5. A national objectives framework

This illustration shows both the framework and process for a National Objectives Framework. It shows all the stages involved in communities using the framework including deciding on limits through to deciding if the regime is achievable. If it is not achievable it illustrates the process for reconsidering values or bands.

The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2011 requires councils to set freshwater objectives and limits in their regional plans.

‘Freshwater objectives’ are the intended environmental outcomes for a water body that will provide for the values the community considers important. Freshwater objectives need to be set for each water body, taking into account local and national values and aspirations and its existing condition. ‘Limits’ to use are derived from the specified freshwater objectives for each catchment and refer to the total amount of water that can be taken out of a freshwater body, or of contaminants that can be discharged into it without jeopardising the desired outcomes. Limits are a necessary instrument to achieve freshwater objectives, as part of a wider toolbox that also includes mitigation actions, such as riparian planting. Where limits could have an impact on existing uses, adequate adjustment timeframes must be introduced.

Greater central government direction is needed around the approach, methods and processes to be used under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2011. This will contribute to focussing discussion on community values and the impacts of decisions. Having national understanding about what state of water is needed to provide for a particular value reduces the potential for the same technical issues to be argued, at high cost, every time a plan is prepared. A national framework will also ensure that the best science is applied across the country, that iwi values are understood and considered appropriately, and that freshwater objectives and limits are set in a consistent and well-targeted way. Regional councils and unitary authorities will be able to set effective freshwater objectives and limits reflecting national and community values and aspirations in a nationally-consistent way.

The Government proposes to:

• establish a regulated National Objectives Framework to support regions to set freshwater objectives and limits
• require freshwater objectives and limits to be set in an integrated way, allowing for the impacts of limits and adjustment timeframes to be well understood and factored into decision-making
• include a set of values a water body can be managed for with associated minimum states (eg, minimum states for bacterial contamination when a river is managed for swimming)
• require that all water bodies meet the minimum state for ecosystem health and human health for secondary contact, effectively establishing some national bottom lines
• provide further direction and guidance on additional elements of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2011
• make improvements to part of the process for Water Conservation Orders.

The concept of a National Objectives Framework, including some national bottom lines and direction and guidance on setting freshwater objectives and limits, was a key aspect of the Land and Water Forum’s recommendations. This concept has been further developed by an officials-led National Objectives Framework Reference Group.

The illustration at the end of this document sets out how the National Objectives Framework would work in practice. It emphasises the iterative process needed when communities, iwi/Māori and councils are setting freshwater objectives and limits, with full consideration of the impacts of their decisions.

Setting freshwater objectives and limits

Reform 3: A National Objectives Framework

A National Objectives Framework will have a standard list of possible values for which a particular freshwater body could be managed, such as swimming, fishing or irrigation. While the actual values chosen for each freshwater body would be a local decision, the minimum states that apply to those values will be set at a national level through the framework. The framework incorporates the consideration of tangata whenua values, consistent with the Mana Atua Mana Tangata Framework (refer to Appendix A).

The National Objectives Framework will have a range of values, two of which will apply to all water bodies (ie, ecosystem health and human health for secondary contact). For each value and attributes the minimum states will be described.

Fully populating a National Objectives Framework for every value and water body type is not possible today. It will be populated progressively over time as information becomes available. It may also change over time as science evolves and our understanding improves.

As an example, the table below identifies values and related attributes that could be included in a National Objectives Framework.

National Objectives Framework – values and related attributes (river example)

The framework will:

• specify which quality and quantity attributes of the freshwater body would need to be managed to allow for that value to be provided for
• for each attribute, provide a series of ‘bands’ – for example, A, B, C or D which represent a range of environmental states. A region may choose to manage to band A, B or C (ie, to maintain or improve) depending on the local context and on national and community aspirations. Choosing D would not be acceptable
• for each band, the framework will specify where possible, the minimum acceptable state. For example, band C for E. coli bacteria concentrations for swimming could be between 260/100mL and 550/100mL. Where it is not possible to specify numeric states nationally, the framework would direct regional councils and unitary authorities to determine these numbers at a regional level
• allow for tangata whenua values to inform decision-making, using the Mana Atua Mana Tangata Framework which shows the relationship between tangata whenua values and the values identified in the preamble of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management
• allow regionally-decided timeframes for management.

