Riparian Management

Riparian margins are strips of land adjacent to waterways. Riparian management is a land use practice adopted along waterways, which is recognised as an effective tool in the promotion of sustainable resource management. Improved riparian management can result in cleaner water, which can benefit stock and increased farm production. Better habitats for fish, birds and other animal life, and better erosion control are other advantages. Riparian management can enhance the visual attractiveness of a farm and provide more opportunities for recreational activities such as swimming.

Objectives and Visions

• To maintain and enhance, where appropriate public access to and along the District’s principal waterways.
• To improve through subdivision, use and development the public’s access to, and enjoyment of, the District’s waterways and the environmental quality of riparian margins and waterways.

Pressures

The amenity values of the District’s principal waterways are affected by development that restricts public access to those waterways. Subdivision and consequential development can threaten and/or degrade significant indigenous vegetation and habitats including waterbodies and archaeological or heritage sites.

Some land management practices related to land uses such as farming, forestry, roading and horticulture can cause soil erosion and/or a build-up of contaminants such as bacteria and chemicals which are washed off the land and into water bodies during heavy rainfall.

Stock wading in water bodies, poor cowshed effluent treatment, overgrazing, inappropriate fertiliser application, stock pugging farmland and poor runoff control on cultivated land or roads and tracks can all contribute to the contamination of water bodies. Water bodies can be protected from much of this degradation by utilising better land management practices including riparian management of river and stream banks.

Works and Utilities

Works and utilities and other essential services are physical resources which are a means of providing for the social and economic well being and health and safety of people and communities. They also support the functioning of other activities within the district.

Objectives and Visions

• To enable effective, efficient and environmentally appropriate water supply, sewerage reticulation and treatment, and stormwater services, to continue to be provided and maintained.
• To manage the effective provision of works and utilities so as to minimise the adverse environmental effects and maximise community benefits.

Pressures

Rainfall events that exceed the design capacity of the drainage and flood control schemes have led to inundation. The District’s agriculture is dependent on the continual maintenance of the Piako and Waihou River drainage/flood control schemes. Te Aroha township is dependent on the flood control works on the tributaries of the Waihou River to reduce the effects of major flood events as occurred in 1985. On the plains future modifications may be necessary to flood control structures to mitigate the effect of rising sea levels.