In our second part of a focus on the recent announcements on Resource Management Reform, we take a look at the freshwater proposals.
The Government is committed to replacing the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) with new legislation in 2026 that is focused on the premise of property rights. However, the Government is not satisfied that we should wait in the meantime and have released discussion documents of proposed changes to national direction of resource management in New Zealand.
For context on what National Direction is and why the Government is proposing changes to it, have a read of our first post: https://www.thewholestory.co.nz/rmareform/
Freshwater
The National Policy Statement for Freshwater 2020 and the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater 2020 are the two key pieces of legislation that set the policies, rules, and standards that regional and local councils must give effect to when it comes to freshwater.
The Government is consulting on a range of changes and additions to these two pieces of legislation. Many of these changes are of interest to farmers, particularly those that have an impact on what can be done on farm regarding freshwater management.
The reforms can be split into broad areas:
- A re-balance of objectives and overarching direction of freshwater management legislation, and
- Changes to specific rules and regulations that seek to enable activities
Re-balancing Freshwater Objectives
The National Policy Statement for Freshwater 2020 (NPS-FM) currently has a sole objective that seeks to ensure that natural and physical resources are managed in a way that prioritises:
- First, the health and well-being of water bodies and freshwater ecosystems,
- Second, the health needs of people (such as drinking water)
- Third, the ability of people and communities to provide for their social, economic and cultural well-being, now and into the future.
This current objective states priorities for freshwater management in a hierarchy to ensure that the health and well-being of water is prioritised in order for it to provide for the health of people, as well as social, economic and cultural factors. This hierarchy is something councils must give effect to in their plans. The Government is concerned that this is being interpreted in a way that means that pristine water quality is to be achieved before allowing other uses for freshwater (MfE, 2025).
For this reason, the Government is proposing a change to the above hierarchical objective with multiple new objectives that councils are directed to prioritise equally. These are proposed as:
Re-Balancing Te Mana o te Wai
Currently as part of national direction for freshwater rules and regulations, there is an overarching concept called Te Mana o te Wai that councils must give effect to.
Te Mana o te Wai (the mana of the water) is a concept that refers to the fundamental importance of water, and recognises that protecting the health of freshwater protects the health and well-being of the wider environment. Te Mana o te Wai protects the mauri (life force) of the water, and is about restoring and preserving the balance between water, wider environment and community (NPS-FM 2020).
Te Mana o te Wai has a hierarchy of obligations which are set as the objective of the NPS-FM, which seeks to ensure that natural and physical resources are managed in a way that prioritises:
- First, the health and well-being of water bodies and freshwater ecosystems,
- Second, the health needs of people (such as drinking water),
- Third, the ability of people and communities to provide for their social, economic, and cultural well-being, now and into the future.
As mentioned above, the Government is consulting on proposed changes to change from a hierarchical set of objectives, to a more balanced approach where objectives are considered equally. For this reason, there is also proposed changes to re-balance Te Mana o te Wai within the national direction for freshwater management. These proposals seek to either:
- Remove the hierarchy of obligations and clarify how Te Mana o te Wai applies,
- Reinstate Te Mana o te Wai provisions from the 2017 version of the NPS-FM, which means that councils need to consider and recognise Te Mana o te Wai rather than give effect to it, or
- To remove Te Mana o te Wai provisions altogether.
Key Focus Areas for Farmers
The following four focus areas that we will discuss are those that will have an impact on the activities that one can undertake on their farm.
1.) Water security and water storage
The Government have committed to making farming easier, and within that have committed to making it easier for the development of new infrastructure, including off-stream water storage.
Water security is increasingly important and is seen as a key area that is needed to support the primary sector thrive into the future, as well as to build resilience to climate change. The Government recognises that building water storage on land could be made a lot easier, especially for on-farm water storage through on-farm dams, paddock ponds, and other off-stream storage options.
The Government is proposing the development of clear and effective national standards for off-stream water storage that could simplify the resource management process, provide consistency in rules and regulations, and reduce duplication (MfE, 2025). This proposal would look to provide ways in which the building of off-stream water storage could become a permitted activity. The Government have drafted standards for this with the help of industry experts, and the specifics of these can be found within the discussion document on pages 41-45.
