View the minor corrections in the Operative Natural Resources Regional Plan >>
Water is a vital resource to all of Canterbury. Rivers and lakes are home to many species of birds and fish, some unique to the region. To Ngāi Tahu, water is a taonga, a treasure left by ancestors to provide and sustain life. The region's water resources are used for a wide range of recreational activities, as a source of food, for irrigation, industry and community and stock water supplies. Managing the competition for water between these different needs and demands is the primary focus of this chapter.
Chapter 5 of the Natural Resources Regional Plan (NRRP) deals with five major water management topics:
- The strategic protection of some highly valued natural water bodies;
- Setting flow and/or level regimes for the management of rivers, lakes and groundwater to protect instream/intrinsic values;
- The management of vegetation change to maintain surface flows and instream values;
- The allocation of water above any set flow or level regime to out-of-stream/consumptive uses, and its efficient use;
- Water storage, augmentation and/or transfer.