The Freshwater and Land Advisory Group (FLAG) for the Takaka Catchments exists to help the Council develop ways to manage fresh water resources and meet the obligations of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.
The aim of the FLAG process is to prepare and recommend to Council draft planning provisions including policy and rules in the Tasman Resource Management Plan for Takaka water resources including the Takaka River and its tributaries, ground waters within the limestone and alluvial aquifers, and adjacent coastal streams.
The FLAG is not a decision making group, but a community-led response to water management which makes recommendations to the Council. Any decisions the Council makes are subject to the Resource Management Act Schedule 1 process.
The meeting notes provide a summary of points raised by individuals at the FLAG meetings.
They do not necessarily represent the current views held by any or all members of FLAG and do not represent the views of Council. The comments cover the diversity of experiences and opinions on the group. The views expressed are open and may change at any time.
We've set up a Freshwater and Land Advisory Group (FLAG) for the Takaka River Catchment to help the Council develop ways to manage fresh water resources and meet the obligations of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.
This process aims to enable greater involvement by the community and stakeholders in developing the water quantity and quality management provisions for Takaka water resources including the Takaka River and its tributaries, ground waters within the limestone and alluvial aquifers, and adjacent coastal streams.
The FLAG is not a decision making group, but a community-led response to water management which makes recommendations to the Council.
The purpose of the group will be to consider the existing and potential future water quantity and quality challenges in the Takaka water management area and develop solutions for managing water allocation and the water quality effects of land use activities. The advisory group will prepare and recommend to Council draft planning provisions including policy and rules in the Tasman Resource Management Plan. Any decisions the Council makes are subject to the Resource Management Act Schedule 1 process.
The Council’s Environment and Planning Committee selected the Advisory Group members from the nominations received from people with a significant interest in water management in the Takaka area, and appointed representatives from local iwi and the Council. In their selection, Council considered:
Download biographies of the members:
Takaka FLAG members' biographies (pdf, 287 KB)
To make a comment or contact the group, email Lisa McGlinchey Coordinator Natural Resources Policy and FLAG co-ordinator.
The main reasons for this project are:
The outcomes from the process will be:
The NPS-FM provides objectives and policies for the management of water quantity and quality.
Council is required to implement the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM 2014) by 2025. This means:
For Takaka, Council has chosen to use a collaborative community process through the FLAG to achieve this.
To make a comment or contact the group, email Lisa McGlinchey Coordinator Natural Resources Policy and FLAG co-ordinator.
To date, the FLAG have learnt about the water resources in the Takaka catchments and issues for both water quality and quantity management.
They have developed values of water and interim allocation limits for the Takaka catchments. They have also looked at the drivers of water quality risk and identified key ways to address these.
They will be looking more closely at the management methods for maintaining and improving water quality over the comming months.
Feedback from the community and input from iwi has and will be further sought on these outputs. The feedback received will be considered by FLAG when they review all of their interim decisions on water allocation and water quality management before finalising their recommendations to Council later this year.
Once the FLAG provide their recommendations to Council, Council will then have to decide whether they publicly notify the plan change or go through another round of consultation before notification.
The formal process for plan changes is run by the Council and involves opportunity for public submissions to be made and heard at a hearing - this part of the process is yet to come.
To make a comment or contact the group, email Lisa McGlinchey Coordinator Natural Resources Policy and FLAG co-ordinator.
The Takaka FLAG have identified the key values of water in the Takaka catchments and developed draft management objectives to guide their decision making for development of water quantity and quality management provisions that will be added to the Plan. This framework is a series of statements outlining what the community value about the Takaka catchments and the vision for the future.
The FLAG sought feedback on this document from the public, local iwi and stakeholders in May 2015, to ensure they had captured a representative view on behalf of the community. The Values and Management Objectives have been used by the group in establishing the approaches for managing water allocation and water health. This work is summarised in the FLAG interim decisions summary report.
Eight key values and uses of water have been identified, along with management objectives for these:
To make a comment or contact the group, email Lisa McGlinchey Coordinator Natural Resources Policy and FLAG co-ordinator.
In November 2016 the Takaka FLAG released its summary report on interim decisions made since the group started in 2014. The summary report outlined the process undertaken by FLAG, and the approach being proposed for managing water in the Takaka catchments, including water allocation and management of water health, including water quality and riparian and aquatic habitat.
Summary of Takaka FLAG Process and Interim Decisions 21 November 2016 (pdf, 2.6 MB)
Summary of Takaka FLAG process and interim decisions -16 Dec 2016 v41 (pdf, 2.6 MB)
To make a comment or contact the group, email Lisa McGlinchey Coordinator Natural Resources Policy and FLAG co-ordinator.
This July 2013 report presents an overview of the surface and groundwater resources, both quantity and quality, for the Takaka Water Management Area.
The Council commissioned advice from an independent freshwater ecologist, Dr Roger Young, with the Cawthron Institute to provide advice on the aquatic ecological values of water bodies within the Takaka catchments and make recommendations on setting of minimum flows and allocation limits that protect ecological values. These recommendations provided the basis for FLAG discussions of the allocation regimes in Takaka. The report also summarises an investigation into nitrate coming from aquifer rock. The report can be viewed below.
In 2015, a panel of independent scientists from around New Zealand were commissioned to provide information to the FLAG on the water quality and ecosystem health of Te Waikoropupu Springs. This work was funded by DairyNZ, with staff time provided by Tasman District Council. The panel included:
The panel provided a report summarising the current data on water quality at the springs and recommending trigger values for key water quality attributes. The report can be viewed below.
The FLAG will consider how the advice from the science panel will be used once the water quality management framework is developed and the allocation work reviewed.
To make a comment or contact the group, email Lisa McGlinchey Coordinator Natural Resources Policy and FLAG co-ordinator.
Below are a number of information resources provided to the FLAG relating to the health and management of Te Waikoropupū Springs.
To make a comment or contact the group, email Lisa McGlinchey Coordinator Natural Resources Policy and FLAG co-ordinator.
