Freshwater contaminant limit assessment of the regions

This report provides freshwater contaminant limit assessments for the regions for phosphorus, nitrogen, E. coli, and sediment. The assessments will be used for a national modelling exercise using New Zealand Forestry and Agricultural Regional Model (NZFARM) to help estimate impact of the implementation of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) 2014 on New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions.

This is a technical paper related to Motu Working Paper 17-10: Modelling the potential impact of New Zealand’s freshwater reforms on land-based greenhouse gas emissions.

Information about freshwater management areas (including, where available freshwater management units (FMUs)), priority catchments, relevant mandatory requirements, other practices, and non-regulatory policies that reduce contaminant loads, and limit setting in the regions are covered in the report. This information is used to estimate high and low scenarios for the expected change in levels of phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N), E. coli, and sediment in the freshwater of each region between 2015 and a future date such as 2030.

The report also includes information on baseline loads created by NIWA from the CLUES model.