Environmental Consents – How We Might Improve Them In New Zealand

Since 1991, the Resource Management Act (RMA or the Act) has been the umbrella statute under which all our wastewater projects have been consented, managed and monitored in New Zealand. Case law and appeals have also had an influence on how the Act is interpreted and we have also seen some major amendments to the RMA as our experiences have shown where it could be improved. Over the years we have also heard calls from many stakeholders and special interest groups to change or relitigate the Act, as well as promises from Governments of the day to “take a fresh look at the RMA”.

However, as Water and Wastewater practitioners, we should also see how we could better use the Act as it is, perhaps with some tweaks, so that the environment – particularly receiving fresh and marine waters – would be better served, managed and, in the long term, improved. With Central government strongly flagging change in how the 3 Waters are managed in New Zealand and recent recommendations from the Land and Water Forum (LAWF) to Ministers, change is in the wind in how point-source discharges are to be managed and monitored under national and regional regulation. This paper discusses some possible improvements, citing examples in the USA from the EPA and water utility perspective.