A water conservation order is a legal ruling to protect aspects of water bodies. It may be to protect the quantity of the water itself or for any issues relating to the water body as a whole.

New Zealand

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, a Water Conservation Order is used to protect the natural, cultural and recreational values of any water body. Water Conservation Orders came about as a result of lobbying by a group of stakeholders in the late seventies. At that time rivers were managed through the Water & Soil Conservation Act, which was administered by an appointed statutory body (NWASCA) serviced by the Ministry of Works. The engineers of the Ministry of Works argued that there was no need to legislate further as the Act contained provision for setting Minimum Flows. There are currently 15 separate Water Conservation Orders: *

Ahuriri River The Ahuriri River is a river in the Canterbury and Otago Regions of the South Island of New Zealand. The headwaters are on the eastern flanks of the Southern Alps. The river flows for through the southernmost part of the Mackenzie Basin befo ...

* Buller River * Grey River *

Kawarau River The Kawarau River is a river in the South Island of New Zealand. It drains Lake Wakatipu in northwestern Otago via the lake's Frankton Arm. The river flows generally eastwards for about and passes through the steep Kawarau Gorge until it join ...

Lake Wairarapa Lake Wairarapa is a lake at the southern end of the North Island of New Zealand, east of Wellington. The lake covers an area of , and at its deepest is . It is the third largest in the North Island, fractionally smaller than Lake Rotorua. The ...

* Manganuioteao River *

Mataura River The Mataura River is in the Southland Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is long. Description The river's headwaters are located in the Eyre Mountains to the south of Lake Wakatipu. From there it flows southeast towards Gore, whe ...

Mohaka River The Mohaka river is on the North Island of New Zealand in the east central region of Hawke’s Bay. Mohaka is a Māori language, Maori word, roughly translated it means “place for dancing”. The iwi (Māori tribes) associated with the Mohaka Ri ...

Motueka River The Motueka River is located in the north of the South Island of New Zealand and is a popular tourist destination for watersports and fishing. The Motueka flows from the mountains 40 km west of the city of Nelson in the southeast of the ca ...

* Mōtū River *

Ōreti River The Ōreti River (formerly the Oreti River) is one of the main rivers of Southland, New Zealand, and is long. The river has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because, for much of its length, it supports bree ...

Rakaia River The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island. The Rakaia River is one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand. The Rakaia River has a mean flow of and a mean annual seven-day low flow of . In the 1850s, Euro ...

Rangitata River The Rangitata River is one of the braided rivers that helped form the Canterbury Plains in southern New Zealand. It flows southeast for from the Southern Alps (New Zealand), Southern Alps, entering the Pacific Ocean northeast of Timaru. The riv ...

Rangitīkei River The Rangitīkei River is one of New Zealand's longest rivers, long. Its headwaters are to the southeast of Lake Taupō in the Kaimanawa Ranges. It flows from the Central Plateau south past Taihape, Mangaweka, Hunterville, Marton, and Bu ...

* Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere A water conservation order has been proposed for the Hurunui River in the South Island. Irrigation New Zealand, the national body representing agricultural irrigators and the irrigation industry, opposes water conservation orders. Irrigation NZ considers they no longer have relevance, they lock up the water resource and they may bankrupt the nation.

References

External links

Water Conservation Orders
New Zealand Recreational Canoeing Association web pages describing New Zealand water conservation orders.
Water Conservation Orders
Environmental Defence Society RMA Guide web page. Water law Environmental policy in New Zealand Water and the environment Water in New Zealand {{environment-stub