Description: About Waiora Northland WaterWaiora Northland Water is all about working together to better manage our region’s precious freshwater resources. It brings together both existing and new Northland Regional Council work to improve the quality and management of our lakes, rivers, aquifers and wetlands.New government requirements for managing freshwaterAlongside the council’s existing work on water quality and water use, Waiora Northland Water encompasses new government requirements for managing freshwater.Under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2014, regional councils will collaborate with communities to set goals and standards for managing freshwater resources. You can read this policy statement on the Ministry for the Environment’s website: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/rma/central/nps/freshwater-management.htmlWe initially focus on first priority catchments and outstanding waterbodies, and then move on to other areas. We will also address water management region-wide, establishing standards for Northland’s other water bodies that will be progressively reviewed on a priority basis. The implementation programme for the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management in the Northland Region is available to download below:Waiora Northland Water implementation programme information(PDF, 829 KB)Local input on local water managementThe council is looking at our waters at a local area level and bringing together local stakeholders to help decide how they’ll be managed.On a priority basis, local catchment groups will be formed from people with a local interest in water issues. These groups will work to provide local input and recommendations on maintaining and improving freshwater in their area.Catchment groups will have nominated representatives from a range local interests – for example, iwi/hapū, landowners, industry (like farming and forestry), environmental groups, recreational users and councils.This approach brings together people with differing viewpoints and requires them to listen to other viewpoints, compromise and strive for consensus on how their local waters can best be managed for generations to come.Better integrated managementWe know freshwater quality has a major influence on our coastal environment, so we are taking an integrated approach with Waiora Northland Water. Our work to improve freshwater management will also link to our work in the harbours, estuaries and coast of Northland and that of our neighbours in Auckland.In managing our freshwater we’ll build on what works well, using region-wide approaches where appropriate and localised solutions for specific issues.For example, we’ll continue to encourage good practice and promote it through our Environment Fund. We have existing rules set out in our Regional Water and Soil Plan. We’ll introduce plan changes where necessary to update those rules and better manage our freshwater resources for generations to come.Presentation - Policy framework for freshwater managementThis Policy Framework for Freshwater Management presentation was made to the catchment groups throughout July and August 2014.Policy framework for freshwater management - presentation(PDF, 602KB)
Description: This dataset is part of the Proposed Regional Plan, July 2017. It has no legal effect.These areas identify land with a high potential sediment yield in the Waitangi, Mangere, Doubtless Bay and Whangarei Harbour Priority Catchments. The areas have been identified using the SedNet model to estimate sediment yield by area. The purpose of identifying land with High Sediment Yield is to prioritise intervention to those areas where a reduction in sediment/erosion can be cost effectively achieved in order to improve fresh and coastal water quality. Pastoral land use in these areas will be subject to a rule requiring Erosion Control Plans be developed by 1 January 2025 – if no Erosion Control Plan is in place resource consent would be required to undertake pastoral land use on these areas. Thresholds to identify High Sediment Yielding land were selected through a collaborative catchment planning process in the subject catchments and were considered for each catchment in the light of likely sediment reduction, costs and resourcing required. The thresholds for High Sediment Yielding land are >250t/km2/yr for the Waitangi, Mangere, and Whangarei Harbour catchments and >500t/km2/yr in the Doubtless Bay Catchment. The appropriate scale of use is 1:25,000
Description: Upstream catchments in which locally significant swimming holes in Whangarei are located. Extracted from 2013 RiVAS reporting in Objective (OBJ REF A602171)
Description: This dataset is part of the Proposed Regional Plan, July 2017. It has no legal effect.The areas identified are the surface water catchments of outstanding freshwater bodies (dune lakes) on the Pouto Peninsula where new plantation forestry will be subject to a requirement for resource consent. The requirement for consent is to ensure potential effects on water quality and quantity are appropriately managed. Surface water catchments were derived from LiDAR data by Northland Regional Council State of the Environment team.The appropriate scale of use is 1:25,000
Description: This dataset is part of the Proposed Regional Plan, September 2017. It has no legal effect.In 2012, the council commissioned NIWA to rank Northland lakes based on their ecological values (Northland Lakes Strategy - modified Feb 2013 OBJ REF A295857). It identified 12 lakes as being outstanding (see page 21 of the report). Shortly after, the Council moved a motion to identify and protect them as outstanding freshwater bodies, which the council intend to do through the new regional plan. Of these 12 lakes 4 were within the Pouto priority catchment. An additional 2 dune lakes were added in 2017 to the outstanding lakes feature class as a result of consultation with the community.The extent of the lakes were digitised from Aerial Imagery (High Resolution and KiwImage) at scales of 1:1,000 to 1:3,000 for use in the Regional Plan maps.Appropriate Scale of use 1:25,000