The Land and Water Forum recommended enhancing and giving greater clarity to the minimum environmental state required by the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management. The National Objectives Framework would include a subset of values (as identified in the table above) applicable to all freshwater bodies, creating a limited number of national bottom lines. In other words, for these values there will be a set of minimum acceptable environmental states, and no freshwater body (apart from justified exceptions) may be managed with the aim of falling below that level.

The subset of values that apply nationally to all water bodies would be:

• ecosystem health and general protection for indigenous species
• human health for secondary contact.

How will it work?

Regional councils and unitary authorities will use the framework when engaging with iwi/Māori and communities to set freshwater objectives and limits in plans. The framework is designed to support these discussions by allowing for the consideration of all potential values of water (including those of iwi/Māori) and their requirements.

Councils, iwi and communities will consider which of the values in the framework are relevant for a particular freshwater body, the relevant attributes that will need to be managed, and to which band. The specific combination of values for a particular water body will determine the freshwater objectives needed in the plan. The council will then consider the potential management options and determine the discharge and take limits required to meet those freshwater objectives.

It is important that all impacts – environmental, cultural and economic – of different choices are well understood before final decisions are made. For example, robust economic analysis is required during the regional planning process so that communities can balance the costs and benefits of the various choices. The framework will require regional councils to consider the impacts and feasibility of those freshwater objectives when setting them in a plan, such as what limits would need to be set to achieve them, the cost and availability of mitigation measures where the freshwater objective or limit is not currently being met, and timeframes for adjustment.

How will it be implemented?

The National Objectives Framework will be implemented through regulation. This is likely to involve adding to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2011, or it may be given effect through a new regulatory instrument.

To implement the National Objectives Framework, changes will be required to section 69 of the Resource Management Act (RMA), which deals with rules about water quality, and schedule 3 will need to be removed – this lists water quality classes. National policy statement provisions in the RMA will also need to be amended to ensure the framework can be added to over time, and implemented as intended.

Your views are being sought on the concept of a National Objectives Framework. If we proceed with a National Objectives Framework we will seek further comment on the finer details of a full framework as part of the NPS process.

In particular, the work begun by the National Objectives Framework Reference Group that considered possible numbers and/or narratives for each attribute to be managed will be developed further. Consultation on a National Objectives Framework would occur mid-2013.

Significantly more scientific work is needed for some water quality attributes to support effective freshwater objective and limit setting at national and regional scales. The framework will need to be adaptable, so it can be extended and updated as science evolves. The programme for changes to the framework will need to be scheduled so regional councils and unitary authorities know what is coming. They will need guidance during the transition to the new regime.

Reform 4: Further national direction and guidance on setting freshwater objectives and limits

It is important that, beyond the National Objectives Framework, councils and communities have a clear understanding of what is expected of them when setting freshwater objectives and limits. To that end, central government will provide further regulation and guidance.

Amendments will be made to the RMA to give central government the power to provide for regulations on these matters, should that be necessary in the future.

Guidance and direction will be developed by central government working alongside councils over the next three years. It will focus on:

• how to give effect to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management’s requirement to maintain or improve overall water quality within a region
• how to give effect to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management’s requirement for outstanding freshwater bodies and significant values of wetlands to be identified and protected
• how to determine the appropriate mix of limits and other management options for achieving freshwater objectives set in plans
• methodologies for deriving the numeric limits needed to achieve freshwater objectives set in plans
• how to determine achievable and acceptable adjustment timeframes, and pathways where improvement is needed
• how freshwater objectives and limits should be expressed in planning documents to ensure they are effective and enforceable
• clear national expectations for monitoring and reporting.

