An integrated water strategy for Ōtautahi Christchurch and Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula.

Our water

Water supply, wastewater, stormwater, surface water and groundwater form a fundamental part of the life of the community.

Christchurch City Council has a responsibility to ensure that its water services, infrastructure and water taonga are managed in a manner that supports the environmental, social, cultural and economic wellbeing of current and future generations.

Our vision – Te wai ora o Tāne Water for Life

Water is a valued taonga, in all that we do.

Our strategy

This strategy addresses eleven key strategic issues, relating to managing wastewater discharges, ensuring long term water supply, responding to stormwater management, flooding, and potential sea-level rise issues, improving water quality and waterway health, and ensuring that the community values its many different types of water resources.

The strategy recognises the various roles of local, regional and national governments as well as public and private organisations and the general public, and how each can contribute to realising the strategy’s vision.

The strategy also supports the implementation of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy, in particular with respect to the following targets: ecosystem health and biodiversity, kaitiakitanga, drinking water, recreational and amenity opportunities, water-use efficiency and environmental limits.

Whakarāpopototanga whakarae Executive Summary

Vision

Water supply, wastewater, stormwater, surface water and groundwater form a fundamental part of the life of the community. Christchurch City Council has a responsibility to ensure that its water services, infrastructure and water taonga are managed in a manner that supports the environmental, social, cultural and economic wellbeing of current and future generations.

In this regard, we work with Environment Canterbury, which has responsibilities for environmental resources management. The broader legislative and policy context is described in Appendix A. 

Our vision to guide that management is:

Te wai ora o Tāne Water for life

Water is a valued taonga, in all that we do

The vision recognises the importance of water, as taonga, to the life of the community of Ōtautahi Christchurch, while also recognising the significant cultural values associated with water. Achieving the vision will mean that Christchurch’s water resources and taonga are managed in an integrated way to provide people, communities and future generations with access to safe and sufficient water resources, maintain the integrity of freshwater ecosystems and manage hazards from flooding and sea-level rise.

An Integrated Water Strategy will both recognise and support the ongoing recovery activities following the earthquakes and set a path for our future management of our water resources and water services and associated infrastructure.

It will establish the strategic direction for our sustainable long-term management of water resources and related infrastructure. The strategy focuses on water supply, wastewater and surface water including stormwater and flood management.

Principles that have guided the development of the strategy are: integration, longevity, touchstone, placemaking, flood management, international best practice, efficiency and kaitiakitanga.

Urban Water Principles

The strategy recognises and incorporates the Urban Water Principles – Ngā Wai Manga recommended by central government’s Urban Water Working Group:

  • Papatūānuku – Our relationship with the land – papatūānuku – will predetermine our relationship with water
  • Ngā wai tuku kiri – Our waters are a gift of life provided to us by our tupuna
  • Tāngata – Our environments are places of human occupation
  • Te hāpori me te wai – The community’s love and care for water is enduring
  • Tiakina mō apōpō – In building future resilience, our connectedness with the environment is our strength

Key strategic issues

This strategy addresses eleven key strategic issues, relating to managing wastewater discharges, ensuring long term water supply, responding to stormwater management, flooding, and potential sea-level rise issues, improving water quality and waterway health, and ensuring that the community values its many different types of water resources

  1. Different perceptions of the ‘value’ of the waters
  2. Poor state of some waterbodies
  3. Vulnerability of Christchurch’s groundwater source to contamination
  4. Wastewater overflows and effects on surface water
  5. Treated wastewater discharges into Akaroa Harbour
  6. Stormwater discharges and effects on surface water
  7. Flooding and flood management
  8. Responding/adapting to the anticipated effects of sea-level rise on water resources and related infrastructure
  9. Long term availability of water for water supply
  10. Long term sustainable wastewater treatment and disposal
  11. Infrastructure efficiency and resilience

Goals

To address these strategic issues, the strategy contains four goals, 11 objectives and some suggested approaches to achieve the vision. The goals align with the 2018–28 Community Outcomes, as well as the ‘strategic priorities’, identified in our Strategic Framework.

In summary, the goals and general approach to achieving each of the goals of the strategy is as follows.

Goal 1: The multiple uses of water are valued by all for the benefit of all

  • Increasing awareness – to encourage and engage the community to value and respect the multiple uses of our water resources through advocacy and outreach programmes, demonstration projects that highlight the values of water, and considering the water services charging structure and the way information is conveyed to the community.
  • Enhancing natural and cultural values (including ecology, amenity, recreation, heritage and landscape) through initiatives such as demonstration projects, protection of existing waterway and wetland systems, encouraging and facilitating wetlands, waterbodies enhancement and naturalisation, addressing stream depletion, facilitating the adoption of water sensitive design and promoting water conservation.

