Bryan Jenkins

Application of sustainability appraisal to the Canterbury Water Management Strategy

In Canterbury, water management presents a particular challenge with regard to resource availability and quality, and the impact of intensification of land use and changing forms of agriculture. These issues have led to the development of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy, which identifies a number of options to resolve them. A sustainability appraisal of the options with respect to their contribution to sustainability outcomes illustrates the potential of taking a strategic approach to problem solving in the context of complexity and uncertainty. This article describes the application of a method of sustainability appraisal that is based on international developments but adapted to the New Zealand resource management framework. The approach defined a sustainability bottom line and desired sustainability outcomes, and demonstrated that: (1) the status quo was not sustainable; (2) a strategy based on new infrastructure projects met economic criteria but not environmental criteria; (3) advancing environmental protection with a moratorium on new development met environmental criteria but not economic criteria; and (4) for a sustainable outcome across all criteria, existing water and land use needed to be improved and parallel development of new infrastructure and proactive programs for environmental restoration needed to be implemented.

New Zealand Water Pricing

Methods of charging, water use, and cost comparisons were made for municipal, irrigation, and hydropower generation uses of water. For municipal use, city size and water metering influenced per capita use, with larger cities and metered use being associated with lower per capita use. Drinking water quality (for smaller councils), demand management (for growing cities), and long-term asset management are the developing issues for municipal water supply. For irrigation, the cost of entitlements related to the age of the scheme (older schemes with capital paid off had lower costs), recent capital investment, and operating costs. Investment in irrigation schemes was being undertaken to improve reliability of supply (through storage) and water use efficiency (through conversion of flood to spray irrigation and replacing open distribution channels with pipes). Water used for hydropower generation was driven by electricity markets. Water values were imputed with rivers with multiple hydro stations, capturing more of the head in the river system having higher values.

Sustainability analysis of the management approach for six New Zealand lakes

Abstract Jenkins B. 2016. Sustainability analysis of the management approach for six New Zealand lakes. Lake Reserv Manage. 32:101–115. This paper describes a methodology for sustainability analysis based on failure pathways that can lead to the loss of system sustainability. For these failure pathways, critical variables can be identified by threshold values that define when the system changes from its sustainable state. The methodology also considers any management interventions being undertaken to address failure pathways and whether the extent of intervention is adequate to ensure the critical variables for the failure pathways remain below their threshold values. This methodology was then applied to the current management approaches for 6 New Zealand lakes: Lake Taupo, Lake Brunner, Lake Rotorua, Lake Omapere, Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, and Waituna Lagoon. Although diffuse nutrient pollution from land use intensification is affecting water quality of all of the lakes, the analysis identifies different failure pathways and different critical variables, implying the need for different management interventions to achieve desired water quality outcomes. Overall findings were (1) that all lakes will require reductions in land use intensification in their catchments to achieve sustainable water quality; (2) there is evidence of positive innovations that could potentially improve water quality; and (3) the level of management intervention is insufficient to achieve the desired water quality objectives for the lakes.

The Development of Environmental Criteria in a Risk Management Framework

A general framework is presented to show how environmental criteria can be developed consistent with the risk management concepts in recent national approaches to water quality, air quality and site contamination. The framework identifies three types of criteria:—investigation levels, environmental standards and pollution limits. The criteria are related to three practical interpretations of the precautionary principle. Examples are given of the implementation of these national approaches in Western Australia using this general framework. This has required the national policies to be supplemented with additional criteria so that a consistent approach to applying environmental criteria in a risk management context can be achieved.

Water Management in Canterbury

Water is significant to the Canterbury region both in terms of high and on-going irrigation demand, and, the implications of water extraction and use on the sustainability of its rivers, aquifers and aquatic ecology. There was a need for a paradigm shift in the approach to water management as the RMA processes were found to be inadequate to manage resources at sustainability limits. Strategic studies evolved from a technical investigation of future demand with a focus on additional water storage to a collaborative process for the development on an integrated water management strategy – the Canterbury Water Management Strategy . The implementation of the strategy is still in progress. The strategy is based on ten target areas identified by the community engagement process as the main uses and benefits of water in the Canterbury region. A collaborative governance framework has been established for developing implementation programmes for ten water management zones and for the region.

Sustainable water management analysis using nested adaptive systems

The paper uses the approach of “nested adaptive systems” to establish an operational definition of sustainable management of three significant issues in the Waimakariri catchment of the South Island of New Zealand: availability of water for irrigation, public water supply for Christchurch urban area, and gravel extraction from the bed of the Waimakariri River. Different spatial scales were determined for sustainability analysis. Using the adaptive cycle of exploitation, accumulation, disturbance/release and reorganisation, critical variables for maintaining the resilience of each system and the thresholds for management interventions to achieve sustainable systems were identified. Also crucial for sustainability was the maintenance of the linkages between the different spatial scales.