New rules to protect and restore New Zealand’s freshwater have passed into law.This includes the new National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management (NPS-FM), National Environmental Standards for Freshwater (NES-FW), stock exclusion regulations, and regulations in the measurement and reporting of water takes.Significant policies that now have legal backing include:
- Requiring councils to give effect to Te Mana o Te Wai by prioritising the health and wellbeing of our waterways
- Halting further loss of natural wetlands and streams
- Setting higher health standards at swimming spots
- Putting controls on high-risk farm practices such as winter grazing and feedlots
- Setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other measures of waterway health
- Requiring urban waterways to be cleaned up and new protections for urban streams
- Preserving and restoring the connectivity of New Zealand fish species’ habitats
- Requiring mandatory and enforceable farm environment plans
- Making real-time measuring and reporting of data on water use mandatory.Some of the new rules will take immediate effect (from 3 September), while there is a longer timeframe for others. Supporting the changes is the faster planning process for regional councils to speed up implementation of the NPS-FM, made law in June through the Resource Management Amendment Act.