These pages contain information on the Waikato region's water resources and what you need to know if you wish to take water for farming purposes, including frequently asked questions.
Rules
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| Under Variation 6, farmers taking water for dairy shed wash down and milk cooling will likely require a resource consent. |
Variation 6 (Water Allocation) to the Waikato Regional Plan establishes Waikato Regional Council's rules for managing the allocation of water in the Waikato region. Under Variation 6, farmers taking water for dairy shed wash down and milk cooling will likely require a resource consent.
For more information on these rules:
Find out more about the Waikato Regional Plan, our planning document that contains regulation, policy and methods for managing the region's natural resources.
Resource consent applications for dairy shed water takes
Catchment group processing
To help us keep the process as simple as possible - and to keep consent processing costs down for farmers - we want to receive consent applications on a phased, catchment by catchment basis.
We’ll be inviting various catchments to submit consent applications by a specified time. That way we can lump similar applications together when we process them, which we expect will reduce the costs to individual famers.
Find out more about this process, including catchment boundaries and group closing dates.
Lower Waikato and West Coast catchment group processing
Waikato Regional Council are now inviting applications for Lower Waikato and West Coast catchment group processing. The closing date for this catchment is 29 March 2013.
We are holding three drop-in days in this catchment for farmers to come and discuss the requirements and get some help filling in the forms. These drop-in days are:
| 28 February – Tuakau | 4 March – Matangi | 6 March – Huntly |
10 am - 3 pm
Tuakau Memorial Hall
72 George St, Tuakau |
10 am – 3 pm
Matangi Hall
482 Tauwhare Road, Matangi |
10 am - 3 pm
Huntly Memorial Hall
Wight Street, Huntly |
Application forms
Form A & B: Take Water for Milk Cooling and Dairy Shed Wash Down (85kb)
Additional Information for Dairy Shed Water Take Applications (307kb)
Additional copy: Section A – Volumes taken for additional property (167 kb)
Additional copy: Section B – Groundwater take for additional bores (178 kb)
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Click on a topic button below to read the answers to some of its associated FAQs, or view the full FAQ document for a full range of questions and answers.
Surface water allocation map - authorised and applications
Map showing total allocation as at 30 May 2012
You can click on the map below for a more detailed PDF version. You can use the PDF map to zoom in and out for further location details. Use your arrow keys to move around, and Ctrl + and Ctrl - keys to zoom in or out. Note that the PDF is quite large in size (47mb), so download may be slow depending on your internet connection and computer performance.
This map is indicative only. It shows allocation and applications - that is, if a catchment has applications that, if granted, will take the catchment to full allocation, then the map will show as such. This particularly applies to the catchment upstream of Karapiro.
More information
Smart water use
DairyNZ have put together some great resources to help farmers save water and save money. Click here to find out more.
Resource consents
Some useful and important information about making a consent application and holding a resource consent.
Maps
Use our maps service to find out which catchment area a take consent is located in, and what the common consent expiry date is for takes in that catchment.
Costs and fees
Find out about the costs associated with obtaining and holding a resource consent.
Making an application
Information you should know before you start preparing your resource consent application.
Holding a consent
Information you should know once you have a resource consent, including transferring, cancelling or changing consents.
The consent process
Information on the consent process, how an application is lodged, processed and decided upon.
Our fresh water resources
Environmental information about our region's inland water resources, including monitoring results.
Groundwater
Find out about the Waikato's groundwater resource, including levels data.