Policy 5 and the direction to ‘maintain or improve’
Policy 5: Freshwater is managed (including through a National Objectives Framework) to ensure that:
- the health and well-being of degraded water bodies and freshwater ecosystems is improved, and
- the health and well-being of all other water bodies and freshwater ecosystems is maintained and (if communities choose) improved.
[…]
degraded, in relation to an FMU or part of an FMU, means that as a result of something other than a naturally occurring process:
- a. a site or sites in the FMU or part of the FMU to which a target attribute state applies:
- i. is below a national bottom line; or
- ii. is not achieving or is not likely to achieve a target attribute state; or
- b. the FMU or part of the FMU is not achieving or is not likely to achieve an environmental flow and level set for it; or
- c. the FMU or part of the FMU is less able (when compared to 7 September 2017) to provide for any value described in Appendix 1A or any other value identified for it under the NOF
degrading, in relation to an FMU or part of an FMU, means any site to which a target attribute state applies is experiencing, or is likely to experience, as a result of something other than a naturally occurring process, a deteriorating trend (as assessed under clause 3.19)
Policy 5 directs a key outcome: to improve degraded water bodies, and maintain all other water bodies, or improve them if communities so choose.
‘Degraded’ water bodies are those that:
- do not meet a prescribed national bottom line; or
- if a target attribute state (TAS) has been set, are not achieving it; or
- if an environmental flow and level have been set, are not achieving or are not likely to achieve these; OR
- are less able to provide for any value identified under the NOF process than they were on 7 September 2017. An exception is for water bodies affected by naturally occurring processes that would occur in the absence of human activity.
One element of the test for degrading is if a water body is below its TAS. A TAS must be set at or above the attribute’s ‘baseline state’. The baseline is the best state out of the following:
- the state of the attribute on the date it is first identified by a regional council, or
- the state of the attribute on 7 September 2017, or
- whenever the regional council set a freshwater objective for that attribute under the previous NPS-FM.
For more on TASs and baseline states, see the section Clause 3.12: Achieving target attribute states and environmental outcomes.
Figure 1 sets out the policy direction and definitions of Policy 5.
Figure 1: Maintain and Improve – Policy 5
Infographic describing how Te Mana o te Wai informs Policy 5 and the resulting decisions on whether to improve or maintain the water quality of a water body. The definition of ‘degraded’ and ‘baseline state’ in this infographic helps to further clarify what improve and maintain mean in the context of freshwater management.
Te Mana o te Wai
- First priority: the health and wellbeing of water bodies and freshwater ecosystems.
- Second priority.
- Third priority.
First priority flows into Policy 5.
Policy 5
- Manage freshwater to ensure health and well-being of degraded water bodies is improved.
- Manage freshwater to ensure health and well-being of all other water bodies and freshwater ecosystems is maintained and improved, if tangata whenua and communities choose.
Both clauses under Policy 5 flow into the next two clauses.
Improve and maintain
- Improving a water body applies when the water body meets the description of ‘degraded’. Note: If the baseline state is better than the current state then improvement will also be required. If the water body is not considered degraded, communities may still choose to improve.
- Improving a water body means to set a target attribute state at or above the baseline state and at or above the national bottom line.
The second clause under Policy 5 flows into the following clause under Improve and Maintain.
- Maintaining applies when the current state is at or above baseline state and national bottom line when communities and tangata whenua do not choose to improve beyond this point.
NPS-FM definitions applying to flowchart
Degraded means:
- a site that is below a national bottom line; or
- a site that is not achieving or is not likely to achieve a target attribute state; or
- the freshwater management unit (FMU) or part of the FMU is not achieving or is not likely to achieve an environmental flow and level set for it; or
- the FMU or part of the FMU is less able (when compared to 7 September 2017) to provide for any value described in Appendix 1A or any other value identified for it under the National Objectives Framework.
Baseline state means:
- the state of the attribute on the date it is first identified by a regional council under clause 3.10(1)(b) or (c)
- the state of the attribute on the date on which a regional council set a freshwater objective for the attribute under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2014 (as amended in 2017).
- the state of the attribute on 7 September 2017.
Infographic describing how Te Mana o te Wai informs Policy 5 and the resulting decisions on whether to improve or maintain the water quality of a water body. The definition of ‘degraded’ and ‘baseline state’ in this infographic helps to further clarify what improve and maintain mean in the context of freshwater management.
Te Mana o te Wai
- First priority: the health and wellbeing of water bodies and freshwater ecosystems.
- Second priority.
- Third priority.
First priority flows into Policy 5.
Policy 5
- Manage freshwater to ensure health and well-being of degraded water bodies is improved.
- Manage freshwater to ensure health and well-being of all other water bodies and freshwater ecosystems is maintained and improved, if tangata whenua and communities choose.
Both clauses under Policy 5 flow into the next two clauses.
Improve and maintain
- Improving a water body applies when the water body meets the description of ‘degraded’. Note: If the baseline state is better than the current state then improvement will also be required. If the water body is not considered degraded, communities may still choose to improve.
- Improving a water body means to set a target attribute state at or above the baseline state and at or above the national bottom line.
The second clause under Policy 5 flows into the following clause under Improve and Maintain.
- Maintaining applies when the current state is at or above baseline state and national bottom line when communities and tangata whenua do not choose to improve beyond this point.
NPS-FM definitions applying to flowchart
Degraded means:
- a site that is below a national bottom line; or
- a site that is not achieving or is not likely to achieve a target attribute state; or
- the freshwater management unit (FMU) or part of the FMU is not achieving or is not likely to achieve an environmental flow and level set for it; or
- the FMU or part of the FMU is less able (when compared to 7 September 2017) to provide for any value described in Appendix 1A or any other value identified for it under the National Objectives Framework.
Baseline state means:
- the state of the attribute on the date it is first identified by a regional council under clause 3.10(1)(b) or (c)
- the state of the attribute on the date on which a regional council set a freshwater objective for the attribute under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2014 (as amended in 2017).
- the state of the attribute on 7 September 2017.
Under Policy 5, and these definitions, water bodies must be at least maintained. Maintenance within a band is not provided for, as it was in previous versions of the NPS-FM, and so degradation within a band is not provided for.
Water bodies may not be allowed to decline below their baseline state, and if they are below the national bottom line they must be improved (at least to the national bottom line). Communities may also choose to improve them above their baseline state and above national bottom lines. For example, they may want to restore the water quality of a stream that has been degraded for many years, so that it is safe to swim in.
The direction to maintain and improve water bodies has a profound effect on all decisions about freshwater: it does not allow decision-makers to let water bodies decline. For example, you may not put additional pollution into a water body. There is no ‘pollution headroom’ in a water body, you can only add contaminant discharges if you remove, reduce or fully mitigate the effect of the existing discharges of that contaminant.
The direction of Policy 5 to ‘maintain or improve’ applies across the whole region, across the entire freshwater management unit and over time. It is not appropriate to:
- maintain or restore one tributary of a water body while degrading another
- allow a water body to degrade and then improve it later.
Unlike previous versions of the NPS-FM, the current version does not take an ‘overall’ or ‘unders and overs’ approach to ‘maintain or improve’. This is not consistent with the requirement to give effect to Te Mana o te Wai in all water bodies.
Policy 13 of the NPS-FM requires councils to monitor water bodies and to act if there is degradation or a deteriorating trend. (For direction on deteriorating trends, see the section Clause 3.20: Responding to degradation.)
Policy 5 and the direction to ‘maintain or improve’
July 2022
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