Agenda of Monitoring and Operations Committee

Item No.	Subject of each matter to be considered	Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter	Grounds under Section 48(1) for the passing of this resolution	When the item can be released into the public
9.1	Public Excluded Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 7 September 2021	As noted in the relevant Minutes.	As noted in the relevant Minutes.	To remain in public excluded.

Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes

7 September 2021

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Open Minutes

Commencing: Tuesday 7 September 2021, 9.30 am

Venue: Via Zoom (Audio Visual Meeting)

Chairperson: Cr Kevin Winters

Deputy Chairperson: Cr Norm Bruning

Members: Cr David Love

Cr Bill Clark

Cr Stuart Crosby

Cr Toi Kai Rākau Iti

Chairman Doug Leeder

Cr Matemoana McDonald

Cr Jane Nees

Cr Stacey Rose

Cr Paula Thompson

Cr Lyall Thurston

Cr Andrew von Dadelszen

Cr Te Taru White

In Attendance: Fiona McTavish – Chief Executive, Sarah Omundsen – General Manager Regulatory Services, Chris Ingle – General Manager Integrated Catchments, Mat Taylor - General Manager Corporate, Kataraina O’Brien – Director Strategic Engagement, Greg Corbett – Biosecurity Manager, Stephen Mellor - Compliance Manager Urban, Industry & Response, Reece Irving - Senior Regulatory Project Officer, Reuben Fraser – Consents Manager, Nick Barnes – Consents Team Leader, Laverne Mason - Integrated Catchments Programme Manager, Jane Palmer – Senior Planner Climate Change, Bruce Crabbe – Rivers and Drainage Operations Manager, Paula Chapman – Project Manager, Charlotte Jones – Communications Advisor, Shari Kameta Committee Advisor

Apologies: Nil

1. Declaration of Conflicts of Interest

Cr Bruning declared he currently had an application for resource consent (Item 9.4, Consents Annual Report).

2. Public Excluded Business to be Transferred into the Open

None

3. Minutes

Minutes to be Confirmed

3.1

Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 8 June 2021

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Confirms the Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 8 June 2021 as a true and correct record.

Rose/von Dadelszen

CARRIED

4. Presentations

4.1

Fish Passage Barrier Remediation Work in the Bay of Plenty Region

Presentation - Rangitāiki Fish Passage 2021: Objective ID A3918438

Presented by: Kelly Hughes, ATS Environmental

Key Points:

· The fish passage barrier remediation project initially began in the Rangitāiki catchment 4-5 years ago, extending to the wider region in the last 3-4 years.

· Provided an overview of the status of the project and examples of barriers and remediation types used, noting that survey data had been completed for public roads within the Whakatāne and Kaituna areas and some within the Tauranga harbour.

· Next steps: continue to remediate identified structures, plan for monitoring cycles, expand the programme and train personnel to build capacity.

· This work was world leading with modelling technology commissioned to understand and deliver fish passage requirements and exploring the use of eDNA.

· Mr Hughes and Coastal Catchments Manager Pim de Monchy were considering the potential for a fish care coordinator role to enable better multi-agency/stakeholder coordination and funding across the region.

In Response to Questions:

· Remediation costs ranged from $173 - $30K, with the majority being low-level remediation under $200. A catchment-road based approach provided substantial cost efficiencies.

· Scope existed for volunteer care groups to be involved and to provide access to funding on private property, however noted that physical involvement and the need for expertise tools could be a challenge.

· General Manager Integrated Catchments Chris Ingle advised that the project had been funded by the Ministry for the Environment’s Jobs for Nature funding, but further funding applications had been unsuccessful.

· Currently, the $15K funded through the coastal catchments budget was minimal and a bid through the Annual Plan process was being considered to assist with this work.

Key Points - Members:

· Noted that this work was important to Council, iwi and the community.

5. Reports

5.1

Chairperson's Report

Presented by: Sarah Omundsen and Chair Cr Winters

In Response to Questions:

· Kaituna Mole upgrade - work was in progress after a two week delay during Covid-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions and anticipated to be completed before Christmas 2021.

· Water shortage event – granting of resource consent applications for water abstraction would consider the long-term sustainability of the aquifer. Since 2015, consents had included measures for water shortages and if necessary, a notice to cease abstraction could be issued for a short period of time.

· Changes made to Ballance’s air discharge consent following review of the consent had been based on extensive modelling. The modelling information and changes to consent conditions have been and will be shared with tangata whenua.

· The customer service map (on page 28 of the agenda) identified the general distribution of pollution hotline calls during July.

· FarmIQ Ltd was an external company that had designed a software tool to assist farmers to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater (NESF). Staff would stay connected with Farm IQ to avoid the doubling up of information requests to landowners.

· The decision made on Ngāti Tūwharetoa Geothermal Assets’ discharge consent related to the extension of time that the applicant had to continue discharging fluid prior to changing to reinjection, which had been in place for many years.

Key Points - Members:

· Collective responsibility was needed by regulatory authorities and industry to streamline interaction with farmers and property owners.

· Collectivisation of data was needed to reduce system duplication for farms.

· Encouraged a follow-up letter to be sent to farmers early regarding the timeline for the synthetic nitrogen fertiliser requirements.

· Acknowledged the positive results from the Kaituna River re-diversion and Te Awa o Ngatoroirangi/Maketū estuary enhancement project.

Items for Staff Follow Up:

· Provide Cr Nees with details regarding the pollution hotline call at Maketū (refer page 28 of the agenda).

· A report to a future Monitoring and Operations Committee meeting to provide further understanding regarding Ballance’s consent process and modelling of cumulative discharges.

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Chairperson's Report.

Winters/Thurston

CARRIED

Decisions Required

5.2

Operational Plan Annual Report 2020-21 and 2021-22 Operational Plan for the Regional Pest Management Plan

Presentation - RPMP 2020/21 Annual Report & 2021/22 Operational Plan: Objective ID A3930056

Presented by: Greg Corbett

Key Points:

· Regional Pest Management Plan (RPMP) Appeal Update

o Parties had reached an agreed position and an Environment Court hearing was scheduled for 22 September 2021.

o The Court’s decision, including any recommended changes to the RPMP and budget impacts would be reported back to the Committee.