2.) Simplifying Wetland Provisions
Protecting and restoring wetlands, as well as creating and maintaining them, is something of importance for the Government. Currently there are some challenges under legislation when it comes to what farming activities are unlikely to have adverse effects on a wetland, as well as barriers to being able to construct wetlands to attenuate nutrient loss and provide habitat.
The Government is proposing to make these farming activities and construction of wetlands easier by making clear permitted activity standards, as well as standards that could require consent. This will allow farmers to invest in fencing their wetlands without concern for regulations, as well as to invest in constructing wetlands that will lead to good environmental outcomes.
As mentioned in our previous post, there are also changes proposed to stock exclusion rules from wetlands. You can read about these here.
3.) Simplifying fish passage regulations (Culverts)
Simplifying culvert rules is another area of proposed change that is of importance for farmers. There is concern that the information required by legislation about the design of in-stream structures is too much. For this reason the Government proposes to simplify these regulations greatly and make it easier to satisfy permitted activity standards so that a resource consent is not required to construct and use a culvert.
The Government is proposing to simplify these regulations by:
- Moving information requirements for each structure type into a single regulation that applies to all in-stream structure types,
- Remove requirements that do not directly inform how likely a structure is to impede fish passage, such as materials used in construction,
- Amend the permitted activity conditions for culverts to reflect updated practice and provide for boxed culvers,
- Remove some permitted activity conditions for culverts, such as water velocity, and
- Consider whether temporary structures need to be treated differently to permanent structures.
Of particular interest for farmers will be changes to the conditions for the construction of culverts, as well as removing some of the conditions to what is a permitted activity. This would likely result in it being easier to be able to install a culvert as a permitted activity rather than require resource consent.
4.) Synthetic Nitrogen Application Rules
The Government has committed to cutting red tape that is holding our primary industries back. A big part of this is to remove one-size-fits-all rules with local decision making.
The Government is proposing changes to the environmental standards rules that apply to the application of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser. Currently farmers can apply up to 190 kilograms per hectare of synthetic nitrogen before they must obtain a resource consent. In addition, dairy farmers are also required to provide receipts and information on their fertiliser use to councils one a year.
Under the Freshwater reform proposals there are three options that are proposed to improve the standards for synthetic nitrogen.
- Repealing the requirement for dairy farms to provide receipts for purchases on synthetic fertiliser
- This is a recognition of concerns that providing receipts is unnecessary as councils do not use the information provided, and because receipts are not a good indication of the amount of fertiliser that was actually applied versus that which was purchased.
- Aligning the reporting date for dairy farms with the farming calendar
- If reporting on fertiliser use was to remain, one option proposed is to make sure that the need to do so aligns with other reporting periods that farmers undertake in order to reduce inefficiencies and time burdens for farmers.
- Repeal the 190 kilogram per hectare nitrogen limit
- Another option tabled is repealing the synthetic nitrogen cap altogether. It is stated in the discussion document that the introduction of the nitrogen cap was to increase awareness of nitrogen use, and the result was that it improved practices. The Government is consulting as to whether the cap remains necessary as the rule has signaled a level of unacceptable use that should be avoided (MfE, 2025). This change would mean that a resource consent would no longer be required to apply more than 190 kilogram of synthetic nitrogen per hectare on farms.
Freshwater Farm Plans
As part of the freshwater package, the Government has made an explicit mention of Freshwater Farm Plans as being a key part of the wider freshwater management framework. It is a strong recognition that Freshwater Farm Plans will be something that farmers need to engage with soon. The Ministry for the Environment and Ministry for Primary Industries are currently reviewing the freshwater farm plan system to make it simpler and more cost effective, and it is intended these changes will be finalised by the end of 2025.
For more on Freshwater Farm Plans and how they can benefit your farming business, have a read of our blog post ‘Looking Beyond Compliance’.
How Can you have your Say?
Having your say is an important part of the reform process. You can do this by visiting: https://consult.environment.govt.nz/resource-management/freshwater-national-direction/consultation/
While it may look overwhelming, never fear! Click on the sections that you would like to have a say on via the link where you can submit your feedback. These sections have questions that the Government has posed for feedback, however, you can submit any thoughts or evidence that is of relevance. You don’t have to submit on everything, so feel free to pick and choose what you submit on if you want to.