Taranaki – Freshwater targets and options

What is DairyNZ doing for you?

DairyNZ has submitted on the material consulted on by Taranaki Regional Council excluding an extensive technical appendix. We worked actively with other primary sector groups to ensure cohesion. We also highlighted our concerns on the timing of this new plan.

Key concerns with the proposal

Timing: The timing of the Plan Change risks misalignment with national direction (changes to the RMA and NPS-FM). This could result in further changes to the plan and related costs.

Model outputs: The use of model outputs to estimate the reductions required is potentially not representative of measured data.

Achievability: There are potential implications for farmers with some of the options to achieve improvements in water quality. Some examples taken from the consultation documents illustrate these:

• Fish Passage – part of the council’s consultation looks at improving fish passage in the region. They are asking how long farmers would need to replace culverts and in-stream structures.
• Managing intensification – the council are considering using stocking rate as a trigger for a consent requirement.
• Freshwater Farm Plans – the council is considering using Farm Environment Plans to implement freshwater improvements.

What are the next steps?

Central Government announced in December 2023 an intention to replace the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM 2020) over the next 18-24 months. Due to this, the date that councils are required to notify a freshwater plan change has been extended by three years, to 31 December 2027, leaving more time for regional councils and communities for this work.

Find out more about the changes to freshwater regulations proposed by Central Government.