Keeping it Fresh: Reforms to National Direction for Freshwater
Keeping it Fresh: Reforms to National Direction for Freshwater
Friday 25 July, 2025
Package 3 of the Government’s proposed reform to national direction under the Resource Management Act 1991 focuses on freshwater. This package is a two staged process with the first being consultation on the various options available to achieve Government’s overarching goals for freshwater. The consultation will then inform the second stage of the process which will involve the release of exposure drafts with provisions for further comment.
This article focuses on options identified by Government, including:
- Re-introducing multiple objectives into the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM);
- Amending or removing the concept of Te Mana o te Wai from the NPS-FM; and
- Amending elements of the National Objectives Framework relating to freshwater.
The Government proposes to implement a combination of the above options to require councils to provide for a wider range of desirable outcomes in order to ‘rebalance’ the NPS-FM.
Re-introducing multiple NPS-FM objectives
The NPS-FM was amended in 2020 to impose a single objective that sets out a hierarchy of obligations that decision makers need to consider when making freshwater management decisions:
- First, the health and well-being of water bodies and freshwater ecosystems;
- Second, the health needs of people (such as drinking water);
- Third, the ability of people and communities to provide for their social, economic, and cultural well-being, now and in the future.
The Government believes councils are interpreting and applying this hierarchy to achieve pristine water quality first before allowing any other uses of water. The Government considers this interpretation to be inconsistent with its intentions. In order to ‘rebalance’ the NPS-FM, the Government is consulting on the option to replace the NPS-FM’s single objective with multiple new objectives, including:
- Safeguarding the life-supporting capacity of freshwater and the health of people and communities while enabling communities to provide for their wellbeing (consistent with the pre-2020 NPS-FM);
- Considering communities’ long-term goals for freshwater and the cost and pace of change to improve freshwater quality;
- Providing for domestic vegetable growing and water security;
- Maintaining or improving freshwater quality.
By removing the existing hierarchy and re-introducing multiple objectives, the Government wants to encourage councils to provide for multiple outcomes, better reflecting the interests of all water users.
Te Mana o te Wai
Te Mana o te Wai is a defined concept in the NPS-FM that refers to the fundamental importance of water. It includes a hierarchy of obligations which prioritises the health and wellbeing of water bodies and freshwater ecosystems, and six principles that set out the roles of tangata whenua and other New Zealanders in the management of freshwater. Te Mana o te Wai informs the rest of the NPS-FM and its implementation.
The Government is consulting on three options to rebalance Te Mana o te Wai:
- Removing the hierarchy of obligations and clarifying that Te Mana o te Wai does not apply to consenting decisions;
- Reinstating Te Mana o te Wai provisions from 2017; and
- Removing Te Mana o te Wai provisions entirely.
National Objectives Framework
The National Objectives Framework (NOF) provides a process for setting environmental limits at a catchment level based on values, attributes and targets. The Government is consulting on changes to the NOF on which values should be optional or compulsory, and which attributes and national bottom lines are critical for councils to manage and which could be more flexible.
After consultation on these options has concluded, further consultation will occur on the chosen options later this year. The selected options are expected to reveal more about the Government’s intended direction.
Stay tuned for the next article in this series on further proposed amendments to the freshwater national direction focusing on changes that will have the biggest impact on local authorities.
Consultation on the options proposed within Package 3 close on 27 July 2025. If you have any questions on Government’s proposed options to amend the national direction for freshwater, or would like assistance with providing feedback, please contact one of our team below.