· 2021/21 Annual Report

o Geopest database would provide for greater management and reporting

o Overview of key statistics

o There was increasing pressure from new pests and eDNA was proving useful in catfish surveillance

o The RPMP was tracking well with 89% of the programme on track

o Problematic issues: new finds of alligator weed in kiwifruit orchards, noogoora bur, expansion of Asian paddle craps in Ōhiwa harbour, woolly nightshade and wallabies.

o Crown funding for wallabies and wilding pines was enabling the upscale of surveillance and control.

o Wallaby update - surveillance had detected populations primarily in the Waikato region. $1M had been spent on surveillance last year, which was largely funded by the Department of Conservation and Waikato Regional Council.

· 2021/22 wallaby surveillance would utilise dogs, cameras and drones primarily within the containment area.

In Response to Questions:

· Geopest had been developed internally with external consultant support.

· 42 contractors were involved in the wallaby programme during 2021/2021, which would increase going forward with a further 25 FTEs anticipated to assist with control and surveillance work.

· Regarding tangata whenua participation in working on and around Māori land a number of contractors were prepared to support the involvement of local people in operations, however health and safety risks and associated costs was a key barrier, which also affected other biosecurity work streams.

· Staff would be holding an initial meeting with representatives from the Ministry for Primary Industries to look at how best to enable tangata whenua participation.

· Long Term Plan goals and expectations were to eradicate satellite wallaby populations and reduce containment area sizes by 2024.

Key Points - Members:

· Suggested a level of caution when using metric data from Facebook to report on public awareness as the data could be misleading.

Items for Staff Follow Up:

· Provide a report to Komiti Māori on what approaches could be taken to work with Māori landowners wanting to be involved in pest management work.

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Operational Plan Annual Report 2020-21 and 2021-22 Operational Plan for the Regional Pest Management Plan 2020-30;

2 Approves the 2021-22 Operational Plan for the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan 2020-30.

Bruning/Thurston

CARRIED

10:35 am – the meeting adjourned.

10:50 am – the meeting reconvened.

Information Only

5.3

Mount Maunganui Industrial Airshed Update

Presented by: Stephen Mellor and Reece Irving

In Response to Questions:

· No further testing for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) was taking place at the initial investigation site around Whareroa Marae at this stage.

· Staff were getting prepared for compliance checks for when the new methyl bromide regulations came into effect and initial discussions regarding the new rules had begun with Genera and Port of Tauranga.

· Staff were focusing on areas for improvement in relation to odour complaints and were looking at the potential use of new technology.

· Councils and agencies were working collaboratively with the Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party community and Iwi members, and progress was heading in a positive direction.

· Health representation on the Working Party consisted of the Medical Officer of Health from Toi Te Ora Public Health, the Chief Executive of the BOPDHB and the Chief Executive of the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation.

Key Points - Members:

· An application had been made to the EPA 5-7 years ago for the use of ethanedrinitrile (EDN) as an alternative to methyl bromide for which a number of industries had been awaiting an outcome.

· Multiple agencies were involved in continuing the use of methyl bromide.

· Commended the work of community representatives and industry in regard to putting in place amenity and screen planting.

· Noted dissatisfaction regarding the lack of analysis and priority being given to health impacts for Whareroa Marae residents and the wider community, and looked forward to discussions being held with MfE representatives.

· BOPDHB had been challenged to be more proactive on Mount Maunganui Airshed issues.

Items for Staff Follow Up:

· Provide a detailed report at the next Committee meeting on methyl bromide use around Aotearoa New Zealand, to include the percentage of logs at other ports and method of fumigation.

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Mount Maunganui Industrial Airshed Update.

Thurston/von Dadelszen

CARRIED

5.4

Consents Annual Report

Presented by: Reuben Fraser and Nick Barnes

Cr Bruning had declared an interest in relation to this item and did not participate in discussion and voting.

Key Points:

· 2020/21 had been a busy and successful year in regard to statutory timeframes, customer satisfaction and involvement on a range of activity and issues.

In Response to Questions:

· Overall quality of applications had significantly improved as a result of liaison with external consultants and improvements to application forms.

· Key learnings and highlights from Consents team meetings held on marae were the building of relationships with tangata whenua, understanding their aspirations, work, challenges and perspectives on how the consent process could be improved.

· While the numbers of customers completing the satisfaction survey were low, they were comparatively higher than other councils and staff were investigating ways to make improvements to the response rate.

· Regarding the fast track consent for constructing and operating a boat harbour on the Whakatāne river, the timeframe for a decision from the Environmental Protection Agency was currently unknown.

Key Points - Members:

· Congratulated staff on the improvement regarding meeting the statutory timeframes and processing of applications.

· Noted interest in the future progress and emphasis that was being placed on building the quality of relationship and involvement of tangata whenua within the consent process.

Items for Staff Follow Up:

· Provide further detail on the number of consents in the Western Bay of Plenty area and progress of long standing consents.

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Consents Annual Report.

White/Nees

CARRIED

5.5

Climate Change Programme Reporting

Presented by: Laverne Mason and Jane Palmer

Key Points:

· Activities taking place were aligned to the approved Climate Change Action Plan.

In Response to Questions:

· Bay Trust Nature Carbon Project was a local carbon offsetting scheme that businesses could use to offset carbon emissions. The project had come via the Long Term Plan (LTP) submission process with budget approved to support the setup of the project.

· Council and territorial local authorities (TLAs) were conducting a regional risk assessment to form a regional perspective on an adaptation approach. A pilot study had been completed with next steps to appoint consultants to undertake the work.

· An update of the 2015/16 BOP regional carbon footprint study would be provided following the project’s completion and would include a sub-regional breakdown of transport and primary industry emissions. Staff were seeking to cover a three year period from 2018/19 - 2020/21 within the project’s scope that would incorporate pre Covid-19 insights.

· Staff were awaiting the imminent release of Central Government’s emissions reduction plan to analyse and understand potential implications.

· The Te Arawa Kaupapa Māori Pilot had been very effective and was being used as an example to other iwi/hapū of how it could be applied. Other iwi had shown interest in Te Arawa’s approach and staff were working to assist and facilitate this mahi. Next steps would be to incorporate the pilot’s findings into the regional risk assessment.

· Community engagement was being addressed through the programme’s communications plan and action plan. Incorporated in the community engagement action plan was the FutureFit carbon footprint tool project that communities could use to create specific projects to help action by community. This project was not currently underway, but would be supported by Council and the TLAs with the vision of being a strong community platform going forward.

· LTP submissions from tangata whenua were primarily being incorporated into the adaptation work. Funding had been recently released on Council’s website, inviting expressions of interest for iwi-community led climate change adaptation and risk assessment responses. Tangata whenua LTP submitters had been notified of the initial funding that was available. No other specific work was currently occurring to build on relationships with the submitters, which would need to be built into the programme and considered as part of future budget and resourcing.

