Aparima Community Environment

The Aparima Community Environment (ACE) group is made up of six farmer-led Aparima catchment groups;  Orepuki ,  Pourakino ,  Waimatuku ,  Lower ,  Mid  and  Upper Aparima  and has been operating since 2018.

ACE Communities and landowners look to have a longer-term goal of enhancing the mana and resilience of the catchment for future generations.  

By understanding the science, impact, innovations and ideas at catchment scale, the ACE group looks to make positive change from the ground up. Through modelling and monitoring, ACE can relate the actions of every single farm plan to show a collective and demonstrable outcome. ACE has multi-agency participation and is leading the way in seeking environmental solutions for farmers, driven and implemented by farmers.  

The ACE group looks to support all farmers within the Aparima Catchment to obtain a Farm Environment Plan (FEP), and then implement good farming practices for the environmental risks identified in their FEP to improve freshwater ecosystem health, indigenous biodiversity, soil health, greenhouse gas emissions, community health and involvement and much more.  

The  Aparima Community Environment project   is a community project driven by farmers within the six Aparima Sub-Catchment groups.  

Over the three-year project term, ACE have successfully increased farmer and community engagement and awareness of the Aparima Community Environment group and project, supported farmers to continue learning and implementing good farming practices and to develop farm environment plans and trial innovative practices.  ACE have worked with farmers to explore and trial future farming systems and new on-farm mitigations that will support the shift needed to improve freshwater ecosystem health, soil health and greenhouse gas emissions quality, in a cost-effective and humane way.  

There are four workstreams under the ACE project:

• Stream walks and water testing – raising community awareness and engagement through stream walks and water testing. 
• Good Farming practices – involves working with farmers to understand and manage environmental risks on-farm and implement additional good management practices and farm environment plans (FEP).  
• Sediment trap – entails providing farmers with expert help to create a network of sediment traps and further guidance on cost implications and effectiveness. 
• Exploring future solutions – explores future solutions, including alternative farming systems and environmental mitigations.  

This report is a celebration of all of the work that the six Aparima sub-catchments and ACE have undertaken and showcases the positive impact these groups have had on their communities’ and environment.  The Aparima catchment project celebrates it's achievements.

Environment Southland routinely monitors eleven surface water sites in the Aparima Catchment (including some tributaries), three sites in the Waimatuku Catchment and five sites in the Pourakino Catchment (including tributaries). The sites are monitored for water quality and ecology (macroinvertebrates). Environment Southland provide all its water quality monitoring data to Land Air and Water Aotearoa ( LAWA ) who collates and presents the most recent data in a nationally consistent manner for all of these sites.

In each sub-catchment section of this report, we compare the sub-catchment state of water quality to indicative hauora draft numeric objectives. ‘Hauora’ means a state of health that could be described as fit and well. It reflects a level of healthy resilience we all want for our waterways. In other words, a waterway can take a knock and bounce back and still provide for uses that support people’s health.

Interestingly for many sites through the Aparima-Pourakino River Jacobs Estuary Freshwater Management Unit (FMU) (including Orepuki, Pourakino and Waimatuku catchments) the greatest apparent gap between current state and the state sought to support hauora, is for E. coli.  The next greatest gap between current state and state sought is often Nitrate-Nitrogen across the Aparima FMU.

As part of the first workstream,  stream walks and water testing  ACE are lifting farm and community awareness and engagement.

ACE undertook water quality sampling at 21 sites (additional to ES monitored sites), to see if the results could identify any contaminant hotspots within the Aparima – Pourakino Jacobs River Estuary FMU, identify if there are any contaminants that may be worse than others, as an educational tool to help community members understand water quality patterns in the FMU and how activities can influence this.

When assessing the state and long-term trends of water quality it is generally accepted that many years of data is needed.  LAWA  reports trends on five-, ten- or fifteen-year timeframes. The use of five years’ worth of data is to endeavour to take some account of very wet or very dry years without skewing the results significantly.

