Te wai Water
Managing the region’s waterways is an important task, and we take great care and responsibility to ensure they can be enjoyed by all. We must balance the community’s desire to use freshwater with a responsibility to ensure it can sustain healthy habitats and support our recreational use.
Water and the One Plan
Our current water management approach is detailed in the One Plan, Horizon’s combined Regional Policy Statement, Regional Plan, and Coastal Plan.
Check out the One Plan for more information about this approach and current targets.
Horizons records and processes a range of information about water in our region. This data feeds into research that helps us understand trends and track progress and risk over time. Explore the water topics on our website to find related science reports or links to our monitoring results.
Our data also feeds into the Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA) website, a national programme that brings together data from all regional and unitary councils across Aotearoa New Zealand. Here, the public can get the latest water quality status of the region’s rivers, streams, lakes, estuaries, and beaches and compare it with other regions. We publish data from our State of Environment, swim spot, groundwater, and water quantity monitoring programmes on LAWA.
Swimming & Recreation
The region's rivers, streams, lakes, and beaches are a great source of joy for locals and visitors alike, drawing anglers, kayakers, swimmers, and families to their cool embrace. That’s why, every year between November and April, Horizons assesses recreational water quality at over 80 sites on behalf of Public Health Officers at Te Whatu Ora Health NZ. These results are published on the LAWA website so communities can make informed decisions before entering the water.
Surface Water
Horizons plays a key role in ensuring the sustainable use of surface water - enabling it to sustain the aquatic life that call the region’s waterways home and provide the services upon which people depend. The region's rivers supply drinking water, power homes through hydroelectric schemes, support farming and industry, and provide recreation for swimmers, anglers, kayakers, and families.
Freshwater
Horizons works in partnership with the community to protect and enhance our region's waterways. These waterways are a vital resource; crucial to our economic, environmental, social and cultural wellbeing. Through our regulatory and non-regulatory work programmes we aim to restore pride and mana in the region's waterways and ensure they are available for the enjoyment of future generations.
Groundwater
Horizons plays a key role in protecting and monitoring the quality and levels of the hidden treasure beneath our feet: groundwater. This critical resource helps support the creatures who call our region’s waterways home and the many other ways people value water. Groundwater supports people’s livelihoods, enabling farmers to irrigate pasture and crops and quench their livestock’s thirst. Groundwater is also a large contributor to the region’s drinking water supplies.
Drinking Water
Horizons has a responsibility under the Resource Management Act (1991), including the National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water (NES-DW), and the Water Services Act (2021), to ensure drinking water source water is safe. Territorial Authorities (district and city councils) and drinking water suppliers also have responsibilities to provide consumers with safe drinking water.
WaterMatters
Horizons’ WaterMatters is a web-based information system for individual consent holders and those organisations in the region interested in water management. It allows individual consent holders to monitor their water use from home, and it allows whole water management zone monitoring against predetermined water allocation limits. Consent holders are also able to provide Water Meter installation notifications through the website.