the Resource Management Act after that date.

Plan Change 4A contains an omnibus of provisions to strengthen the water plan in terms of the revised groundwater management framework introduced in Plan Change 1C.

It sets a tailored allocation volume for the administration of groundwater abstraction consents in the North Otago Volcanic Aquifer. This will replace the default or interim allocation regime set in Plan Change 1C.

In addition, Plan Change 4A contains many new or reworded clauses that reconfigure the application of groundwater and surface water/groundwater management in the water plan,

The calculation of maximum annual consent allocation for historic groundwater abstraction consents that did not already contain an annual maximum, has been simplified so that the region’s aquifers can be graded as either under-allocated or fully allocated.

Cr Woodhead said the successful promulgation of the plan changes reflected the combined efforts of councillors, staff, and interested members of the public, who had the conservation of the region’s precious water resources at heart.