(Section 17 of the RPS)
Good quality water is essential for life and for most human activity. However, most human activity has the potential to lead to contamination of water, lessening its life supporting capacity and restricting or limiting its suitability for other uses.
The use of land in particular has a major influence on the quality of the water in groundwater, lakes, wetlands and rivers. As rivers naturally flow to the coast, any contaminants carried by them can affect the quality of water in estuaries, harbours and coastal waters. Therefore, linking the management of land, freshwater and coastal waters is essential. This holistic approach to the management of natural resources is consistent with views held by Tangata Whenua.
Anticipated Outcomes
· Water quality suitable for desired purposes.
· Contaminants in water bodies reduced.
· The adverse effects of contaminants in water bodies and coastal waters are avoided, remedied or mitigated.
· That all existing discharges of organic contaminants be via the best practicable option for treatment and disposal by the year 2004.
· That all new discharges or organic contaminants be via the best practicable option for treatment and disposal.
· Improved aquatic habitat.
Policy Mix
The objectives for the water quality section are:
· the maintenance or enhancement of the water quality of natural water bodies and coastal waters to be suitable, in the long term, for specified purposes;
· reduction and minimisation of the quantities of contaminants entering water bodies and coastal waters;
· avoid, remedy or mitigate the adverse effects of discharges of contaminants on the traditional, cultural and spiritual values of water held by Tangata Whenua;
· efficient and effective control and minimisation of the impact of oil pollution in the coastal marine area.
The policy approach for the water quality standards section (Policy 17.4 (a)) is primarily a regulatory approach of setting water quality standards for receiving waters and appropriate provisions to match this within regional and district plans.
The effluent treatment and disposal systems section (Policy 17.4 (b)) has a policy approach that is a combination of advocacy and regulatory methods, based on the upgrading of treatment and disposal systems.
The policy approach for the diffuse source contamination, stormwater drainage system contamination and riparian area management section (Policy 17.4 (c)) is the promotion and use of best management practices. These practices are promoted through voluntary codes of practice and guidelines, standards in plans and conditions in resource consents. This section also details criteria for determining whether or not to require retention of riparian vegetation.
The dumping and clean-ups section (Policy 17.4 (d)) has a policy approach that is a combination of regulatory provisions, enforcement action and operational plans to remove and clean up rubbish.
The policy approach for the unauthorised discharges section (Policy 17.4 (e)) is to avoid, remedy or mitigate the adverse effects of unauthorised discharges. This is achieved through regulatory provisions in plans and the development of discharge response strategies.
The Water Quality section contains 27 individual methods of implementation that flow from the policy direction discussed above.
What's the current state?
Water quality in the Northland region varies greatly from pristine in upper native forest catchments through to highly impacted in modified lowland catchments. Most lowland rivers and streams are unsuitable for swimming. Higher levels of disease-causing organisms are found in catchments with high-intensity land use.
Water quality for aquatic ecosystems is highly variable. Guidelines are regularly exceeded in catchments with high intensity land use, including the Wairua, Whakapara, Mangakahia, Awanui and Waitangi Rivers, whereas ecosystem health in native forested catchments is excellent. Lowland streams, especially in agricultural and urban areas, have poor ecosystem health. Currently, the NRC has little information on the extent and quality of riparian margins in the Northland region.
Farm dairy effluent treatment systems are by far the most numerous point source discharges to surface waters and land in Northland. Presently, 51% of systems discharge to land and 49% to surface water. Agricultural land use is the most significant source of non-point source pollution in Northland. However, it is not known to what extent agricultural runoff contributes to the total pollution loading of the region's rivers and streams.
Over the last few decades, through industry amalgamations and improvements in wastewater treatment, pressures on Northland's waterways from industrial discharges have decreased significantly.
Coastal recreational bathing sites
The results of monitoring show that the majority of recreational bathing sites are generally acceptable for swimming and other freshwater recreational activities during dry weather. However, after heavy or prolonged rain, the waterways become unsuitable for several days. 24% of sites meet the guidelines for water clarity, which can also be used as an indicator of contamination.
Trend analysis has shown positive trends detected at some sites such as decreasing levels of ammonium nitrogen and increasing trends in water clarity with a corresponding decreasing trend for turbidity. These positive trends suggest improvements have occurred in point source discharges upstream of these sites. It is also encouraging that overall many of these positive trends were found in the rivers previously ranked as having the worst water quality.
