ICMPs in a Parallel Universe: The Development and Implementation of 10 Integrated Catchment Management Plans in Dunedin

This paper presents the pragmatic approach that Dunedin City Council Water and Waste Services is taking in response to outputs from a comprehensive 3 waters modelling project and the subsequent development (in parallel) of ten integrated catchment management plans (ICMPs) for stormwater management.

With the recent development of a robust strategy for long-term investment decisions, the challenge Dunedin City Council now faces is how to balance strategic commitments, model predictions, activity performance targets and ICMP recommendations in order to prioritise and plan capital expenditure. The motto ‘why do I care’ has been a useful question for staff to use when considering the ICMPs in parallel and attempting to prioritise issues and options against stated objectives, across ten catchments simultaneously; as opposed to working on a catchment by catchment basis.

The ICMPs are not only being used to inform capital and operational investment decisions over the next 50 years, but also form the basis for Dunedin City Council’s application to renew its resource consents for stormwater discharge into the Otago Harbour. As such, there is the added challenge of translating this information into practical long-term consent conditions whilst ensuring the monitoring regime will provide meaningful results to gauge the success of ICMP implementation.