Next steps for fresh water - Summary of submissions - General overview

Sep 1, 2026

Next steps for freshwater in New Zealand consolidates and summarizes thousands of public and written submissions received during government consultation in 2016. The report documents major viewpoints on freshwater management reform, including water quality outcomes, monitoring approaches, infrastructure exceptions, and actions such as intermittently closing and opening coastal lakes and lagoons. It also covers economic allocation and efficiency, transfer and cost-recovery mechanisms, iwi rights and Te Mana o te Wai, coordination through Mana Whakahono a Rohe, water conservation orders, and support for drinking water funding and the Freshwater Improvement Fund.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPaper Templates

FormatDOCX

Pages56

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

General overview

Summary of key themes

Fresh water and our environment

Economic use of fresh water

Iwi rights and interests in fresh water

Freshwater Improvement Fund

Other issues

This document may be cited as: Ministry for the Environment. 2016. Next steps for fresh water: Summary of submissions. Wellington: Ministry for the Environment. Published in June 2016 by theMinistry for the Environment Manatū Mō Te TaiaoPO Box 10362, Wellington 6143, New Zealand ISBN: 978-0-908339-45-7 Publication number: ME 1248 © Crown copyright New Zealand 2016 This document is available on the Ministry for the Environment website: HYPERLINK "http://www.mfe.govt.nz" www.mfe.govt.nz. Contents TOC \t "Heading 1,1,Heading 2,2" General overview PAGEREF _Toc454542205 \h 4 Summary of key themes PAGEREF _Toc454542206 \h 5 Fresh water and our environment PAGEREF _Toc454542207 \h 7 ‘Maintain or improve overall’ water quality PAGEREF _Toc454542208 \h 7 Macroinvertebrate Community Index as a measure of water quality PAGEREF _Toc454542209 \h 11 Significant infrastructure and water quality PAGEREF _Toc454542210 \h 13 Coastal lakes and lagoons PAGEREF _Toc454542211 \h 16 Stock exclusion from water bodies PAGEREF _Toc454542212 \h 19 Economic use of fresh water PAGEREF _Toc454542213 \h 23 Technical efficiency standards PAGEREF _Toc454542214 \h 23 Good management practices PAGEREF _Toc454542215 \h 25 Transferring consents to more efficient, higher valued uses PAGEREF _Toc454542216 \h 27 Addressing over-allocation and over-use at least cost PAGEREF _Toc454542217 \h 29 Council funding for freshwater management PAGEREF _Toc454542218 \h 31 Iwi rights and interests in fresh water PAGEREF _Toc454542219 \h 33 Te Mana o te Wai in freshwater management PAGEREF _Toc454542220 \h 33 Iwi and hapū relationships with, and values for water bodies PAGEREF _Toc454542221 \h 35 Enabling iwi and councils to agree how to work together (Mana Whakahono a Rohe) PAGEREF _Toc454542222 \h 40 Water conservation orders PAGEREF _Toc454542223 \h 42 Implementation support PAGEREF _Toc454542224 \h 44 Water supply and sanitation for marae and papakāinga PAGEREF _Toc454542225 \h 46 Freshwater funding PAGEREF _Toc454542226 \h 48 Freshwater Improvement Fund PAGEREF _Toc454542227 \h 48 Other issues PAGEREF _Toc454542228 \h 53 Iwi rights and interests PAGEREF _Toc454542229 \h 53 Improving ‘swimmability’ PAGEREF _Toc454542230 \h 54 Urban water management PAGEREF _Toc454542231 \h 54 Allocation of freshwater resources PAGEREF _Toc454542232 \h 54 General overview Consultation on the Government’s Next Steps for Fresh Water consultation document opened on 20 February 2016, and ran for two months, closing on 22 April 2016. This consultation covered many proposals for reforming the existing National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) and the development of new policies on a broad range of related issues. During this time, a series of public meetings and hui were held across the country, and attended by approximately 1050 people. These public meetings helped provide valuable insight. Comments and issues raised in those meetings have been documented separately and will support further policy analysis. The Ministry received 3966 written submissions. About half of these were template submissions (2181) promoted by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society (Forest and Bird; 1877); the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand (Green Party; 295); and the Morgan Foundation (9). A combined submission was received from ActionStation, in collaboration with the Choose Clean Water Campaign, which included the views of 2376 individuals. In total, the views of 6,342 New Zealanders were received. Submissions from stakeholder groups included 14 from regional councils (including the unitary councils), 15 city and district councils, 40 iwi/Māori groups, 59 NGOs, 36 business, 20 primary industry groups, six electricity generators, seven universities/Crown research institutes and 23 other organisations (including health boards, the Land and Water Forum, and the Parliam

FAQs

When did the consultation on Next Steps for Fresh Water take place, and what did it cover?

The consultation opened on 20 February 2016 and ran for two months, closing on 22 April 2016. It covered proposals to reform the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) and the development of new policies on related issues.

How many submissions were received, and who submitted them?

A total of 3,966 written submissions were received. About half were template submissions promoted by environmental and political organisations and the Morgan Foundation, and a combined submission was also received through ActionStation with the Choose Clean Water Campaign.

What were the key themes across water quality, economics, and iwi involvement?

Themes included support for maintaining water quality and using Macroinvertebrate Community Index monitoring, mixed responses on significant infrastructure exceptions, and general support for stock exclusion with contested details. Economic topics included management practices, technical efficiency standards, and differing views on transfer and trade, while iwi-related topics highlighted support for Te Mana o te Wai and Mana Whakahono a Rohe alongside concerns about changes to water conservation orders and the level of engagement.

Sep 1, 2026

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