Lakes
The water quality of many lakes in Northland is a concern. Results from the 2007-2008 Annual Environmental Monitoring Report (AMR) show that 53% are low in nutrients, whereas 47% can be graded as eutrophic or worse. Lakes graded as eutrophic or worse have high nutrient and algal levels and low water clarity. Eutrophic lakes are generally set in pastoral catchments and lack emergent vegetation. By comparison, lakes graded as oligotrophic (low nutrient content and very clear waters), for example, Lake Waikere (Kai Iwi), are set in forested catchments and have emergent vegetation.
Shellfish gathering sites
The monitoring of water quality at shellfish gathering sites is showing that the majority of sites have unsuitable water quality. Shellfish are filter feeders and are generally unsafe to eat when the surrounding water quality is unsafe. The causes of the poor water quality generally include discharges from mammals and birds, agricultural and storm water runoff and runoff from poorly maintained septic tanks.
One of the main reasons for the presence of faecal coliform bacteria is that the majority of the monitored sites are within semi-enclosed water bodies, such as estuaries and harbours. These water bodies are heavily influenced by freshwater input from rivers and streams and rainfall run-off, both of which transport contaminants into the system. In addition, it takes longer for contaminants to flush out of semi-enclosed systems and water quality may therefore be poorer at these sites for longer than at open coastal locations. This aside, the 2007-08 results were the worst in the last five years of monitoring since the 2003-04 summer (it should be noted that this was a very wet year). In previous years between 2 and 4 sites had met both water quality standards for safe recreational shellfish gathering.
Groundwater
Groundwater in Northland is generally of a high enough quality that it can be consumed without treatment. However, three potential sources of contamination that are of concern in Northland are nitrates, bacteria and saltwater (saline intrusion). The results from groundwater quality monitoring indicate that the majority of determinants analysed for each sample are well below New Zealand drinking water limits, however some results are of concern.
Results of bacterial analysis undertaken during 2007-08 indicate that sixteen groundwater sites have bacteria present above the guideline value. However, only four of these sixteen sites show repeated bacterial contamination in three consecutive sampling runs. This may be an indication of onsite wastewater contamination, and/or poor bore construction.
What has worked well in this section?
The provisions of the Regional Water and Soil Plan for Northland accurately reflect the policies of the RPS.
The NRC Environment Hotline works well for unauthorised discharges and dumping of rubbish, with the NRC responding promptly and usually very effectively to hotline incidents.
Voluntary agreements, such as the ‘Dairying and Clean Streams Accord' are playing a positive role in working towards improving water quality in dairy areas.
What has not worked in this section?
Achievement of water quality objectives relies on the classification of water bodies throughout Northland. This has been done on a generic level, but not area specific. Only a small fraction of Northland's water bodies are classified. Classification of water bodies is still considered a priority to enable effective management and should be initiated in high priority areas.
Septic tanks that are failing can have major effects on water quality and it is suggested by some that they should be treated as point source discharges rather than diffuse discharges. Little is understood about the cumulative effects of multiple discharges within a catchment. The level of treatment is often driven by the cost of implementation rather than the environmental standards to be met.
The requirement to produce best practicable option reports for community scale wastewater treatment plants is sometimes unaffordable.
Low impact stormwater design systems are seldom adopted for small to medium scale subdivision and development and therefore cumulative effects are seldom addressed at this stage. Stormwater discharges, particularly from car parks associated with big retail and commercial developments are not well managed. Stormwater drainage and runoff from roads is entering streams and affecting water quality, particularly in regard to reasonable domestic and stock needs.
While the Regional Coastal Plan prohibits stock from accessing the coastal marine area, there is not a consistent approach within the Regional Water and Soil Plan restricting stock from freshwater bodies.
Baseline water classification of catchments has not occurred region wide. Other issues that are not clearly addressed within this section include the value of water for intrinsic, amenity and cultural values, the importance of springs, wetlands and swamps, incentives for rehabilitation, enhancement and protection, introduction of exotic species, and links with riparian management (including options such as stock exclusion from water ways).