Most of the 21 ACE sites sampled, achieve water quality for at least one or more of the water quality indicators (E. coli, Nitrate- Nitrite Nitrogen, Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus, Turbidity, and Total-Ammoniacal Nitrogen). Below we present ACE sampling data from 2021 – 2023.

For more information on ACE water quality sampling please watch the video below.

Environment Southlands ‘Share Your Wai’ campaign collated the values held by Southlanders for all Southland freshwater resources.  Click here  for more details on the Community Values for Southland’s FMUs.

The five most mentioned values in the Aparima FMU focus Group (part of the 'Share Your WAI campaign’ were Ecosystem Health, Mahinga Kai – kai is safe to eat and harvest, Fishing and Irrigation, Cultivation, Food supply, and Water supply.

Environment Southland commissioned science modelling to estimate at a catchment scale the contaminant reductions that would be consistent with hauora objectives ( Environment Southland contaminants and numbers - science modelling ). This includes a “20% spatial exceedance criteria”. This can be considered to be a level of risk that the underlying objective would fail to be achieved, i.e., the modelling is done on the basis of accepting a 20% risk that the objective wouldn’t be achieved. The average (and uncertainties at the 90% level of confidence) for the total reductions required for this scenario over the Aparima Pourakino and Jacobs River Estuary Freshwater Management Unit and freshwater management sub-units are indicated below:

Many of these reductions are potentially very significant and more detailed work would be needed to assess the feasibility and implications of the suggested reductions.

For E. coli, sampled in the Aparima Catchment, 27 sites were sampled. Human faecal pollution was detected at six sites, wildfowl pollution detected at 23 sites, and ruminant faecal pollution at all 27 sites. Sheep markers were also detected. Further details of the E.coli sampling undertaken in waterways in Southland, and the Aparima Catchment can be found at the following Environment Southland website  What's in our waterways .

Upper Aparima Catchment Group is a part of ACE (Aparima Community Environment). The Catchment Group was set up in 2018. Upper Aparima have held a number of events, meetings and activities. These include stream walks, water testing, sediment trap construction and more. 

The Mid-Aparima Catchment Group was established in 2018. Mid Aparima have held a number of events, meetings and activities. These include stream walks, water testing, sediment trap construction and more. 

The Lower Aparima Sub-Catchment group established in April 2016, and currently have 131 people on their email list, and 233 people on their Facebook community group. The Aparima Catchment group describe themselves as a diverse group open to the entire community — from deer, beef, sheep and dairy farmers to industry and community members from Riverton township, right through to recreational users of the Aparima River. 

The Waimatuku Sub-Catchment Group came to life at a farm kitchen table, with four of the founding members from 2016 still active on the 14-member committee. With 76 members, the Group meets regularly to improve water quality and biodiversity, as well as enhance recreational opportunities and economic sustainability for current and future generations.  

The Pourakino sub-catchment group started in 2016 and has 66 members. One of the sub-catchments major achievements has been ensuring 85% of landholders in the Pourakino Catchment Group area have farm environment management plans.

The group’s immediate focus is on the four key areas of minimising sediment runoff, improving waterway management, improving nutrient management, and improving the public perception of agriculture. A longer-term goal is to ensure that local farmers are well informed and able to make the best management decisions based on good data.

The Orepuki catchment group started in 2018 starting with 20 members (and growing). The group is very community focused with a wide variety of people from the Orepuki Catchment engaged.  

In this section we present two case studies with successful contaminant mitigation actions implemented at the farm and the sub-catchment scale, sediment traps and wintering tours. We use these case studies to work through how to identify a contaminant risk, the key contaminant pathway and specific mitigations to address the risk.

 Workstream three  ‘the sediment trap workstream’ was to create a network of demonstration sediment traps to measure sediment and nutrients captured, and effectiveness or this mitigation technique in the Aparima Pourakino Jacobs River Estuary FMU.  

ACE have held some well attended events under this workstream where the benefits of an effective wetland or sediment trap were discussed, including what a well-designed system looks like and the differences in design for solving phosphorus/sediment vs nitrogen issues. It’s important to note that sediment traps vary significantly in design and cost, with even the most basic of types/designs having a positive impact.  

