Water Races Bylaw review

Why are we reviewing the Water Race bylaw?

Council manages a water race network that includes about 1,543 km of races. 421 km are main races maintained by Council and 1,123 km are local races maintained by the adjoining landowners.

The service is mostly used to provide water for stock, but there are other benefits such as supporting biodiversity, providing food sources (mahika kai), land drainage, and contributing to community amenities (e.g. supplying water to Ashburton Domain ponds).

The Water Race Bylaw is an important tool for the day-to-day management of the water race network. The current Bylaw will expire in September 2026, and we believe we will need a bylaw beyond that date.

Council consulted last year on a proposal to exit from the delivery of stockwater. After considering around 1500 submissions, Council decided to go ahead in June 2024. The exit process is now underway. The plan is to exit by 30 June 2027.

Council has considered whether it would be practicable to manage the water race network without a bylaw from September 2026 and believes it would be better to continue with a Bylaw. That is the underlying reason for this consultation.

What is the key issue?

The key issue is whether Council should make this Bylaw to keep day-to-day management tools in place till July 2027, or simply let it expire. The options are explained below.

Council is also interested in any feedback on the minor changes proposed to the Bylaw. See the FAQ for details.

Option one - 95% status quo

Under option one, Council would make the Water Races Bylaw 2025 so that it continues to have the day-to-day tools to manage the water race network. Keeping a Bylaw in place will also support the stockwater exit plan (see below). This will include minimal and minor changes to correct errors and make the Bylaw work better. This is Council's preferred option.

Option two - maintain 100% status quo

Under this option, Council would resolve to make a new Bylaw, identical to the existing bylaw. A copy of the current bylaw is included under Relevant Documents

This Option differs from the preferred Option because it fails to make the minor improvements and corrections contained in the proposal. The costs are the same, and it also supports network management and the stockwater exit plan.

This was not preferred because there is some value in making the minor improvements and corrections as set out in Option one.

Option three - Do nothing

Under this option, Council would operate with the current bylaw until it expires on 26 September 2026 and, after that, manage within the powers under the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA02).

Council would have less powers under the Local Government Act 2002 to manage the races, than it would under the Bylaw. In particular, it would have:

fewer powers to require owners and occupiers to maintain local races
limited ability to do the work on behalf of the owner or occupier, and
less ability to recover the costs of the work.

This was not preferred because of the risk that Council will face higher costs in maintaining local races without the appropriate tools available. Council took the view that the preferred option will help it to manage this risk and that the costs of making the Bylaw will be lower than the potential extra costs addressing race maintenance.

How does this fit with Council's plans to exit stockwater delivery?

Council consulted last year on a proposal to exit from the delivery of stockwater. After considering 1,193 submissions, Council decided to go ahead in June 2024. The exit process is now underway. The plan is to exit by 30 June 2027.

Keeping a Bylaw in place also means that the criteria for water race alterations and closures remain in place, which will help the exit process to remain on track.

FAQ

What are the minor changes like?
We describe them as minor changes because they are changes that have no substantive impacts on the rights and duties of people affected by the Bylaw.
Some changes are simply updating information like titles, dates, related documents, that have changed since 2019.
Some changes correct grammar or factual errors in the document or clarify the intent of specific clauses by tidying up the words and punctuation in clauses.
One change adds a diagram to the Bylaw to be clearer about the rules on keeping banks clear for water race cleaning.
A full table of the minor changes is included in the consultation document. They are also highlighted in the draft bylaw under Supporting documents.
What is the detail of the minor changes?

TOPIC	EXPLANATION
Update title of responsible manager	Due to staffing changes since 2019, the responsible manager is now the Group Manager, Infrastructure and Open Spaces
Updates for new adoption, commencement and review dates	In anticipation of the adoption of the new Bylaw on 3 September 2025, the following dates will apply: “Date adopted: 3 September 2025” “Commencement: 12 September 2025” “Next review due: 3 September 2030”
Update list of related documents	Add references to the Stormwater Bylaw, the Wastewater Drainage Bylaw and the Water Supply Bylaw
Update Clause 1 – Title clause	New Bylaw title “Water Races Bylaw 2025”. Add a statement noting that the Bylaw revokes and replaces the 2019 Bylaw.
Update Clause 3 - Contents	Add reference to Schedule 3 – Access for Race Cleaning Machinery to list of bylaw contents
Update Clause 5 - Definitions	Update definition of “Bylaw” to reflect the new bylaw title Update definition of “Service’ to note that council no longer rates specifically for services. A comma is added into the final sentence of the definition of “Water race”, after the word “bylaw”, to read: For the purposes of this bylaw, it includes both local races and main races.
Update Clause 7.9	Add cross-reference to clause 10.1.15.2 d and Figure 1 to provide more clarity on clause 7.9.
Add Explanatory Note – Clause 10.1.7	Add an explanatory note that clarifies that Council’s intent in clause 10.1.7 is to align our enforcement approach with the position set out in the Environment Canterbury stock exclusion rules.
Update Clause 10.1.15.2 d.	Add a cross-reference to Figure 1, which provides a pictorial representation of the Clause.
Correction of clause 10.1.17	An error was made in the wording of this clause in 2019. The word “not” is proposed to be added so it reads: “The owner or occupier or any other person shall not: 10.1.17 Permit a person who does not pay any water race rates to take water from a water race
Correction of Clause 10.1.19	Bylaw reads: “Place any boat, or other craft, in the water or any water race.” The wording seems to imply that the Bylaw applies to water outside water race network which is not the case. Proposed version reads: “Place any boat, or other craft, in any water race”.
Add Schedule 3 & Figure 1	Add Schedule 3 and Figure 1, which provides a pictorial representation of Clause 10.1.15.2 d..

What parts of the Local Government Act are relevant to this matter?
Relevant powers on decision-making and consultation can be found in sections 76 - 82A and 86. Relevant powers and procedures for making bylaws can be found in sections 143-146, 151, 152 and 155 - 160A.
Offences relating to water races can be found in Section 228. of the Act. General enforcement provisions can be found in sections 162-191 of the Act.
The Act is regularly amended and if changes occur these will be found at the New Zealand Legislation website