Waterways report card 2020
Read our 2020 waterways report card to found out about Taranaki's progress in improving the health of our rivers and streams, and where we need to go from here.
Clean, healthy water is the region’s most precious resource, and the Council’s programmes and rules aim to help the community maintain and improve water quality.
Most notably, the region’s world-scale Riparian Management Programme has already seen thousands of kilometres of streambanks fenced and millions of native plants go into the ground on the Taranaki ring plain. The water-quality benefits of this work are well established scientifically.
Other measures to protect and enhance water quality are embedded in the Council’s Regional Freshwater Plan for Taranaki, which sets out conditions and standards that must be met by those who take water from and/or discharge to rivers and streams.
Note: This Plan is currently under review. Landowners are advised to contact the Council before undertaking developments involving any aspect of freshwater or waterways.
Taranaki has a lot of waterways: 286 main river catchments and 530 named rivers. The two largest rivers - the Waitara and Pātea - drain large areas of the ring plain and hillcountry. The remaining catchments are relatively small.
How are we doing?
See our latest waterways report card for a summary of progress to date.
The past & the future
Pressures on Taranaki’s freshwater resource have been stable compared with many other areas, particularly those experiencing widespread dairy conversions or rapid urbanisation. Dairy cow numbers and fertiliser use, for example, have changed little in Taranaki in the past 15 years.
The Council believes, however, that Taranaki should not and cannot rest on its laurels. The community has high and growing expectations and aspirations around the quality of our waterways. Protecting and further enhancing our freshwater resource will effectively ‘future-proof’ the region, ensuring that Taranaki can continue to offer economic opportunities and enviable lifestyles to the children and grandchildren of today’s citizens.