Extract from the Trust Deed for Water Rights Trust
‘The Trust is established for charitable objects and purposes within New Zealand, with particular emphasis in Canterbury, for the promotion of education and for other purposes of benefit to the community. In particular, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Trust is established:
a) to restore, maintain, protect, and enhance rivers, stream resources, lakes, wetlands, and aquifers, in Canterbury, and also in other parts of New Zealand as the Board may decide, whether on its own account or in conjunction with any other person or persons, for appreciation and recreational enjoyment by present and future generations.
b) to procure from and communicate to any other organisation or body, whether in New Zealand or overseas, such information as may be likely to assist or promote any of the objects of the Trust.
c) to encourage and provide opportunities for interest groups, mana whenua, persons, corporate bodies, and statutory agencies within Canterbury, and also in other parts of New Zealand as the Board may decide, to take an active interest in promoting the objects of the Trust.
d) to inform and educate persons who have been or are affected by the abstraction, degradation, alteration, change, restoration, maintenance, protection, and enhancement of rivers, stream resources, wetlands and aquifers.
e) to raise and employ funds for any educational or charitable purposes as authorised by these objects.
f) to promote the recognition and support of the Trust’s objects by government, local authorities, other statutory or incorporated bodies, regional and national organisations, and the community.
g) to assist with the provision of equipment, venues, information sources, and materials necessary for the conduct of research in the promotion of these objects.
h) to hold meetings, discussions, forums, and lectures, to promote the aims and objects of the Trust to the community.
i) to provide financial assistance for the purchase or leasing of research premises, research plant and equipment of all types, and other items calculated to improve the objectives of the Trust.
j) to provide financial assistance for the employment or engagement of consulting, research, and other personnel, and visits from consultants, researchers, and others with qualities or qualifications which would enable them to contribute to the Trust’s objects’.
Policies of Water Rights Trust
1. Resource development:
The Trust will support development of natural resources for commercial return where it is proven that the activity is environmentally sustainable; and that the activity does not infringe on what we may judge as the reasonable rights of future generations. This means:
- All consents to abstract water must take account of long term cumulative impacts, in conjunction with consents already issued and existing resource use in the catchment.
- No consent should be issued where environmental impacts and safety margins for the activity cannot be accurately assessed, monitored and enforced.
Consents to take from surface waters must take account of both minimum flow levels and flow regimes needed to maintain the ecological health of the waterway.
- Consents must take account of downstream impacts and require appropriate practices to ensure the entire water lifecycle is protected.
- All water use should be metered and water used for commercial and agricultural purposes should carry a levy to help ensure efficiency of resource use and to provide a fund for restoration, enhancement and maintenance of waterways and ongoing research.
- Allocation of water for abstraction should be considered on a catchment basis to enable a holistic approach to impact on waterways.
- Communities should be educated and encouraged to take responsibility for the health of their adjacent water-bodies. The Trust intends to actively support such developments when it is in a position to do so.
2. Regional Water Management Structure:
The Trust supports the spirit and intent of the Resource Management Act (1991), but does not view implementation of the Act as being successful under the current administration system. The current administrators have taken the view of balancing increasing economic demands with environmental considerations, thereby continuing to run down the environment as economic demands increase. To ensure that the economic and social aspirations of current and future generations of Cantabrians occur within a sustainably managed environment:
- Regional prosperity should be sought from pursuing low environmental-impact/high-skill areas such as our electronics sector which would also build the infrastructure to employ more of our tertiary-educated young people. Morgan Williams (Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment) “Growing for Good report (October, 2004) points the way for a sustainable future for the rural sector.
- A regional body, existing or new, must be charged with the legislative mandate and resources to lead the preparation of a regional development strategy to ensure long term regional prosperity within a healthy, well- maintained environment. Such a body must ensure that the resources of Ecan, NIWA, MfE, MAF Christchurch City Council and territorial authorities are co-ordinated within the regional strategy. This body may be disbanded after any necessary legislative changes have been achieved.
- All consent applications to abstract water, and/or undertake activities that have the potential to impact adversely should be put on hold until the new administrative structures are in place and appropriate research has been undertaken to enable proper risk assessment of existing and proposed land-use and water-use activities.
3. Specific projects:
- Central Plains Water. The Trust will support the scheme only if there will be no risk of degradation to either surface or ground-waters and their ecology arising from development of the storage facility and subsequent use of water available from the facility. This means that research is needed to ascertain what risks may exist and how they can be avoided before the Trust can give support to this or other like projects. The consent to build the dam and divert water from the rivers must be accompanied by a general consent application to use the water, specifying the conditions under which right to use water will be granted.
- Hydro-electricity. The Trust supports other forms of generation ahead of new hydro schemes. Other energy options should be investigated now, rather than after having further depleted our river resources.
- Hurunui River dam. The Trust does not support a dam on the Hurunui River, because of the reasons applying to Trusts position on the other projects, and also because of the high recreational value of the River in its present form.
- All projects to develop use of water must meet the criteria outlined under 1. above.
4. General:
- The Trust will remain non-aligned to any political organisation, and focused on water management within the Canterbury region. The wider context of economic development options for the region should be handled by a separate body.
- The Trust will provide all reasonable support to like organisations in other regions in sharing information.
- The Trust will, where practical, work within the existing structures, co-operating with and influencing Ecan and MfE particularly and other local and central government entities, and will also act independently to achieve its ends.
- The Trust will achieve its ends by advocating to and engaging support from people of influence; and highlighting the issues to the general public to ensure political awareness as the prime lever for change.
- The Trust will do its best to ensure that its position on any issue is sound, technically and legally.
- The Trust will accept financial support from all sources that do not threaten to compromise the Trust's standing on the issue.
- The Trust will maintain the goodwill of supporters by regular information exchange.