Reform 5: Improving the process for Water Conservation Orders

Water Conservation Orders are a mechanism, under the RMA for protecting freshwater bodies that have outstanding amenity or intrinsic values. Freshwater objectives and limits to provide for those outstanding values are set through the Water Conservation Order.

The Government intends to improve the current process for Water Conservation Orders, to reduce costs and timeframes for decision-making on new orders and amendments, and to achieve better alignment with the other reforms outlined in this paper. Proposed changes are:

• providing clear circumstances in which the responsible Minister might refer an application to a regional council or unitary authority, or put it on hold. For example, if a regional council advises that the matters the application covers are being (or will be) considered through a regional planning process
• aligning the process with board of inquiry processes for matters of national significance. For example, have similar appointment provisions and/or only allow appeals on points of law
• requiring a clear scope for the application to be established at the beginning of the process and prevent changes to that scope once consideration is underway
• requiring Water Conservation Order processes to involve iwi and ensure that tangata whenua values and interests are considered in decision-making.

Benefits of these reforms

The National Objectives Framework will facilitate more transparent, informed and focused discussion about the different values for which freshwater bodies could be managed. It allows for greater flexibility in the choices of freshwater objectives that are set in regional planning documents.

The framework will reduce costs when developing regional planning documents to implement the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2011. Savings will result from some aspects being sorted out once at national level, rather than every council having to work through the aspects.

A nationally-consistent framework does not in itself impose costs. Costs may arise from the choices communities make. Regions and local communities will need to think through and decide upon the management regimes and tools and the timeframes in which they will achieve the freshwater objectives and limits.

Incorporating national bottom lines will bring additional benefits including:

• clarity that freshwater bodies should not reach a state that puts them in danger of going over a major tipping point, causing change which may be impossible or highly expensive to reverse
• reduced risks to human health from freshwater recreational activities
• clarity about the minimum level of clean up required if the state of a freshwater body is already below a national bottom-line.

Challenges of these reforms

The challenge in establishing a National Objectives Framework is that it is not possible to fully populate it today. The information is not currently available to support the full range of values communities want to engage on. For example, sediment is a major contaminant that needs to be managed but further work is needed to fully understand the effect different levels of contamination have on different values across the full range of water body types.

It is expected that parts of the framework will be populated over time as the science and understanding develops and that the performance of the National Objectives Framework be monitored and evaluated to ensure it is delivering the outcomes desired by communities.

The state of water in some catchments may already be below the minimum acceptable state for desired values. Where a freshwater body is below the minimum acceptable state it would need to be improved over time. There is no proposal to set a deadline at the national level for when minimum states must be met. It is more important for the focus to be on choosing regionally-appropriate improvement pathways and timeframes to minimise costs to resource users and communities.

Effective and enforceable limits cannot be set in the absence of a clear understanding of the desired state of the water body that needs to be achieved – the freshwater objective setting process is a critical first step. Although the full set of information to populate a National Objectives Framework isn’t available yet, it is important and possible to start the process in 2013 so that communities are clear on the national bottom lines and can start having conversations about any other aspirations they have for particular water bodies. Providing a clear path for further population of the framework will be critical, alongside guidance for councils on how to approach planning processes while the framework is expanded and additional guidance developed. This will enable councils to focus their efforts on the science and information that is needed for local decision-making, such as understanding existing takes and discharges, as well as the existing state of water bodies.

Any approach that sets limits to resource use may result in adjustment costs in some catchments. Meeting limits may, for example, require more efficient resource use, tighter regulatory controls, changes in existing land-use practice (including improved management of farming systems) and a limited amount of land-use change in some catchments.

Officials are undertaking analysis in a range of catchments to quantify the potential economic impacts of meeting various freshwater objectives that might be set in plans.

Reform phasing