Key Points - Members:

· Noted the need to engage and push information out to the general public on making a difference in the climate change space.

· Suggested that staff link in with initiatives being undertaken by Te Arawa Lakes Trust.

Items for Staff Follow Up:

· Provide information in future reporting on TLA strategies and action plans that were being developed outside of the regional risk assessment.

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Climate Change Programme Reporting.

Nees/Rose

CARRIED

5.6

Environmental Code of Practice for Rivers & Drainage Maintenance Activities - 2021 Annual Review

Presented by: Chris Ingle and Bruce Crabbe

Key Points:

· Key highlight areas for the Rivers & Drainage team activity was:

o Incorporating habitat restoration, fish passage and native planting as part of routine work

o Increased and improved collaboration with hapū/iwi and liaison to incorporate Mātauranga Māori within river schemes work

o Incorporating ‘making room for the river’ principles where appropriate

o Overall, over 1,400 works were completed within the last financial year

o 19 complaints had been received.

· Director Strategic Engagement Kataraina O’Brien acknowledged there were a number of historical iwi/hapū management plans. Staff had a project to support the review of these plans with iwi/hapū, which Council had budget to assist with. Third generation plans would also consider the inclusion of emerging issues, such as climate change, legislative reforms and spatial plans.

Key Points - Members:

· Quality engagement could be challenging, time limited and resource constrained for iwi/hapū, therefore recommended that staff look at ways to combine engagement on various matters of relevance.

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Environmental Code of Practice for Rivers & Drainage Maintenance Activities - 2021 Annual Review.

Bruning/White

CARRIED

5.7

Rivers and Drainage, Operational and Capital Works 2020-21

Presented by: Chris Ingle and Paula Chapman

Key Points:

· 2020/21 Rivers & Drainage capital works programme was a significant piece of work associated with flood repair, river scheme maintenance, climate resilience and other capital works.

In Response to Questions:

· Delivery of 74% of capital programme work was reflective of multi-year and multi-faceted projects that could be affected by various reasons such as winter delays and consent processes. Therefore, it was important to look at these projects across the scope of the entire project.

· Climate resilience projects were multi-year projects that were brought forward to meet Central Government funding with ambitious timelines.

· Regarding programmed work underspends:

o The April 2017 flood repair project underspend was due to savings made as a result of low priority jobs self-healing.

o Multi-year project underspends would carry forward into the new financial year

o Waioeka Estuary restoration project was a shovel ready project with an ambitious completion date that had been delayed by land purchase negotiations.

o A few capital items had had some slippage, with large multi-year projects that tended to skew the percentage results.

Items for Staff Follow Up:

· Provide councillors an update on SmartGrowth development and growth modelling in the Western Bay/Kaituna catchment area that would be used to help inform the Te Puke Stormwater modelling project.

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Rivers and Drainage, Operational and Capital Works 2020-21.

von Dadelszen/Leeder

CARRIED

6. Public Excluded Section

Resolved

Resolution to exclude the public

1 Excludes the public from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting as set out below:

The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter, and the specific grounds under section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as follows:

Item No.

Subject of each matter to be considered

Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter

Grounds under Section 48(1) for the passing of this resolution

When the item can be released into the public

6.1

Public Excluded Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 8 June 2021

As noted in the relevant Minutes.

To remain in public excluded.

10.2

Rotoiti/Rotomā

Sewerage

Reticulation

Scheme Project

Background

and Update

Withholding the information is necessary to protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence or which any person has been or could be compelled to provide under the authority of any enactment, where the making available of the information would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, or information from the same source, and it is in the public interest that such information should continue to be supplied.

48(1)(a)(i) Section 7 (2)(c)(i).

On the Chief Executive's approval.

Rose/Thurston

CARRIED

7. Public Excluded Business to be Transferred into the Open

7.1

Agenda Item 10.2 - Rotoiti/Rotomā Sewerage Reticulation Scheme Project Background and Update

Attachments - Public Excluded Agenda Item 10.2 - Report, Attachment and Presentation (Released into Open): Objective ID A3934337

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Confirms that the report, its attachment and PowerPoint presentation be released to the public following the meeting.

Winters/White

CARRIED

1:06 pm – the meeting closed.

Confirmed

Cr Kevin Winters

Chairperson, Monitoring and Operations Committee



Report To:	Monitoring and Operations Committee
Meeting Date:	7 December 2021
Report Authoriser:	Sarah Omundsen, General Manager, Regulatory Services

Chairperson's Report

Executive Summary

This report provides an update on key matters of interest for Monitoring and Operations Committee members including outcomes of the COP26 summit, Motiti Marine Protected Area implementation and water shortage matters.

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Chairperson's Report.

1. Purpose

This report provides an update on key matters of interest for Monitoring and Operations Committee members.

2. Matters of Potential Interest

2.1 COP26

The COP26 (‘Conference of the Parties’) summit took place in Glasgow, 31 October – 12 November, to bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The summit focused on four goals:

1. Secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach

2. Adapt to protect communities and natural habitats

3. Mobilise finance

4. Work together to deliver

Current national plans on cutting emissions by 2030, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), are not enough to limit temperature rises to 1.5C, and according to analysis published during the talks would lead to a further 2.4C of heating.

Key outcomes of the summit include:

• Countries are to republish their climate action plans, with more ambitious emissions reduction targets for 2030, by the end of next year.

• An emphasis on the need for developed countries to increase the money they give to those countries already suffering the effects of climate change, beyond the current $100bn target.

• Leaders from more than 100 world countries, representing about 85% of the world's forests, promised to stop deforestation by 2030.

• A scheme to cut 30% of current methane emissions by 2030 has been agreed by more than 100 countries.

• More than 40 countries - which include major coal-users including Poland, Vietnam and Chile - agreed to shift away from coal.

• Some 450 financial organisations, who between them control $130tn, agreed to back "clean" technology, such as renewable energy, and direct finance away from fossil fuel-burning industries

Countries will meet again next year for the COP27 summit in Egypt.

There are no direct implications for Council’s Climate Change Action Plan as yet. Any impacts will come via Central Government, with the forthcoming Emissions Reduction Plan (due May 2022) and National Adaptation Plan (August 2022) likely to be key documents where more clarity will be provided.

2.2 Toihuarewa Waimāori Appointment

The University of Waikato (with support of Toi Moana and Te Arawa in the process) have made an appointment to the Toihuarewa Waimāori position (Lakes and Freshwater Chair) to start in early January 2022.