Sediment traps can be called a wetland, or a silt trap. Often the terms are used interchangeably. Sediment traps and ponds allow coarse size sediment and associated N and P to settle. When the margins and surrounding area of the sediment trap are planted with appropriate (often native) vegetation their effectiveness at capturing nutrients is increased as it further slows water movement across land and increases deposition of finer sediment and entrained contaminants.

Overtime, and under regular rainfall patterns sediment traps are proven effective at reducing specifically Sediment loads in waterways and can reduce other nutrients such as N and P. Sediment traps should be appropriately located and sized to be most effective.  

The second case study looks at ACE  Workstream four , all about Farm Environment Plans and implementing good farming practice. In addition to all the good management practise workshops the catchments have held, the six Aparima Catchment Groups have hosted annual wintering tours of their members wintering operations, to connect with each other, share knowledge and learn from one another.

This workstream has proven the positive impact that catchment groups can have in their interactions with each other, and on their environment when wintering practices can be generally lifted across the board. 

Improvements in wintering practices reduce the concentration of microbial contaminants (such as E.coli), sediment runoff and nutrient levels in our FMU (Freshwater Management Unit).  

Click through the slides below using the arrow located on the right to see the impact that wintering tours has had on on the Orepuki, Pourakino, and Lower Aparima sub-catchment groups over the years.

Using the  LAWA  (Land, Air and Water) database, you can locate your nearest water quality monitoring site. In the figure to the left we have compared current state of water quality (5-year median data from 2017-2021) with hauora state (to support the communities’ aspirations for water quality). The greatest gap between current state and future state is E. coli. This monitoring site captures water quality from all upstream tributaries and the Aparima mainstem.  

Using Environment Southlands  Beacon GIS database  you can locate your property, the physiographic zones and the most likely key contaminant pathway for your property. Below is an insert of the physiographic zones for the Lower Aparima Catchment Group Area.  

Aside from direct discharges of E. coli to water ways, using the inherent landscape risk table below, Overland flow pathways and natural soil zone bypass flow (like central plains) project high landscape susceptibility for contaminant loss by seasonal or episodic variants (for example, winter or high rainfall). Microbes require a source or input for losses to occur. 

The biggest gap between the current state and the communities’ aspirations for freshwater at this site, sought is E. coli. The next biggest gap between current state and the communities’ aspirations is nitrate-nitrogen.

Identify the highest risk contaminant pathway for E. coli - overland flow and Natural soil zone bypass

Reducing E. coli source inputs and targeting overland flow pathways to reduce E. coli would result in less E. coli observed in waterways.

Identify the possible actions on farm:

·       Considering the timing of risk (time of year, weather event)

·       Reducing E. coli source inputs relevant to the high-risk timing

·       Intercepting, or filtrating overland flow run off before it enters waterways.

Reducing E. coli source inputs and targeting overland flow pathways to reduce E. coli would result in less E. coli observed in waterways.

Implement your actions to reduce E. coli through your farm plan. The  Thriving Southland Winter Grazing Plan  is an excellent tool to use for planning your winter grazing activities, and includes wintering tips from farmers, for farmers to implement on your own winter grazing activities.

Considering both Sediment loss risk, wintering practices and E. coli The  Dairy NZ break fed wintering fact sheet  measures the impact of strategically grazing a winter crop paddock, reducing soil, P and E.coli loss.  This is another action/mitigation to implement on farm.

 Landscape DNA  is an excellent resource which explains the contaminants pathway through soil. It sets the scene for risks, and how they are different for each landscape and why it is important to match the farming system to the physical landscape.

There are a range of potential actions that can address sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus and E. coli contamination.  These include a suite of actions that are established good management practices for agriculture. Above, we use sediment trap and wintering case studies to work through how to identify a contaminant risk, the key contaminant pathway and specific mitigations to address the risk.

However, on their own, established, and emerging good management practices will not achieve the desired results for the Aparima FMU. ES have estimated that up to 90%  reductions for some  contaminants may be required to meet water quality objectives, with the estimated reductions presented again below.