Goal 2: Water quality and ecosystems are protected and enhanced

  • Improving water quality and enhancing the natural, cultural and ecological values of waterbodies – through continuing the existing Stormwater Management Plan approach to management of stormwater quality, increasing focus on sediment control measures, implementing source control and water sensitive design, wetlands and waterbodies enhancement and naturalisation, and where possible retrofitting water quality mitigation for existing developed areas.
  • Reducing the effects of wastewater overflows – by network upgrades, targeting efforts to address overflows and reducing inflow and infiltration.
  • Protecting groundwater sources and their vulnerability to contamination – through targeted investigations, further implementation of source protection, and restrictions on excavation below groundwater level.
  • Recognising the importance of robust data management and modelling to demonstrate performance.
  • The Council remains committed to providing drinking water that is safe and community health remains our top priority and Council is adamant that it can achieve this objective without residual disinfection (e.g. chlorination).
  • The strategy makes clear that we will be unwavering in our advocacy and actions to minimise nitrate incursion (and other contaminants) into ground water sources used for our drinking water supply. The city will do all it can to protect its aquifers.

Goal 3: The effects of flooding, climate change and sea-level rise are understood, and the community is assisted to adapt to them

  • Understanding the extent, effect and risk of flooding, and managing effects and adapting to flooding risks – by continuing the existing programme of investigations and physical works in the interim, while developing, communicating to the community and then implementing a risk based approach to managing the effects of flooding using options appropriate to specific situations.
  • Understanding risks due to sea level rise and consequences resulting from climate change, and developing an adaptive response.

Goal 4: Water is managed in a sustainable and integrated way in line with the principle of kaitiakitanga

  • Managing assets across all of the Council’s activities (such as roading; water supply, wastewater and stormwater operations; parks; etc.) in an integrated manner to maximise attributes such as placemaking, collaborative benefits, eco-system service harmonies which may not be realised when assets are developed in isolation for a single discipline.
  • Managing stormwater collectively wherever practicable in order to maximise efficiency, cost-effectiveness and ease of maintenance. Encouraging on-site stormwater management using water sensitive design where collective stormwater management is not feasible (such as areas where urban intensification and redevelopment of industrial and business land is prevalent).
  • Managing wastewater systems to meet community needs – including through reviewing and revising trade waste and biosolids management and developing long term solutions for Christchurch’s future growth and for the disposal of treated wastewater from the Akaroa Harbour communities.
  • Managing water sources to meet reasonable demands by improving understanding of water sources and water use, implementing demand management projects and securing access to water supplies.
  • Infrastructure efficiency and resilience – by utilising a risk-based approach, proactive monitoring, and the implementation of intelligent technology.
  • Managing resources collaboratively. Water resources management is complex and requires collaborative integrated work programme across Council units and between stakeholders.
  • To avoid misunderstanding our integrated water strategy means not only that our water services are integrated but that safe sustainable water is embodied in everything the Council does. Because we consider water to be so precious and highly significant to the people of Christchurch, we want it to be controlled by the people of Christchurch so water services can also integrate with parks, roads and other community functions. We will accordingly be strongly opposed to any moves to try to create a special function water authority that separates any water functions from the City Council.

Objectives

To guide actions to meet the goals and vision of the strategy eleven objectives have been identified. These are not listed in any order of priority. 

Objective 1 

Awareness and engagement

Increase awareness and engage with the community and mana whenua regarding the multiple uses and values of water. 

Objective 2 

Efficient and resilient infrastructure

Ensure efficient use of three waters infrastructure through a completely integrated management structure and ensure the resilience of entire networks (including natural waterbodies) to future environmental, social and/or cultural changes and natural hazard risks over the long term through timely asset renewal and/or better alternative solutions.

Objective 3 

Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values

Enhance the ecological, cultural and natural values (including amenity, recreation, customary use, heritage and landscape) of the waterbodies within the Christchurch urban area and settlements.

Objective 4

Water quality improvement

Improve the water quality of surface water resources to protect ecosystem health and provide for contact recreation, food gathering, mahinga kai and cultural values.

Objective 5

Wastewater overflows management

Reduce and work towards eliminating the effects of wastewater overflows.

Objective 6

Flood risk

Understand the likely extent and effects of flooding, and the risk posed by flooding. 

Objective 7 

Flood management and adaptation

Manage and adapt to the effects of flooding using natural systems, planning tools, community adaptation and infrastructure solutions.

Objective 8

Sustainable wastewater systems

Manage the effects of the wastewater systems to meet community needs for environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability over the long term.

Objective 9

Groundwater protection

Advance source protection of groundwater recharge areas and surface water supply sources for all drinking water supplies.

Objective 10

Improvement in understanding of aquifer system

Understand the vulnerability, transit times and extent of confining layers of the Christchurch aquifers as well as the link to surface water quantity and quality.

