The new gold rush - the future for water in Canterbury

Water has been described as the new gold, and there is at least one book that is predicting future global conflict about water. New Zealand may avoid that scenario but recent reports do mark increasing demand amid competing interests and declining quality. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in Canterbury, where unprecedented demand for abstraction continues.

A strategy for managing freshwater in Canterbury has been developed collaboratively. This paper compares the Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) and the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2011. The paper explores the collaborative dialogue used to prepare and implement the CWMS, as an alternative to reliance upon statutory processes of the Resource Management Act 1991, and asks whether the approach aligns with recommendations in the second report of the Land and Water Forum (the ‘Forum’). Finally it considers the extent to which the CWMS is influencing water plans and policies.