Success may involve some repurposing of land or significant farming system changes, which may be appropriate for marginal or low productive lands and lands where the risks are higher for certain uses.

Achieving water quality looks like stepping on to a journey of continual water quality improvement and considering the hierarchy of obligations when farm planning, to  implement Te Mana o Te Wai  at the farm scale.

Some of the actions that can be promoted to create movement towards Hauora and healthy resilience in the Aparima FMU includes:

·        An overall lifting of water quality for all indicators

·        Preventing straightening and channelizing of waterways, and return of waterways to natural form (noting that consents can be required for instream works)

·        Restoration of wetlands, and new wetland creation – with some Te Ao Marama objectives to achieve historic wetland extent by 2030 – 2035. 

·        Protect and restore springs and spring fed waterbodies.

·        Established long term monitoring programme that incorporates numeric attribute reporting and narrative attribute reporting, that uses Ngāi Tahu indicators of health to assess hauora.

·        Progressive phasing out of direct discharges of wastewater and stormwater to rivers, focussing on Nightcaps, Ōtautau and Riverton.

·        Prioritise the habitat needs of mahinga kai and taonga species known to be present in lakes, wetlands, rivers, estuaries, and coastal margins.

·        Reintroduce and expand on native riparian planting.

The table below shows how some actions on farm can contribute to achieving the draft numeric and draft narrative objectives (to achieve hauora). Drawing inspiration from these actions we present how each action can meet both the draft numeric and narrative objectives for Freshwater in the Aparima FMU.

The government will require all farms of a certain size to have a  Freshwater Farm Plan , under the  Freshwater Farm Plans Regulations .  These will be rolled out across the Aparima – Pourakino Jacobs River Estuary freshwater management unit  first .

Similarly, to Farm Environmental Management Plans, Freshwater Farm Plans (FWFP) can demonstrate how regulatory requirements are being met on farm. A FWFP will likely replace/be an extension of your FEMP. One key difference of a FWFP and FEMP is that the FWFP will be auditable/certifiable and draw inspiration for on farm mitigations that are relevant to the Aparima and Pourakino, Jacobs River Estuary Freshwater Management Unit (FMU) such as those listed.

Farm practices and mitigations will need to be targeted to catchment water quality and will be nested into a broader scale catchment plan / Hauora Plan.

Below is a conceptual diagram of where freshwater farm plans will sit in relation to a Freshwater Management Unit Hauora Plan and a Catchment Hauora Plan

Contaminant risk assessment 

Part of your Freshwater Farm Plan will require assessing contaminant risk at the farm scale and implementing targeted mitigations to minimise the environmental risk (as was done in the examples in the Achieving Community Freshwater Aspirations section above).  

Mitigations will need to be identified specific to the key contaminant risks identified on farm, as well as the priority contaminant for the reporting catchment. It is anticipated that through a FWFP framework that catchments will make efforts to achieve future catchment wide limits set. Take a look at the link below for actions to include in a farm plan specific to your farm system and target contaminant.

Priority catchments and contaminants

Environment Southland have 12 ‘reporting’ catchments across Southland where water quality is measured and reported on. Three of these catchments are in the Aparima - Pourakino Jacobs River Estuary FMU. The three reporting catchments are Orepuki, Waimatuku and Taunamau, and Aparima – Pourakino.

From the priority catchment reporting, one or more priority contaminant will be determined. This will inspire catchment targeted actions specific to that priority contaminant.

Catchment Context Challenges and Values

Environment Southland are tasked with consulting on and detailing the Catchment Context and Values. It is expected that this will be derived from the Regional Forum Recommendations “ Achieving the Communities' Aspirations for Freshwater ” with recommendations  summarised here , the  share your WAI values  campaign, aimed at confirming what is important to Southlander’s about freshwater. Further consultation with the community through the development of  Plan Change Tuatahi  (the first plan change) will inform the Catchment Context Challenges and Values (CCCV).