The appointee is Dr Deniz Ozkundakci. Deniz brings considerable research expertise in lakes and freshwater systems (including a recently-awarded MBIE Smart Ideas project), and a wealth of experience in community engagement through his work for the Waikato Regional Council.

There will be an opportunity to meet and hear from Deniz once he gets started in the role in the New Year.

2.3 Motiti implementation

Our Maritime and Compliance teams continue to monitor compliance of the new Motiti Protection Area (MPA) rules, which were introduced on 11 August 2021. Interactions with people on the water so far have been very positive with the team providing educational advice and explaining how to load the MPA coordinates into their chart plotters correctly. Pending weather, several patrols have been scheduled for over the Christmas period so we will have a good visual presence within the MPA and surrounding Motiti Island.

Dive clubs, shops, eco-tourism businesses, and research organisations are starting to use the online notification pathway and anchoring guidelines set out on our website www.boprc.govt.nz/mpa. The notification pathway provides advance notification for the compliance team of when groups or businesses will be out diving in and around the three areas making up the MPA. It is anticipated that the notification pathway will inform patrols and reduce complaints and conflicts.

Science have also sent out a notification process to the research science community about the rules and how they can comply with the scientific research permitted rule, DD6A (g). This correspondence also encouraged research agencies to contact local hapū and iwi to notify them about their research proposals with a view to build or strengthen existing relationships.

This summer our maritime patrols will include mana whenua representatives from the Te Patuwai Tribal Committee, providing an opportunity for the hapū to build capacity in this area. In addition, Science will be supporting six rangatahi to complete a free dive marine science course which will be an introduction to marine ecosystems.

Policy staff are in the process of establishing a science monitoring protocol for the protection areas with hapū and iwi. Over time, this science monitoring data will help us understand if the new protection rules have been effective and the protocol will assist with building relationships with hapū and iwi.

The Communications team continue to promote the new rules on BOPRC owned channels (such as Boating in the Bay and Around our rohe newsletter) as well as other mediums like the Our Place magazine and free community newsletters. They also continue to keep an eye on online discussion forums, to understand concerns and themes. They will continue to track compliance with the rules and, if necessary, organise a short promotional campaign reminding people about the new rules.

A flyer has been prepared to support interactions with the public on the water and website updated to ensure GPS waypoints are obvious and accessible.

2.4 High Court ruling may impact mangrove seedling control work

The Environment Court was recently hearing appeals on a proposed Northland regional plan, when an issue arose as to whether the new National Environmental Standards for Freshwater 2020 (Freshwater Regulations) apply to the Coastal Marine Area (CMA). The Environment Court issued a declaration that the Freshwater Regulations only apply to a limited extent in the CMA, upstream of any river mouth. Subsequently the Minister of Conservation and the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of NZ appealed against the Environment Court’s decision, asserting that the Freshwater Regulations do apply to any natural wetlands in the entirety of the CMA.

In hearing the appeals, the High Court concluded that the Freshwater Regulations do in fact apply to natural wetlands in the CMA (rather than only upstream of river mouths like the Environment Court had concluded). The effect of this is that areas of mangroves, which will be considered natural wetlands, will be subject to the Freshwater Regulations.

This is significant for Bay of Plenty Regional Council given that our current mangrove seedling removal activity around Tauranga Harbour is undertaken as a permitted activity under the Regional Coastal Environment Plan, and Freshwater Regulations take precedence when they are more stringent than regional plan rules. The Freshwater Regulations provide for vegetation removal in natural wetlands (e.g. mangrove seedling removal) as a non-complying activity. Accordingly, the Regulations will apply and mangrove seedling removal can no longer be undertaken without a non-complying resource consent.

The Council however still holds a current Resource Consent to control mangrove seedlings from the hovercraft mower activities, which expires in October 2023. The recent Court ruling does not prevent any consented activity from continuing, therefore, BOPRC are able to continue with its seedling removal activity in the interim under the hovercraft consent (albeit with hand-held tools). However, given the short term remaining on the consent and potential difficulties with gaining a new consent in light of Freshwater Regulations, the Council may need to re-evaluate the feasibility of investing in further seedling removal works at this time.

Further information and recommendations will be provided to the Monitoring & Operations Committee once a more detailed analysis of the implications of the Court rulings has been undertaken in the New Year and all scenarios have been evaluated. Any works completed could be viewed as only “holding the line” of seedling spread for a short time, given that once the consent expires, if a new consent is not granted then mangrove seedlings will quickly spread into areas where control has occurred.

Staff were due to issue a new manual mangrove seedling control contract in November 2021, and propose to proceed cautiously with some works (operating under the active hovercraft consent), whilst ensuring that any contracts do not guarantee work past the consented date given this changing regulatory space.

2.5 National Environmental Standards for Freshwater (NESF) and S360 Regulations: update

Since the last report staff have been involved in several initiatives advancing the refinement and delivery of the NES-Freshwater, specifically:

1) Contributed operational perspectives to Council submissions on changes to the NES-F for:

o Intensive winter grazing of fodder crops (IWG),

o Low slope maps and stock exclusion from waterways, and

o Wetlands

2) Contributing to national working groups tasked with the development of;

o Freshwater Farm Plans and

o The system for receiving synthetic nitrogen fertiliser information from farmers

3) Revising the Lake Rotorua Nutrient Management Plan template to meet the requirements of the NES-F in anticipation of the Plan reviews that are scheduled for 2022. In particular the provisions for IWG, stock holding areas and nitrogen limits needed to be tweaked to meet the new requirements.

4) Undertaking assessments of the regions dairy farms as part of our annual compliance inspections, for IWG and stockholding areas. The stockholding area information will be corroborated using satellite imagery and we will commence working with the dairy farmers who need follow up regarding the NES-F requirements.

5) Consents staff continue to evaluate all incoming applications for relevant NES-F provisions, such as wetlands, barriers to fish passage, and stockholding areas. Where an NES-F requirement is triggered, this is included within the application if possible rather than seeking a separate consent application.

2.6 Water shortages for 2021/22

This is the first update as we head into the summer of 2021/22. It summarises the current situation and provides a forecast of what the 2021/22 season is predicted to look like.

2.6.1 Rainfall

October rainfall was 1.5-2 times normal levels for much of the region, with heavier falls in the eastern parts of the region. Calendar year-to-date rainfall totals up to the end of October were nearing normal levels, which is pleasing as we enter the warmer months.

2.6.2 Rivers and Streams

The majority of rivers throughout the region are currently not under stress in the short term due to the recent rainfall. However, the trend of low flows for headwaters coming from the Mamaku ranges continues to be present. Telemetered data for these waterways are being reviewed more frequently than elsewhere.

