Proposed Values
Upper Awatere River
What are values?
Values are what is important to you about freshwater.
Understanding what these values are is one of the first steps in ensuring the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan (PMEP) provides for these freshwater values under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (NPSFM).
The NPSFM identifies four compulsory values which must apply to all Freshwater Management Units (FMUs) and Council must assess whether another nine values listed in the NPSFM also apply (see the table below).
Additional values can also be identified by communities and tangata whenua.
Value | Type of Value |
|---|---|
Ecosystem health – includes values which apply to each of the 5 biophysical components of ecosystem health. | Compulsory |
Human contact | Compulsory |
Threatened species | Compulsory |
Mahinga kai | Compulsory |
Natural form and character | Must be considered |
Drinking water supply | Must be considered |
Wai tapu | Must be considered |
Transport and tauranga waka | Must be considered |
Fishing | Must be considered |
Hydro-electric power generation | Must be considered |
Animal drinking water | Must be considered |
Irrigation, cultivation, and production of food and beverages | Must be considered |
Commercial and industrial use | Must be considered |
See Appendix 1A and 1B of the NPSFM for further details on these values.
The NPSFM recognises Māori approach freshwater management in a different way. Council is working with the nine tangata whenua Iwi within Marlborough to identify specific Māori freshwater values. These values will also be incorporated into the council’s planning and decision-making processes to ensure they are provided for.
What have we heard so far from the community?
In our first round of community engagement, we asked what you valued about freshwater and received almost 400 comments relating to values. Around 20% of these were values applied across the whole Marlborough region, an additional 9% related specifically to the Awatere FMU.
Combining these values with existing values, for example with those recognised in the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan, other sources of information relating to values and active restoration projects, fourteen key values have been identified by the community so far for the Awatere FMU.
- Ecosystem Health – Five biophysical factors contribute to freshwater ecosystem health, and it is necessary that all of them are managed. They are water quality, water quantity, habitat, aquatic life, ecological processes. In a healthy freshwater ecosystem, all five biophysical components are suitable to sustain the indigenous aquatic life expected in the absence of human disturbance or alteration (before providing for other values).
- Human Contact – Waterbodies support people being able to connect with the water through a range of activities, particularly near the State Highway 1 bridge, including swimming, and a limited amount of kayaking and jet boating, when flows or levels are suitable.
- Threatened Species – Critical habitats and ecosystem health necessary to support the presence, abundance, survival, and recovery of a population threatened species. Species specifically identified for the Awatere FMU – further information to come.
- Mahinga Kai – Kai is safe to harvest and eat and the mauri of the place is intact. Mahinga kai generally refers to freshwater species that have traditionally been used as food, tools, or other resources. It also refers to the places those species are found and to the act of catching or harvesting them. Customary resources are available for use, with customary practices able to be exercised to the extent desired, and tikanga and preferred methods able to be practised. Transfer of knowledge can occur about the preparation, storage and cooking of kai.
- Natural form and character – The very high natural character of the Upper Awatere River. Natural form and character being the degree of naturalness and natural qualities that people value which includes the natural elements, patterns, process and experiential attributes of an environment.
- Drinking Water – Black Birch Stream water quality and quantity are sufficient for water to be taken and used for drinking water supply.
- Fishing – Whitebaiting at the mouth of the Awatere River.
- Animal Drinking Water – Water quality and quantity meets the needs of farmed animals, including being palatable and safe.
- Irrigation / Cultivation / Production of Food and Beverages – Water quantity is suitable for irrigation needs, including supporting the cultivation of food and beverage crops, the production of food from farmed animals, non-food crops such as fibre, and pasture.
- Commercial Use – Black Birch Stream water quality and quantity can provide for commercial activities providing economic opportunities for people and business.
- Recreation and Amenity – The Upper Awatere Valley and the Awatere River high amenity landscape is valued, including the Rangitahi / Molesworth Recreational Reserve. Access to Tapuae-O-Uenuku via the Hodder River is maintained. Recreational activities can take place adjacent to waterways, that do not involve direct water immersion, including walking, biking, picnicking, camping, and four-wheel driving.
- Water Storage – The ability to store water extracted from rivers provides a means to improve water quality through settlement and enable use through irrigation of crops during times of low flows and dry conditions.
- Gravel Management – Gravel is available and valued as a resource for the construction and maintenance of roads and use by other industries.
- Fossil Hunting / Geology – Where exposures are located within waterways there is opportunity to explore and investigate, subject to landowner permission if access over private land is required.
The second round of engagement sort to confirm these values and ensure that there were no other values that needed to be identified. The freshwater policy team will use this second round of feedback to firm up each FMUs community freshwater values.
Next steps
Geology along the Awatere River – Papa mudstones overlain by river alluvium and loess deposits
In order to provide for the values identified there are several other steps that we need to take;
1. Linking each value with an environmental outcome.
An environmental outcome is what success looks like for a value. If an environmental outcome is reached and/or maintained, then a value is being provided for successfully. For information on environmental outcomes and to see what we have proposed for the Awatere FMU see below:
Go to the Awatere FMU Proposed Environmental Outcomes page
2. Assign a way to measure how successfully each value is being provided for.
We can do this using a measurable characteristic known as an attribute. These measures or attributes can be numerical or narrative or a combination of both. There can be multiple measures or attributes for a single value and different values may share some attributes.
By measuring and monitoring these attributes against targets we can track our progress towards its environmental outcome.
Like values, the NPSFM provides some compulsory attributes that must be measured in Appendix 2A and B, but other attributes may also be identified.
Council is currently working on identify these other attributes.