The five most mentioned values in the Aparima FMU focus group (part of the share your WAI campaign) were Ecosystem health, Mahinga Kai – kai is safe to eat and harvest, Fishing and Irrigation, Cultivation, and Food supply, Water supply.

Farm operators will be required to have regard to the  catchment context challenges and values  information made available by Environment Southland when preparing their freshwater farm plans. This ensures that the risk assessment process consider the wider local area beyond the farm gate. Linking on-farm actions to the catchment is critical to improving environmental and cultural outcomes for freshwater and helps put water at the centre of the freshwater farm plan. Using the catchment context in the freshwater farm plan risk assessment also helps ensure freshwater farm planning reflects Te Mana o Te Wai and the wider objectives and values for freshwater management in the region identified through the regional planning process.

The below diagram presents the relevant legislative and regulatory documents, and loosely how these documents fit together. Some documents are part of the governments ‘Essential Freshwater’ work programme, and other documents are the Regional Council and Te Ao Marama Inc (IWI representative) People Values and Objectives workstream. The diagram can be read from top to bottom, in terms of the hierarchy of documents, and from the side edges inward towards Plan Change Tuatahi.

 Plan Change Tuatahi  (first plan change to the Southland water and Land Plan) will be a Regional Council document that amends the Proposed Southland Water and Land Plan so that it both:

1. Gives effect to all the higher order documents; and
2. Represents the communities’ (inclusive of IWI) values.

It will set limits and confirm objectives and values. It will be informed by the Regional Forums recommendations, the communities’ values, and IWI objectives. These limits will need to be met by the community to provide for the communities’ values and objectives. There will be opportunities for community engagement and consultation on Plan Change Tuatahi as Environment Southland manage that process.

 Te Mana o te Wai  is one of three overarching values, which form the basis of reporting iwi concerns. The two other overarching values are:

• Kaitiakitanga: The actions of Māori cultural guardianship, advocacy, and protection and

• Tino Rangatiratanga: The exercise of the Treaty of Waitangi, statutory rulings and cultural expression.

The three concepts together intertwine the objective to seek that the health of waterbodies is restored and that Iwi are actively involved in this process through exercising Kaitiakitanga and Tino Rangatiratanga.

Te Mana o te Wai is introduced through the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and is part of an integrated management framework, ki uta ki tai, that recognises the interconnections between lands and waters, and between waterbody types, from the mountains to the sea.   

For the Aparima – Pourakino and Jacobs River Freshwater Management Unit (Aparima Catchment Group area) Te Mana o Te Wai will need to be achieved. The hierarchy of obligations sets priorities when considering resource uses, environmental effects and the communities’ aspirations for the Freshwater Management Unit.

Te Mana o Te Wai and the Proposed Southland Water and Land Plan

As well as other policies in the plan which direct improvements in water quality where standards are not met, minimising contaminant risk to water quality, taking into account iwi management plans and enable Papatipu Rūnanga to participate, policy 44 (which is effectively operative) specifically directs particular regard to be had to the health of water in implementing Te Mana o Te Wai – across Southland (including the Aparima Pourakino Jacobs River Freshwater Management Unit). Policy 44 reads as follows

Implementing Te Mana o Te Wai … Particular regard will be given to the following values, alongside any additional regional and local values determined in the Freshwater Management Unit limit setting process:

• Te Hauora o te Wai (the health and mauri of water);
• Te Hauora o te Tangata (the health and mauri of the people);
• Te Hauora o te Taiao (the health and mauri of the environment);
• Mahinga kai.
• Mahi māra (cultivation);
• Wai Tapu (Sacred Waters);
• Wai Māori (municipal and domestic water supply);
• Āu Putea (economic or commercial value);
• He ara haere (navigation).

Te Ao Marama and Environment Southland have drafted numeric and narrative water quality objectives that will achieve hauora (and give effect to Te Mana o Te Wai).

The  Draft Murihiku Southland Freshwater objectives  report details draft numeric and draft narrative freshwater objectives for the region to support the communities’ values. The objectives reflect the qualities of hauora that support the health and well-being of waterbodies within Murihiku Southland.