2.6.3 Groundwater

Although there has been a general lack of recharge occurring over the last two to three years, elevated rainfall volumes in winter and spring this year should help improve recharge levels for much of the region. In the Mamaku/Kaimai range area recharge is still quite low compared to 2019 levels.

Soil moisture anomaly mapping shows that soil moisture as at October this year was higher than at the same time last year across the whole of the region.

In general groundwater levels across the region are stable when compared to last year, with demand yet to increase as we head into the summer months. In some very shallow well systems there is still a risk that access to water may be unreliable in the coming dry months (this water is generally used for stock water).

2.6.4 Forecast

The NIWA forecast for the period of October to December indicated that the progression towards La Niña conditions is occurring as predicted. Temperatures are likely to be above average across the country, with normal rainfall across the north and east of the North Island expected. They predict that there will be an elevated risk of tropical cyclones between now and April 2022, which could bring heavy rainfall and possible flooding. Soil moisture levels are most likely to be near normal, and river flows are also likely to be near normal in the east, and near or below normal elsewhere.

It should be noted that long term forecasts can have quite significant changes from month to month, but are representative of the best expertise and information available at the time of the forecast being produced.

2.6.5 Predicted Outlook for Summer 2021/22

At this stage, the outlook for the summer of 2021/22 is not as alarming as it was heading into the 2020/21 summer. However there are still areas within the region where low recharge and groundwater levels are showing up as low base stream flows. Two of these streams feed municipal drinking water supplies. These catchments will require prolonged periods of near, or above, normal rainfall volumes in order to increase recharge rates, and improve the stream’s base flows.

If the predicted near normal rainfall does occur in the region, there will likely also be a reduced user demand on ground and stream water, which will further help the resources recover.

2.6.6 Current Water Shortage Event Level

Currently we are operating at Level 0 of the Water Shortage Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Details of the SOP, along with up-to-date information on current Focus Zones, Water Shortage alert levels, Situation Reports and more can be found on Council’s Water Shortage Webpage.

2.7 Resource Consents update

We have received 233 applications so far this year. Even though October was busier than earlier months, the year to date application numbers are still below the record number of applications received last financial year.

While we were down on the number of applications received compared to last year, we have processed 241 consents for the period. This is 19 more than for the same time last year continuing on the increasing output trend over the last five years. 95% of those applications were processed within the statutory timeframes and 35 (15%) were processed by consultant planners.

A breakdown of consents granted by activity is shown below.

2.7.1 Customer Service

Response to our customer satisfaction survey has been low so far this year, with only 26 responses so far. Of the 26 responses received 21 (81%) were either very satisfied or satisfied with our service. Five respondents were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with comments received around the timeliness and cost of decision making.

We continue to promote our new mapping system (Current Resource Consents BOPRC) as a way for people to find information about consents as well as access information such as application documents, consent conditions, and officers’ reports directly. People can also search and filter and download blocks of information.

2.7.2 Matters of interest

· Creswell appeal update: The Court of Appeal will hear the appeal of the High Court’s decision on the Creswell water bottling application in March 2022. In granting leave the Court of Appeal has reformulated 15 initial questions into five (and agreed with us that broadening the scope in the way sought be the appellants was not appropriate). Three of these relate to the regional consents, as follows:

o Did the High Court err in finding that the Environment Court was correct to conclude that the effects on the environment of end use (i.e. export and use of plastic bottles) were beyond the scope of consideration in relation to the second respondent’s application for consents to take water, and those relating to land use activities?

o Did the High Court err in finding that the Environment Court did not need to seek further evidence, or decline the second respondent’s application for consent, in circumstances where the Court had evidence as to the scale of the bottling operation but no evidence as to the scale or adverse effects of plastic bottles being discarded?

o Did the High Court err in finding that the Environment Court did not need to have recourse to pt 2 of the Resource Management Act 1991 and, in particular (i) that the relevant planning instruments provided adequate coverage of the provisions of pt 2, and (ii) that an assessment of sustainability by itself was sufficient to address relevant cultural effects, so that no further reference to pt 2 was needed in that context.

· The Environment Court has awarded Creswell costs against both Sustainable Otakiri, who only appealed the Whakatāne District Council decision ($60,000), and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa (TRONA), Ngāti Pikiao, and Ngāi Te Rangi ($30,000). The Court felt that TRONA’s case was appropriately supported by tangata whenua and expert evidence but some of the main arguments advanced, such as the end use of putting water in plastic bottles a exporting the bottled water, were found by the majority of the Court to be beyond the scope of consideration. It was also recognised that there was an element to some of the issues pursued that could not be raised before the Court and should have been pursued elsewhere. The execution of the costs decision is stayed pending the determination of Court of Appeal process. The Environment Court decision on costs follows the High Court decision on costs ($17,447 against Sustainable Otakiri, and $18,403 against the iwi parties). Council did not seek costs against the iwi parties in either process.

· Joint legal submissions from Tauranga City Council and Toi Moana have been filed with the Court of Appeal in relation to the Transpower appeal (Rangataua Bay transmission line realignment). In summary, the submissions highlight the uncertainty for resource consent decision-making that the decision of the High Court (which quashed the Environment Court decision to dismiss appeals and essentially grant consent) creates.

· Fisheries New Zealand has made an aquaculture decision following resource consent being granted to Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board in July 2020. The decision is a determination (i.e., a decision that the coastal permit would not have an undue adverse effect on recreational, customary or commercial fishing). The consent relates to an extra 950ha of aquaculture space offshore from Ōpōtiki, and there is an application in process for a further aquaculture area. That application is unlikely to progress until Whakatōhea has money available (via settlement) to fund the additional research required.

· The Taniwha Springs municipal water take (RLC and Pekehaua Puna Reserve Trust) consent has been granted. This is a jointly held consent for the take and use of surface water from the Te Waro Uri (also known as the Taniwha Spring and the Pekehaua Puna), plus some ancillary consents to enable the restoration of the puna and surrounding land. The water take consent requires the establishment of a kaitiaki flow and the development of a number of plans to mitigate the cultural effects of the water take and establish things like mauri monitoring. This is a significant decision because when the previous application was processed there was a lengthy appeal to the Environment Court. Taniwha Springs (as it’s known locally) or Pekehaua Puna (as it’s known to Ngāti Rangiwewehi) was taken in the 1960s by the Rotorua Council at the time to supply Ngongotahā with water. The puna and streams in this area are of massive cultural significance to Ngāti Rangiwewehi and the loss of them had huge adverse effects on the iwi which are still felt to this day.

