Water quality management

Abstract

Since comprehensive legislation for water conservation came into force more than 20 years ago, management of water quality in New Zealand has been undertaken almost exclusively through the administration of water rights. This has resulted in a type of management primarily concerned with pollution control, specifically the regulation of pollutants from point source discharges, rather than one dealing with all aspects of water quality problems such as eutrophication, chronic and cumulative effects of pollutants and different cultural needs. In recent years, as the need for 'clean water' has outgrown local water resources in some regions and as New Zealanders have become more environmentally aware and more vocal in their demands for higher standards of environmental quality, limitations of both the water rights system and of the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967 (and Amendments) have been recognised.