Editor's introduction
Welcome to the first 2010 edition of the Consents E-Newsletter. This month’s release focuses on:
- A reflection on the year gone by and the year ahead;
- The annual Wastewater Workshop scheduled for March;
- An update on the Waitaki hearings; and
- The National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water (NES).
As always, your feedback is valuable to us. Please do take advantage of the Newsletter Feedback link to let us know your thoughts on this facility. Our next E-Newsletter is scheduled for release in April 2010.
Reflection on a Year gone By - and a Year Ahead
2009 has been another busy year for the Consents Section, with a strong focus on improving our service as a whole. A number of successful initiatives were implemented through the year, including development of application and information booklets, and an overhaul of our internal processes. These processes were reviewed and updated again when the RMA amendments were released.
The Consents Section has been managing a number of major projects, including the Central Plains Water, Waitaki consents, the Hurunui Water Project, South West Christchurch Stormwater discharge, and the Valetta-Ashburton groundwater allocation zones. Find out further information about these projects.
In November, a Ministerial Review of Environment Canterbury commenced with a partial focus on the RMA processes undertaken by the organisation. The Consents Section is looking forward to the official release of the report and its recommendations, although a date for this has yet to be confirmed.
Our timeframe compliance for processing applications has substantially improved since the 2007/2008 RMA Survey of Local Authorities when our average timeframe compliance was just 29%. The table below shows an analysis of our compliance over the past six months, broken down to show:
- All decisions made per month irrespective of date application receipted
- All decisions made per month where applications were receipted after the 1st Jan 2009
- All decisions made per month where applications were receipted prior to the 1st Jan 2009
Volumes of consent applications have remained consistent over the past 3-4 months, with around 160-170 applications receipted each month. An average 200 decisions are being made each month.
Moving Forward
We are pleased with the progress made so far, and we continue to identify and implement methods to improve our service further – including development of additional application booklets and a second review of our internal processes. The application booklets currently available include:
- Dairy Shed Effluent
- Wastewater discharge (application booklet and guide)
- Stormwater discharge to land
- Stormwater discharge to water
The application booklets have been designed to ensure that the appropriate information is provided to Environment Canterbury, enabling us to process the applications quicker and reduce the potential cost to the applicant. The Consents Section is developing further application booklets, and revising other application forms – including the groundwater application form and associated documentation which should be available in the second quarter of 2010.
Annual Wastewater Workshop
The Annual Wastewater Workshop hosted by the Consents Investigations Land & Effluent Team is due to be held on Friday 5th March 2010 at Environment Canterbury Kilmore Street. This FREE TO ATTEND 1 day workshop is aimed at providing Consultants with some guidance and direction for completing applications for resource consent and getting them through the consent process quickly and smoothly.
If you regularly complete applications for Resource Consent for Wastewater activities, this is an opportunity for you to receive updates on any changes to the consenting process, discover tools to overcome common areas of concern, learn about current trends in consent applications and take the opportunity to ask questions.
If you have had an application returned under section 88 or received section 92 letters this is a must-attend!
Topics include:
- Soil profiling
- Confined or unconfined aquifers – what are the effects?
- Depth to Groundwater – what if there is no data?
- Environment Canterbury's communications with applicants
- Changes to standard practices following October 2009 RMA Amendments
Places are limited (we had capacity attendance last year). Please register your interest in attending to leteam@ecan.govt.nz.
Waitaki Hearings Update
The Waitaki hearings are progressing; Lower Waitaki Commissioners have issued minutes raising several issues and inviting parties to comment. The hearing is set to reconvene on 2 March 2010 if required to hear from those parties.
Upper Waitaki water permit hearings reconvened on Monday 25 January 2010. The Commissioners heard from the last of the submitters, and are now hearing the evidence from the s42A reporting officers.
Submissions have closed on Upper Waitaki dairy effluent consents. These consents have now been called-in by the Minister for the Environment. Further details on the call-in can be found on the Government website.
National Environmental Standards (NES) for Sources of Human Drinking Water
The NES came into force on 17 December 2007. The NES defines a registered drinking-water-supply as …‘a drinking-water-supply that is recorded in the drinking-water-register maintained by the chief executive of the Ministry of Health (the Director-General) under section 69J of the Health Act 1956.’
A copy of the NES can be found on the MfE website.
NES regulations only apply to an activity that has the potential to affect a registered drinking-water supply that provides no fewer than 501 people with drinking water for not less than 60 days each calendar year.
The Environment Canterbury website will be updated in the next month to include the following layers:
- NES Sites will be installed on the website GIS in the next month.
- NES drinking water treatment plants.
- NES drinking water source abstraction points.
In the meantime, as the Proposed Natural Resources Regional Plan (PNRRP) Community Drinking Water Supply Zones are available on our website GIS system, if your site is shown to be within one of these PNRRP Zones, we recommend that you contact Customer Services to determine whether you are also near a NES Site. For the few NES Sites which are not in a Community Drinking Water Supply Zone, this will be identified when we audit a consent application and you will be advised.
For guidance on how to assess the effects of your proposal on a registered drinking water supply site, please refer to the following links on the MfE website:
Previous issues of The Hub
Catch up on previous issues of The Hub.