· Port of Tauranga Limited’s Stella Passage development proposal has been limited notification to tangata whenua. The scope of proposed works covers a 385m wharf extension and 1.8ha reclamation at Sulphur Point, wharf extensions 530m north and 388m south of the Tanker Berth and a 2.9ha reclamation on the Mount Maunganui wharves. The associated extension to the shipping channel covers 14.4ha and involves dredging up to 1,800,000m3 of material of which 5.9ha and 800,000m3 is already consented. Port of Tauranga Limited have sought direct referral of the decision to the Environment Court and Council has agreed. Four submissions have been received with three (from tangata whenua) in opposition, and one (from Tauranga Airport) in support.

· Following a hearing, independent commissioners have made the decision to grant to consent to Tauranga Bridge Marina to authorise the ongoing presence of the marina. The occupation of space in the coastal marine area by the marina infrastructure is specified as a controlled activity in the Coastal Plan, which means that consent must be granted. The debate in this case was around the appropriate conditions and term of consent that should be imposed, with the marina seeking a 35 year term and submitters (Ngāti Kuku and Whareroa Marae) seeking a 10 year term. The commissioners found that there was no good resource management reason for the much shorter term sort by submitters and that a 35-year term is appropriate. . Ngāti Kuku have appealed this decision and seek, “in the form of consent conditions and/or other appropriate mechanisms that allow, to the extent possible under RMA, for Ngāti Kuku expressions of rangatiratanga over our taonga, Te Pataka Kai a Taiaho Hori Ngatai,” as well as adjustment of the duration of the consent.

2.8 Regulatory Compliance update

2.8.1 Pollution hotline and complaint response

• 1254 service requests have been received since 1 July 2021, which is 1.5% more than we received in the same period in 2020. 32% of service requests were received after-hours.

• 69% of service requests were related to air quality – odour (481), smoke (272), agrichemical (47), and dust (35). This is consistent with longer term patterns.

• 281 (22%) of calls were substantiated (i.e. a breach of the RMA, Regional Plan, NES, or other regulation was confirmed), which is consistent with longer term patterns.

• 78% of calls received were actioned on the day of receipt. 99% of calls were actioned within 3 working days. All 34 urgent complaints were actioned within 12 hours of receipt of the initial call.

Regional distribution of complaints received to the hotline are shown below:

Service request category key: purple dots = water and land, blue dots = air quality, orange = coastal.

2.8.2 Compliance monitoring

From 1 July 2021 – 31 October 2021, we completed 1061 compliance inspections, and received and reviewed 3501 performance monitoring returns from consent holders.

Compliance levels remain consistent with previous months, with 82% of site inspections identifying full compliance with consent requirements, and 88% of performance monitoring returns confirming that consent holders are meeting consented limits and/or reporting requirements. The majority of non-compliances observed are considered to be low risk with only 1.3% considered to be significantly non-compliant for site inspections.

2.8.3 Enforcement

Regional Council has issued 49 abatement notices and 14 infringement notices in the reporting period in relation to breaches of Regional Plan rules and/or Resource Consent conditions.

Since 1 July 2021, Regional Council has received decisions from the courts in relation to two prosecutions.

· BOPRC v. CPB Ltd: On 16 July 2021, we received the final decision from Judge Dwyer in relation to BOPRC v. CPB Contractors Pty Ltd. This case was in relation to a discharge of wastewater, which occurred after works associated with the Bayfair to Baypark Link project struck a sewer line. The wastewater discharged into the TCC stormwater network, and surface water, which ultimately drains to Tauranga Harbour. CPB plead guilty and were fined $63,000. In addition to the penalty issued by the courts, CPB engaged with tangata whenua to apologise for the incident, and committed to an environmental restoration project downstream of the discharge.

· BOPRC v. Rotorua District Council: On 19 November 2021, we received a decision from Judge Smith in relation to BOPRC v. Rotorua District Council, which was a prosecution in relation to discharges of leachate contaminated stormwater from the Rotorua Landfill in 2017, which reached the Tureporepo Stream, a tributary of the Puareanga Stream, which drains to Laka Rotorua. This matter was subject to significant litigation, and was originally set down for a trial by jury, before Rotorua District Council plead guilty in May 2021. Rotorua District Council were convicted, fined $60,000 (discounted from a starting point of $100,000), and ordered to pay $80,000 in reparations to a trust comprised of affected mana whenua.

Regional Council currently has 8 prosecutions before the courts.

2.9 Data services and lab update

2.9.1 Data delivery to the community and other consumers

Data Services delivery of environmental data to the community continues to grow in terms of quantity, methods of delivery and uptake. The service provided follows central government Data and Information Management Principles (NZDIMP) through the active release of high-value public data it collects and holds on behalf of ratepayers.

Some key highlights from recent months are:

· The Environmental Data Portal (https://envdata.boprc.govt.nz/Data) on our website continues to show increasing number of views, refer Figure 1.

· A simple and easy mobile phone friendly Environmental Data Portal view of river levels has been developed in response to request from the rural and recreational community (https://envdata.boprc.govt.nz/Data/Dashboard/118). A similar view for rainfall is currently being developed

· The updated Water Quality State and Trends Report and online reporting tool provided by the Science team have been added (to the Environmental Data Portal (https://envdata.boprc.govt.nz/Data/Dashboard/112)

· A new enhanced Sensor Observation Service (SOS) that provides an interoperable web-based interface for upload and download of environmental data has been activated. This SOS service is used for automated data transfer of data to the likes of Land and Water Aotearoa (https://www.lawa.org.nz/), central government agencies and CRI’s and is becoming increasingly used by a range of other data consumers.

2.9.2 Preparing for the Water Services Act

BOPRC processes are being considered to ensure we are well-placed to meet the drinking water requirements of the new Water Services Act once they take effect. While the date of the new act coming into force are yet to be confirmed, it is recognised that the formation of Taumata Arowai as the new water services regulator and the Water Services Act are largely accepted (when compared to the Three Waters Reform) at this time.

Data Services primary responsibilities to the Act are:

· Section 45 (1): Regional Councils must publish and provide Taumata Arowai with information on source water quality and quantity in their region annually, including any changes to source water quality and quantity.

· Section 72 (2): If the results of an accredited laboratory’s analysis indicate the drinking water does not comply with the drinking water standards or compliance rules, the laboratory must notify Taumata Arowai and the drinking water supplier as soon as practicable after the results are known.

