We began this journey in 2019 when the Minister for the Environment asked the Otago Regional Council to prepare a new Regional Policy Statement and Land and Water Plan. Previous planning rules and regulations were no longer deemed fit to provide protection for Otago’s waterways and surrounding environment.

Between 2020 and 2022 we engaged with our community around the visions and values people wanted for our waterways and the land affecting them in this new, more in-depth Plan. We also spoke with communities about actions that would help us reach positive environmental outcomes – these were that Otago's freshwater and land activities need to be:

• Healthy for plants, animals, and people and look after our region for future generations
• Safe for activities like swimming
• Beneficial for activities like fishing
• Sustainably managed; and
• Respectful of cultural and historical places

The structure for the new LWRP will follow the format prescribed by the National Planning Standards, which requires the new LWRP organised into three separate parts.

Part 1 of the LWRP will contain sections that outline how the plan works and should be interpreted. It will also provide an overview of relevant National Direction Instruments and will include a Tangata Whenua section.

Part 2 will include sections on the integrated management of resources and on the region-wide and area-specific provisions.

Finally, separate schedules, appendices and maps will be included in Part 3.

The Otago Regional Policy Statement (ORPS) gives us a framework to create policies and helps work out the priorities so we can make progress on significant resource management issues facing the region. You will sometimes see the Otago Regional Policy Statement referred to as "RPS". 

The Land and Water Regional Plan sets out provisions and rules to enable the freshwater vision set out in the ORPS.

The National Objectives Framework in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 sets out the process for all regional councils, with communities and tangata whenua, to manage freshwater in their regions.

National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020

Te Mana o te Wai – the vital importance and health of our water – is part of Otago’s collective well-being and future sustainability. The health of some of our waterways is excellent, but others need improving. This is important because Otago’s waterways support all life from threatened native fish, the mahika kai we collect and the swimming holes we love, to how we earn our living and enjoy clean groundwater. 

Te Mana o te Wai is about respecting and looking after the water, so the water can look after you. It also recognises that mana whenua, councils, water users and the wider community all have a role in managing freshwater. 

The new Land and Water Plan will be based on a whole-of-catchment approach – ki uta ki tai – that is consistent with Te Mana o te Wai and prioritises the health and well-being of waterbodies. 

Ki uta ki tai | From the mountains to the sea 

Regional Councils are required to involve communities and Tangata Whenua when developing the land and water regional plan.

In the first round of community engagement, we wanted to find out which waterbodies (lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands) are most important to Otago communities, what people value most about them, and what characteristics of waterbodies matter most. More than 560 people gave feedback, with the strongest values being: 

• water quality
• non-contact recreation such as walking, camping and sightseeing
• swimming
• water take/use

Other values included:

• fishing
• aquatic species
• threatened species
• habitat
• ecosystems
• river flow
• lake level
• natural character
• wetlands
• groundwater

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback or came along to one of the community meetings to tell us what you want for land and water resources in our region.

Between October 25 and December 8 2022, we returned to the community presenting options for managing water and land in your FMU or rohe and achieving the things you value about waterways in your area. 

Information was shared with you about the current state of your rivers and waterways 

We also discussed possible environmental outcomes for the waterways in your area, the actions needed to get there, as well as the Government's national approach. 

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback or came along to one of the community meetings to tell us what you want for land and water resources in our region. 

In the final round of community consultation, we went back to communities across Otago to discuss region-wide proposed new rules and regulations on a variety of topics, including: 

• beds of lakes and rivers 
• damming and diversion 
• earthworks and drilling 
• environmental flows and limits (water quantity) 
• other discharges 
• primary production 
• stormwater management 
• threatened species 
• solid waste management 
• wastewater management 
• wetlands 

Some new rules and regulations for individual FMUs/rohe were also proposed. 

These included: 

• environmental outcomes 
• target attribute states
• FMU/rohe provisions
• environmental flows and levels and limits on take, diversion and damming of water
• lakes
• river catchments 

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback or came along to one of the community drop-ins to tell us what you want for land and water resources in our region.