Freshwater national direction

Te Mana o te Wai in the NPS-FM is a defined concept that refers to the fundamental importance of water. It includes a hierarchy of obligations that prioritises the health and well-being of water bodies and freshwater ecosystems, and a set of principles that describe the role of people in the management of freshwater.¹¹ Various provisions in the NPS-FM then refer to this defined concept and set out processes for how councils should apply it – for example, by actively involving tangata whenua in freshwater management.¹²

^{11 Refer to clause 1.3 of the NPS-FM.}

^{12 Refer to Policy 1 in clause 2.2, and to clause 3.2 of the NPS-FM for examples of provisions referring to the concept of Te Mana o te Wai.}

The proposal in the previous section to include multiple objectives in the NPS-FM is a key part of options to rebalance Te Mana o te Wai. We are consulting on three additional options to rebalance Te Mana o te Wai, as set out below.

Option 1: Remove hierarchy of obligations and clarify how Te Mana o te Wai applies

This option would amend the concept described in clause 1.3 of the NPS-FM and provisions referring to Te Mana o te Wai, to:

• remove the hierarchy of obligations
• clarify that for the purposes of the NPS-FM (and councils needing to ‘have regard’ to it in consent decision-making), Te Mana o te Wai does not apply to consenting decisions and that progressive improvement over time is allowed
• retain process steps for councils to apply Te Mana o te Wai – for example, by actively involving tangata whenua in freshwater management.

Option 2: Reinstate Te Mana o te Wai provisions from 2017  

This option would remove the concept described in clause 1.3 and provisions referring to Te Mana o te Wai, and instead reintroduce provisions from the 2017 NPS-FM.¹³

^{13 See page 7 and Part AA of the 2017 version of the NPS-FM.}

Option 3: Remove Te Mana o te Wai provisions 

This option would completely remove the concept described in clause 1.3 and provisions referring to Te Mana o te Wai.

For further information on this topic, refer to the impact analysis document entitled Interim Regulatory Impact Statement: Replacing the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.