Vision: The surface water resources of Christchurch support the social, cultural, economic and environmental well-being of residents, and are managed wisely for future generations.

Toitū te marae a Tangaroa, Toitū te marae a Tāne, Toitū te iwi. 

For over 20 years, the Christchurch City Council has focused on a multi-value and multi-party approach to the management of its waterways. By identifying six core values – ecology, drainage, culture, heritage, landscape and recreation – as the drivers for improved surface water management, the Council has begun to translate legislative requirements and community aspirations into tangible reflections of a more sustainable approach to asset management.

The Council has written the following river catchment – vision and values documents

Purpose of these river catchment documents

  • To identify and summarise the current status of, and key issues within, the river catchments relative to the Council’s six values of waterway asset management: ecology, drainage, culture, heritage, landscape and recreation.
  • To communicate and facilitate community discussions on how the surface water management approaches, or options available, might be implemented to enhance the six values and realise the vision for the river catchments.
  • To highlight, from over 20 years of waterway enhancement experience, city-wide projects that have achieved high level outcomes across all six values and can be used as exemplars for future work in the river catchments.