Farmers were concerned this would affect their ability to have water for stock, the council’s strategic planning manager David Wilson said.
“It is a permitted activity to take water for stock. People said at the meetings they were worried we were going to take that off them, but for normal stock it is fine,” Mr Wilson said.
“However, if people want to take more than 10 cubic metres a day for watering stock then they need a permit.”
Rules are also in place to restrict stock grazing to within five metres of rivers, and 10 around the “significant water bodies” identified in the plan.
This includes the Te Arai Headwaters, Urukokomuka Stream, Lake Repongaere, the Motu River and the Ruakituri River.
Other rules would not be enforced until water permits expired because it would be unfair to implement them now, he said.
Time to collate informationFor example people taking water from aquifers on the Poverty Bay Flats would not need to complete the new irrigation management plans until 2018 at the earliest, when permits came up for renewal, to allow time to collate the information.
Other types of organisations would also be required to complete plans around things such as waste management and cropping.
The FWP was designed to stop water quality getting worse and water quantity declining further in the region, Mr Wilson said.
Non-regulatory projects such as the Gisborne Urban Stormwater Management and the Waipaoa River Fish Passage Enhancement can improve conditions in certain areas.
“The policy can only do so much. You need to have tangible projects that are going to achieve the outcomes the plan sets.”
Gisborne people were involved in water restoration projects without the help of the council, which was fantastic, he said.
This included the Uawanui Sustainability Project in Tolaga Bay, where the community was working to restore the Uawa River, and further up the coast at Te Araroa.
“That is work done by the community, not something that has come out of the plan. They are already out there doing it.”
Five years in the makingThe plan took over five years to compile and it was a huge collaborative effort from the community, Mr Wilson said.
A Fresh Water Advisory Group, with 20 stakeholders from organisations and groups such as the Department of Conservation, Federated Farmers, iwi, Cedenco, Leaderbrand and Fish and Game, helped create it.
Mr Wilson said on the whole, the advisory group was happy with how it turned out but some members would make submissions.
The fresh water management team hoped to have a summary of the public submissions completed by the end of January.
Commissioners would then be appointed to hear from submitters at a hearing and would make decisions on what stays in the plan and what comes out.
Submissions can be made on the GDC website.
To learn more about the fresh water plan, go to www.gdc.govt.nz/gisborne-regional-freshwater-plan/