Objective 11

Safe and sustainable water supply

Manage the water sources for drinking water supplies to meet the forecast reasonable demands over the long term and ensure efficiency of water use, and ensure demonstrably safe drinking water without the need for residual disinfection (e.g. chlorination).

Approaches

A suite of approaches to support the objectives and goals are put forward and are listed below.A suite of approaches to support the objectives and goals are put forward and are listed below.

Option Objective(s) to be addressed
7.1-1 and 7.3-1 Advocacy and Outreach 1. Awareness and engagement
3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement
7.1-2: Demonstration Projects – waterway naturalization 1. Awareness and engagement
3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement
7.1-3 and 7.3-7 Facilitate Water Sensitive Design 1. Awareness and engagement
3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement
7.1-4 Improve public understanding of the cost of water services 1. Awareness and engagement
7.1-5 and 7.3-6 Waterbodies and wetlands enhancement and naturalisation 1. Awareness and engagement
3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement
7.1-6 Water Forums 1. Awareness and engagement
7.2-1 Proactive risk-based asset renewals 2. Efficient and resilient infrastructure
7.2-2 Proactive monitoring of condition 2. Efficient and resilient infrastructure 
7.2-3 Intelligent technology 2. Efficient and resilient infrastructure
7.2-4 Continuing to manage for 6 core values for stormwater and flood management 2. Efficient and resilient infrastructure
7.3-1-Continue and enhance the implementation of current approach to stormwater management 3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement 
7.3-3 Increased sediment control 3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement
7.3-4 Waterway vegetation management 3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement
 7.3-5 Stormwater and wastewater network upgrades and real-time control technology 3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement
5. Wastewater overflows management
 7.3-8 Development of stormwater discharge standards 3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement
 7.3-9 Retain stock water races for ecosystem services 3 and 4. Enhancement of ecological, cultural and natural values and water quality improvement
 7.4-2 Effects based network consent 5. Wastewater overflows management
7.4-3 Reducing inflow and infiltration to the public network 5. Wastewater overflows management
 7.4-4 Repair/renewal of private sewer laterals 5. Wastewater overflows management
 7.5-1 Continue the current approach for flooding and flood management 6 and 7. Flood risk and flood management and adaptation
 7.5-2 Continue to develop a risk-based approach to flood management 6 and 7. Flood risk and flood management and adaptation 
 7.5-3 Communicate a risk based approach to the community and foster community support 6 and 7. Flood risk and flood management and adaptation 
 7.5-4 Implement options tailored to address flood management in specific circumstances 6 and 7. Flood risk and flood management and adaptation 
 7.6-1 Improved trade waste management 8. Sustainable wastewater systems 
 7.6-2 Biosolids management with multiple pathways for beneficial reuse 8. Sustainable wastewater systems 
 7.6-3 Long term wastewater treatment and collection solution to accommodate future growth 8. Sustainable wastewater systems
 7.6-4 Reduce generation of wastewater at source 8. Sustainable wastewater systems
 7.6-5 Long term solution for treated wastewater in Akaroa Harbour 8. Sustainable wastewater systems
 7.6-6 Investigate potential use of treated wastewater 8. Sustainable wastewater systems
 7.6-7 Investigate wastewater options for small Banks Peninsula settlements 8. Sustainable wastewater systems
 7.7-1 Support research and monitoring programmes to better understand of groundwater vulnerability to contamination 9 and 10 Groundwater protection and improvement in understanding of aquifer system
 7.7-2 Source protection of drinking water supplies 9 and 10 Groundwater protection and improvement in understanding of aquifer system
 7.7-3 Restrictions on excavation and filling below groundwater level 9 and 10 Groundwater protection and improvement in understanding of aquifer system
 7.7-4 Partner with Environment Canterbury and neighbouring district councils 9 and 10 Groundwater protection and improvement in understanding of aquifer system
 7.8-1 Improve understanding of water use and develop improved demand management programme 11 Sustainable water supply
 7.8-2 Implement pressure management zones 11 Sustainable water supply 
 7.8-3 Implement ‘smart’ water supply network operation 11 Sustainable water supply 
 7.8-4 Improve understanding of groundwater sources and levels 11 Sustainable water supply 
 7.8-5 Secure access to Christchurch groundwater sources for public drinking water supply 11 Sustainable water supply
 7.8-6 Enable reuse and harvesting 11 Sustainable water supply
 7.8-7 Enhance management of below-ground well heads 11 Sustainable water supply
 7.8-8 Collaboration with other territorial authorities to retain control of public water infrastructure 11 Sustainable water supply
 7.8-9 Investigate other potential water supply sources 11 Sustainable water supply