The current focus for Data Services in terms of our laboratory is to maintain our International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) status to test source water, raw water and drinking water. Taumata Arowai as the authority to appoint an accreditation body for laboratories, is in the process of appointing IANZ to continue this accreditation role and subsequently the ongoing ability for BOPRC to provide a drinking water testing service to communities.

The laboratory has registered itself as a provider of water testing services and as from the 15 November, the laboratory will notify Taumata Arowai of any drinking water sample that doesn’t comply with the current Drinking-water Standards for New Zealand.

It is envisaged that the Water Services Act demands for testing of smaller water suppliers may result in opportunity for the laboratory to provide an increased volume of service.



Report To:	Monitoring and Operations Committee
Meeting Date:	7 December 2021
Report Writer:	Greg Corbett, Biosecurity Manager
Report Authoriser:	Chris Ingle, General Manager, Integrated Catchments
Purpose:	Seek the Committee’s approval to revise the RPMP Operational Plan following Council decision to modify the RPMP as directed by the Environment Court.

Revised Regional Pest Management Plan Operational Plan for 2021 - 2022

Executive Summary

On 10 November 2021, Council modified the Regional Pest Management Plan 2020 -2030, as directed by the Environment Court. The Plan now includes an additional 24 pests in the Sustained Control programme and one new pest in the Exclusion programme. These new additions require a consequential amendment to the Operational Plan, approved in September 2021.

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Revised Regional Pest Management Plan Operational Plan for 2021 - 2022.

2 Approves the Revised 2021-22 Operational Plan for the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan 2020 - 2030

1. Introduction

On 10 November 2021, Council modified the Regional Pest Management Plan 2020 -2030 (RPMP) as directed by the Environment Court. The RPMP now includes an additional 24 pests in the Sustained Control programme, one new pest in the Exclusion programme and a new rule to assist with implementing the Sustained Control programme. These new additions to the RPMP now mean that the 2021/22 RPMP Operational Plan, that was approved by this Committee at its meeting dated 7 September 2021, now needs to updated to reflect the expanded programme or works.

1.1 Legislative Framework

As the Management Agency for the RPMP, Council is required under section 100B(1)(a) to prepare an operational plan within three months after the commencement date of the RPMP. The revised RPMP will be made operative on 7 December 2021.

1.2 Alignment with Strategic Framework

A Healthy Environment	We develop and implement regional plans and policy to protect our natural environment.
The Way We Work	We look to partnerships for best outcomes.

Through the implementation of the RPMP Council is delivering its legislative responsibilities to provide regional leadership for pest management and protect our natural environment from pests. In doing this we look for partnership opportunities to improve delivery and the strategic management of key issues.

1.2.1 Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

High - Positive

þ Cultural

Medium - Positive

þ Social

Medium - Positive

þ Economic

Medium - Positive

Protection of environmental, cultural, social and economic values from pests, is the key driver for the Biosecurity Activity and the delivery of the Regional Pest Management Plan.

2. Revised 2021 -22 Regional Pest Management Plan Operational Plan

Following Council’s decision on 10 November 2021 to modify the RPMP as directed by Environment Court, staff have prepared an updated RPMP Operational Plan, which reflects the changes, for the Committee to consider. The amendments to the Operational Plan adopted by this Committee in September this year include:

· Adding the 25 pests that have now been included in the RPMP (1 Exclusion pest and 24 Sustained Control pests.

· Identifying the specific activities required to implement programmes for each additional pest.

· Allocating budget for each additional pest programme.

Staff are proposing to fund the new RPMP pest programmes by re-allocating budget from the Biosecurity Activity for non-RPMP work to the RPMP for the current financial year. This would address the immediate funding issue for this financial year. To address the long term funding implications, staff will be asking Council to consider additional funding for the Biosecurity Activity through the 2022/23 Annual Plan process.

The draft revised Operational Plan is attached for the Committees consideration.

3. Considerations

3.1 Risks and Mitigations

This paper proposes lowering the level of service for non-RPMP pest work within the Biosecurity Activity in order to fund the new pest programmes added to the RPMP.

The affected non-RPMP pest work includes advice and support for Advisory Pests listed in Appendix 1 of the RPMP and surveillance for new-to-region pests. There will be a short term risk that a new pest inclusion, which may have been detected through new-to-region surveillance programme, may establish and become more costly in the long term to manage. Given the short term nature of this proposed lower level of service we believe this risk is minor.

3.2 Climate Change

The matters addressed in this report are of a procedural nature and there is no need to consider climate change impacts, though it is noted that the pest management activities generally have positive effects on climate change.

3.3 Implications for Māori

Council will continue to look for opportunities to engage and partner with Māori in delivering the new pest programmes, in particular to support reinvasion of pests from neighbouring lands to any site of interest. We have also began discussions with Kaimai Kauri, a hapū led initiative, to expand kauri dieback surveillance and mitigation work out from the Kaimai Ranges and into private lands.

3.4 Community Engagement

Engagement with the community is not required as the recommended decision relates to internal procedural Council matters only.

The new pests added to the Sustained Control programme and the new rule 5A are specifically aimed at supporting community-led ecosystem restoration initiatives from pests reinvading sites from neighbouring land.

3.5 Financial Implications

As already reported to Council, staff have estimated a budget impact of $130,000 to the Biosecurity Activity Budget from added the additional programmes to the RPMP. To address this impact in the long term staff will be asking Council to consider adding the needed funding to the Biosecurity budget through the 2022/23 Annual Plan process.

The potential shortfall in funding for the 2021/22 financial year (from the intended operative date of 7 December 2021 of the modified RPMP) is $75,450. Staff propose reallocating funding within the biosecurity budget from non-RPMP work to the new RPMP pest programmes. Note, this will result in a lower level of service for advice and support Advisory Pests and new-to-region pest surveillance.

4. Next Steps

Assuming the Committee approves the draft revised 2021/22 Operational Plan for the RPMP, staff will commence implementation immediately following the revised RPMP being made operative.

Attachments

Attachment 1 - Revised Regional Pest Management Plan Operational Plan 2022 - DRAFT ⇩



Report To:	Monitoring and Operations Committee
Meeting Date:	7 December 2021
Report Writer:	Reuben Fraser, Consents Manager
Report Authoriser:	Sarah Omundsen, General Manager, Regulatory Services
Purpose:	To provide information relating to a recent review of Ballance Agri-Nutrients air discharge consent.