The foundations of the report and its recommendations are that:

• The hauora principles require consideration of a combination of waterbody attributes that provide for hauora, understanding that the current national objectives framework (and national bottom lines) to not provide a holistic picture of the health and well-being of waterbodies,
• There are two overlapping envelopes, a decision envelope “the minimum point of improvement” and a hauora envelope “within which the region is expected to be able to, over time, address the health and well-being impacts arising from degradation of waterbodies.”
• The objectives outline draft numeric and draft narrative objectives.
• The draft narrative objectives “are designed to reference all relevant qualities of waterbodies that provide for hauora in combination, not all of which are covered by draft numeric objectives.”

The diagram above describes the concept of an envelope of options for freshwater objectives, within which choices can be made. Two overlapping envelopes are recognised, a decision envelope and within this a hauora envelope. The top of the decision envelope and the hauora envelope reflects the best natural state condition.

The state of hauora must be considered holistically, thinking about ‘interdependent components and associated attributes.’ The hauora envelope incorporates both narrative and numeric objectives. This approach promotes actions that improve water quality, instream conditions, riparian margins, and the extent of indigenous vegetation on connected lands. You can  read more about the draft numeric and draft narrative objectives here .

In November 2020 Environment Southland’s Council and the Te Ao Mārama Inc board approved in principle to proceed with the options for draft freshwater objectives identified as the minimum to provide for hauora, the health and wellbeing of waterbodies (  Strategy and Policy Committee Agenda - 2020 November 25.pdf (es.govt.nz) .  

These draft narrative objectives may get modified through the development of the coming regional plan change, they have been broadly accepted as accurately describing a state of hauora or healthy resilience.  There are similar draft narrative objectives for the different types of waterbodies including groundwater, springs, wetlands, estuaries and coastal waters.

Here are some links to additional resources you can use to understand how contaminants accumulate and move through your farm and the types of on farm actions that will improve water quality.

 Our land and water - actions to include in a Farm Environment Plan 

Dairy NZ Wintering resources -  Wintering mitigations 

 Living Water - tools and solutions to improve water quality 

 Ministry for the Environment - what are Freshwater Farm Plans 

 Beef and Lamb - sediment trap resources 

 Wetland Restoration - Landcare research 

 Wetland information - Fish and Game 

 Riparian setbacks from waterbodies 

 Environment Southland - Riparian management information 

 Living Water - tools and solutions to improve water quality 

Thriving southland science report –  actions on the ground and what farmers can do right now 

 Thriving Southland Winter Grazing Plan 

 https://landscapedna.org/videos/tutorials/site-overview/ 

 Thriving Southland - Implementing Good Farming Practice  (Trap the Cr*p – sediment Trap Field Day and MAKE IT COUNT! – efficient nutrient use resources)

 Ministry for the Environment Low slope maps for stock exclusion 

 Environment Southland Cultivation and Intensive Winter Grazing tool 

 Environment Southland - Beacon - Physiographic Zones 

 Atlas | Cultural Mapping Project  

 ACE Stream Walks, eDNA sampling and Rabid Habitat Assessment 

 Rapid Habitat Assessment Protocol 

 Wilderlab - explore eDNA samples 

 Farming with Native Biodiversity 

 Wai Māori - taonga (highly valued) - fish species factsheet downloads 

 https://www.thrivingsouthland.co.nz/ace-water-testing/   - update on the ACE water quality monitoring programme

 Land Air and Water - explore Southland river water quality 

 Land Air and Water - explore Southland lake water quality 

 Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 

 Report - Wai - Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku – Matariki 2019 

 DRAFT Murihiku Southland Freshwater objectives (June 2020) 

 Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku Freshwater Objectives (February 2020) 

 ES and TAMI Values and Objectives workstream  - https://waterandland.es.govt.nz/about/values-and-objectives

 Proposed Southland Water and Land Plan 

 Plan Change Tuatahi (the first plan change) 

 Resource Management (Freshwater Farm Plans) Regulations 2023 

 National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 

 Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Freshwater) Regulations 2020 

 RMA