Maori generally believe that human waste should be treated and discharged onto land and not directly into rivers, streams or the coastal marine area under any circumstances (whether treated or untreated). The view of Tangata Whenua is that this has not been reflected strongly enough in the RPS. This was investigated in some depth at the time of preparing the RPS and there are significant practical difficulties with implementing this direction. The volumes of wastewater being treated, particularly in the larger urban areas are just simply to large for land based disposal methods.
General comments on this section:
District councils have expressed concern over the provision that effluent disposal be onto or into land to avoid discharges to surface water in the context of significant effluents flows from large facilities. They consider that this option is not always feasible.
In general, the provisions required by the RPS are included in the regional plans.
District councils put conditions on subdivision and development consents regarding the type of wastewater system to be installed however, there is confusion as to which organisation should best monitor this. Generally it is not the new systems that cause the most concern; it is old systems that need more attention. However there is also concern at the time it takes district councils to develop and implement treatment systems.
The RPS has methods that require the inclusion of appropriate provisions in district plans. It is often uncertain what is meant by appropriate or inappropriate provisions, and the RPS should be amended to be clear on who provides guidance on what is considered appropriate or what is meant by these terms.
Is this section Efficient and Effective?
This section of the RPS requires that the development and operating of new and existing effluent treatment and disposal systems that meet the required receiving water standards, or cultural purposes within the required timeframes. Development and upgrading of new and existing effluent treatment and disposal systems should have happened more rapidly.
Cumulative effects of discharges are difficult to monitor and address. The effectiveness of permitted activity discharges (stormwater, sewage, sediment) and the cumulative impact on water quality is poorly understood at present. Monitoring of permitted activity discharges needs to occur to enable a proper assessment of their effectiveness.
A plan change to the Regional Water and Soil Plan has recently been progressed that addresses previous concerns regarding permitted activity discharges of animal effluent. In addition, the majority of the point source animal effluent discharges that were previously non-consented are now consented. In general, the management of point source animal effluent discharges has improved however the management of non-point source discharges from farm related activities needs improving.
The provisions in the regional plans are not considered to adequately cover cumulative effects on water quality, particularly sewage systems in coastal communities and land use change. This section does not adequately address the increasing concern and pressure felt from the rate and scale of subdivision and development occurring throughout the region, particularly in regard to the effects of effluent disposal, stormwater management and cumulative effects on the environment. Non-point source discharges are hard to define and this area needs further work.
The RPS should encourage a co-ordinated approach to documenting best practice and reducing the cost of repetitive investigations.
The majority of management option currently advanced through the RPS is to include either regional or district rules or education. The RPS should investigate other opportunities to encourage and empower land owners to make the right land management decisions. One such alternative could include the use of economic incentives.
Emerging Issues for this section?
Identifying which activities are having the most significant impact on water quality is a difficult operation requiring costly and time consuming scientific analysis. Contaminant source tracking is one option that would enable the development of appropriate management options that are targeted at the major contributors.
The importance of buffer zones and guidance on their development and maintenance should be supported through this section of the RPS. The adverse effects of inappropriate land management activities on water quality and the importance of integrated catchment management, as a means of managing water quality, is gaining more focus and priority due to greater public awareness of how human activities affects water quality.
The effects of water quality on marine farming are becoming an increasingly topical issue. Controlling contaminants at source, i.e. before they enter natural systems, may require a change in hierarchy – source control, site control and finally district/ regional control.
There is a general desire for a harder line approach to resource consents to ensure consent holders meet the appropriate discharge standards. There may also be a need to review the existing point source discharge standards. This is directly related to the difficulties in addressing the cumulative effects of discharges arising from multiple discharges e.g. resulting from multiple individual subdivisions.
Conclusions
The importance of good water quality to Northland and the increasing public awareness of how human activities adversely affects water quality means that the protection of water quality is emerging as one of the key priority topics of the future. Water quality is directly linked to a majority of other activities and if Northland can address water quality issues then a majority of the other issues will also be resolved.
In the future, a more holistic approach should be adopted for the efficient and effective management of water quality. This needs to involve a more proactive focus on managing the appropriateness of the land use activity in the first place rather than simply trying to manage the effects of inappropriate land use on water quality.
Significant challenges surrounding managing water quality into the future will include non-point source discharges, intensification of land use, permitted activity discharges and identifying non-regulatory management options (economic incentives).