We work to protect and enhance the mauri and special values of all Waitaha Canterbury's waterways by monitoring water quality and quantity and restricting activity where necessary to ensure that these values are upheld.

Several of our waterways have been given additional protection through a water conservation order (WCO). As a regional council, we are required to ensure that all our plans and policies are consistent with WCOs.

What the WCOs protect

The four WCOs in Canterbury contain details on the specific attributes of the waterway that are given special protection and how they will be protected.

The WCO identifies:

  • the specific outstanding natural characteristics (for example braided rivers, wetlands, estuaries) 
  • outstanding wildlife habitat above and below
  • outstanding fisheries
  • outstanding recreational, angling, and jet boating features.

Canterbury has four waterways subject to water conservation orders:

Rakaia River

Read about the Rakaia WCO and water balance model.

Rangitata River

Read about the Rangitata WCO and how it affects water abstraction.

Ahuriri River

Read about the Ahuriri WCO on the Ministry for the Environment website.

Te Waihora / Lake Ellesmere

Read about the Te Waihora / Lake Ellesmere WCO on the Ministry for the Environment website.

How our water management strategy reflects the WCOs

When the Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) was first developed in 2009, the agencies involved ensured that the targets and goals in the strategy were consistent with the WCOs. 

The CWMS principles include a commitment to preserving and enhancing the natural character of Canterbury’s rivers, streams, lakes, groundwater and wetlands through the following:

  • Natural flow regimes of rivers are maintained and, where they have been adversely affected by takes, enhanced where possible the dynamic processes of Canterbury’s braided rivers define their character and are protected.
  • Environmental flow regimes are established for every waterway where abstraction occurs.
  • The restoration of natural character and biodiversity, is a priority for degraded waterways, particularly lowland streams and lowland catchments.
  • The interdependence of waterways and coastal ecosystems is recognised.

The CWMS targets, adopted in 2010, contained several goals for protecting the natural character of our braided rivers, including: 

  • Maintain the braided character of all Canterbury’s braided rivers.
  • Identifying where environmental flows do not include flood peaks, flow variability, flood periodicity, and channel forming flows, and implementing actions to rectify them.

We have also developed guidelines for assessing the natural character of braided rivers (PDF file, 1.27MB), which make the process of applying for, and assessing resource consents around braided rivers simpler, more consistent and more efficient.

WCOs, consents and compliance

When we issue a resource consent for an activity on a waterbody subject to a WCO, we place conditions to ensure that the protected values are not impacted.

Each of the three WCOs affecting braided rivers specifies minimum flow conditions, which are attached to all consents to take and use surface water connected to that waterbody. These ensure that no consented water is taken when natural river flows drop below a certain level, with some exceptions for drinking water. Consents typically also include limits to the daily and/or annual volume of water that can be abstracted.

We monitor compliance with these consent conditions through our water metering programme.

All water users with a consent to take water at a rate of 20 litres per second or more, are required to have an electronic data logger and telemetry unit attached to their water take. This unit records water use at 15-minute intervals and submits data to us daily.

From 3 September 2024, that requirement will be extended to water users with a consent to take water at a rate of 10 litres per second or more.