Chapter Five: Application of equitable utilization and minimisation principles at the federal level
6.2 Waikato River basin
The Waikato Region is one of sixteen regions in New Zealand. The Region is worthy regarding water resources because rivers and streams exceed 16,000 km and the Waikato River is one of them.782 With a 14,260 km2 catchment area and 425 km2 long, the Waikato River is listed as the longest river in New Zealand. This area is equal to 12% of the total land of the North Island. The river begins in the middle of North Island near Mount Ruapehu, which is 2797 m higher than the sea level. The River then flows to Lake Taupo. Eight major dams were built from the source of the River to Hamilton city. The River then leaves the city and flows north eventually entering the Tasman Sea.783 Map (5) illustrates the River’s long journey from the mountain to the sea.
The Waikato River basin has an interesting condition from a topographic perspective because the basin contains small tributaries. All of these tributaries form small watersheds or catchments that compose a large Waikato watershed.784 The landscape of the basin has been changed through the decades due to developing agriculture and urbanization. These changes and the dams participated in losing the great culture and heritage of the River basin.785 The changes have negatively influenced the cultural, social, and spiritual circumstances of many iwi (tribes) and hapū (subtribes) in the basin. As the Waikato River basin covers large areas and connects many iwi and hapū,
782 See Waikato Regional Council Overview of River and Catchment Services – Waikato Region (River &
Catchment Services Group, 2011).
783 Waikato Regional Council, above n 47.
784 Karrie Lynn Pennington and Thomas V Cech Introduction to water resources and environmental issues (Cambridge University Press, 2021) at 12.
785 Coleen A Fox and others “The river is us; the river is in our veins”: re-defining river restoration in three Indigenous communities” (2017) 12(4) Sustainability Science at 224.
any change of the River influences many of them.786
The map (5) shows the Waikato River basin in New Zealand787
The River has a very special cultural and spiritual significance for Waikato-Tainui, one of the tribes of indigenous Māori people in New Zealand. Māori, as the natives in the country, comprised 875,300 people among the five million New Zealand population in June 2021.788 It means they are about 17.1 per cent of the total population. The Waikato River is considered as a tūpuna (ancestor) for the Waikato-Tainui tribe ‘which has mana (prestige) and in turn, represents the mana and mauri (life force)’ for them.789 The River has considerable cultural value for Māori. Therefore, any proposal or legal legislation for managing the river without considering the Māori vision will be insufficient.790 However, Māori have been excluded from water resource management, including the
786 See Paul Moon The Waikato: A History of New Zealand's Greatest River (Atuanui Press, New Zealand, 2018).
787 Fox and others, above n 785.
788 Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa “Māori population estimates: At 30 June 2021” (2021)
<https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/maori-population-estimates-at-30-june-2021>.
789 Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claims (Waikato River) Settlement Act 2010 at Preamble.
790 Te Aho, above n 213.
Waikato River, since colonization until the last decade.791
Despite the exclusion of Māori from management, the River’s water quality has decreased notably in the last several decades. Thus, the government started monitoring the Waikato River's water quality in the 1980s. This process was done routinely for only a few sites of the River at that time, though monitoring of many sites of the River and the streams started in 1990 on a monthly basis. The River's monthly monitoring continues for ten sites, and all information is collected and published in a yearly report.792 However, all of these monitoring processes did not lead to an increase in water quality in the basin. A recent study was conducted between 2009 to 2019 which evaluated the water quality of New Zealand waterways in the last decade. The study confirms that waters of the Waikato River and other New Zealand rivers are not safe for drinking. The River has all four microbes Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp.793
To restore the Waikato River’s water quality, WRC, as the Waikato Region's highest authority in the region, prepared the Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change 1 (PC1).
The PC1 was developed in 2018 for an 80-year timeframe, and it will be operated after the appeals794 The PC1 aims to reduce the level of “four contaminants: nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and microbial pathogens (with E. coli as the proxy for microbial pathogens).”795 After reducing the level of the four main contaminants in the Waikato River by 2096, the aim of the PC1, which is “Long-term restoration and protection of water quality”, will be achieved.796
As well as preparing and implementing plans, the WRC has a vital role in managing the River among various stakeholders inside and outside the region, both equitably and
791 Makere W Stewart‐Harawira “Troubled waters: Maori values and ethics for freshwater management and New Zealand's fresh water crisis” (2020) 7(5) Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water at 2.
792 WN Vant Trends in river water quality in the Waikato Region, 1987-2007 (2008) at 1-3.
793 See Bernard J Phiri and others “Does land use affect pathogen presence in New Zealand drinking water supplies?” (2020) 185 Water Research.
794 Waikato Regional Council “Proposed Waikato Regional: Plan Change 1” (2021)
<https://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/council/policy-and-plans/healthy-rivers-plan-for-change>.
795 WRC Waikato Regional Council Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change 1: Waikato and Waipā River Catchments (2021) at 7.
796 At 173.
reasonably.797 It is responsible for approving resource consents that are submitted to them according to available laws and regulations.798 After the Crown and Māori agreement and under the Settlement Act 2010, the Waikato River Authority (WRA) was also established “to achieve the restoration and protection of the health and well- being of the Waikato River.”799 The WRA has a clear vision and strategy to achieve its aims.800 As a statutory body, the WRA can provide advice for the WRC and other agencies regarding the health and well-being of the River.
Finally, another critical issue that directly links the Waikato River with the two principles of the IEL is the River’s water allocation to Auckland. The city requires more water from the River more than before. From the national perspective, the WRC are required to provide an equitable share of water for Auckland. Simultaneously, they are responsible for the minimization of environmental harm of the River. The following section addresses the issue.