Ballance Agri-Nutrients Limited Air Discharge Review

Executive Summary

A review of Ballance Agri-Nutrient Limited’s sulphur dioxide air discharge consent has been completed. The review has resulted in a reduction in discharge limits as well as new reporting and control conditions. The review has implications for other dischargers of sulphur dioxide in the Mount Maunganui area. Overall, the review of the discharge limits of the consent and associated plant upgrades will improve ambient air quality.

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Ballance Agri-Nutrients Limited Air Discharge Review.

1. Introduction

A review of Ballance Agri-Nutrients Limited’s (Ballance) air discharge consent has been completed after lengthy and complex modelling of their SO2 discharge and the cumulative discharges of SO2 from other industries. The review was initiated in 2018 following an investigation into an SO2 discharge incident which resulted in two people requiring medical attention. This incident was due to a plant malfunction.

Ballance's discharge limits have changed as follows:

1. Removal of the start-up discharge allowance of 130kg SO2/h - start up maximum discharge shall not exceed 40kg/h, a reduction of 69%.

2. Reduction of the continuous operating discharge of SO2 from 90kg/h to 40kg/h, a reduction of 55%. Ballance have been operating well below this limit since the installation of the new converter and catalyst.

In addition to the reduced limits, new reporting and control conditions have been added. In summary these include:

1. An instantaneous trip on the fuel source to the SO2 burner if the discharge reaches 1 kg/min

2. Monthly reporting of the discharges from the acid plant stack (2 min and 1 hour averages)

3. A requirement to continue the monitoring at Whareroa Marae, for the remaining term of the consent and report this data to BOPRC. An alarm shall be placed on the monitor.

The attached officer’s report contains details of the background, the reasons for the review, the process followed, the decisions made, the statutory framework, and the resulting changes.

It is important to note that this review solely focussed on sulphur dioxide (SO2) which is only one of the contaminants Council is working on in the airshed, and the gazetted polluted status currently relates to particulate matter.

The review does impact the consent applications from Lawter NZ Limited (Lawter) and Waste Management New Zealand (Waste Management) that are currently being processed (both applications are on hold for further information). Lawter will need to reduce their SO2 emissions.

The modelling that informed this review looked at the discharges of Ballance, Lawter and Waste Management as well as background SO2 from other sources (vehicles, ships at the port and other industry) in terms of effects on the Whareroa Marae community (as the closest sensitive receptor) and the likelihood of cumulatively breaching the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ).

The modelling of the revised emissions indicates there will not be any breaches of the NESAQ at Whareroa Marae from the discharge by itself or cumulativelyLegislative Framework

This review has been carried out under section 128 of the Resource Management Act 1991.

1.1 Alignment with Strategic Framework

A Healthy Environment

We manage our natural resources effectively through regulation, education and action.

1.1.1 Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

Medium - Positive

þ Cultural

Medium - Positive

2. Considerations

2.1 Risks and Mitigations

No relevant risks or mitigations have been identified.

2.2 Climate Change

The matters addressed in this report are of a procedural nature and there is no need to consider climate change impacts.

2.3 Implications for Māori

Ballance was discharging SO2 close to their consented maximum (90kg/h). Site upgrades and a proposed new SO2 limit, have reduced the discharge by more than 55%, which has greatly improved the ambient air quality. Modelling indicates that by itself or cumulatively there will be no exceedances of the NESAQ thresholds at the Whareroa Marae, which has been supported by the monitoring data from the monitors located at the Marae.

The upgrades have included alarms and automated trips to ensure that process failures do not cause an accidental release. Overall, the upgrades and review of the discharge limits of the consent will improve ambient air quality.

In addition, the review has resulted in cumulative modelling of neighbouring discharges, which will be used in the processing of their consents and will result in an overall reduction in the consented SO2 discharges in the area.

2.4 Community Engagement

Engagement with the community is not required as the report relates to internal Council process matters only.

Notification decisions for reviews are dictated by the Resource Management Act 1991. In this case, as the review did not lead to any adverse effects and resulted in improvement environmental outcomes, notification was not required.

2.5 Financial Implications

There are no material unbudgeted financial implications and this fits within the allocated budget. The costs of the review are recovered from Ballance, with the costs of the modelling shared between Ballance, Lawter, and Waste Management.

3. Next Steps

The next steps are to carry on with the processing of the Lawter and Waste Management replacement applications, which are both on hold awaiting further information.

Attachments

Attachment 1 - 64800 s42A Officers Report for s128 Review ⇩



Report To:	Monitoring and Operations Committee
Meeting Date:	7 December 2021
Report Writer:	Reece Irving, Senior Regulatory Project Officer
Report Authoriser:	Sarah Omundsen, General Manager, Regulatory Services
Purpose:	To update the Monitoring and Operations Committee on activities underway to improve air quality and the overall environment in the Mount Maunganui Airshed.

Mount Maunganui Industrial Airshed Update

Executive Summary

This report provides an update on activities undertaken to improve air quality and the wider environment in the Mount Maunganui industrial area and airshed. The report covers the period from mid-August until mid-November 2021.

During this reporting period, no breaches of the PM10 or SO₂National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ) were recorded at any of the Mount Maunganui monitoring sites. An application to the Ministry for the Environment for a dispensation for two June PM₁₀exceedances likely to have been caused by heavy sea fog has been approved.

The total number of confirmed PM10 exceedances remains at five for the 2021 reporting period to date, compared with 19 in 2019 and nine in 2020. Only one exceedance per year is allowed under the NESAQ.

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Mount Maunganui Industrial Airshed Update.

1. Introduction

This update continues the regular reporting on activities and actions undertaken to mitigate the impacts of industrial discharges to air and the wider environment in the Mount Maunganui industrial area. Air quality in the area has been perceived as degrading over time as industrial activities and vehicle movements have increased significantly in recent years.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council has an extensive work programme underway to improve air quality in this area. Measured breaches of National Environmental Standards for PM₁₀ and SO₂ have been reducing year on year, however the community remain concerned that airshed pollution is impacting human health. The objectives of the programme are:

Short term: meet our legislative requirements for air, land and water quality

Long term: deliver on the community’s expectation to live in a healthy environment

1.1 Legislative Framework

The Mount Maunganui Airshed was gazetted as a polluted airshed under the NESAQ Regulations 2004, coming into effect in November 2019. The gazetting was based on breaches of the limits for fine particulate matter, PM₁₀. As per the regulations, five continuous years with no NESAQ PM₁₀ breaches must be recorded for the polluted status to be reviewed.

1.2 Alignment with Strategic Framework

A Healthy Environment	We develop and implement regional plans and policy to protect our natural environment.
Freshwater for Life	We collaborate with others to maintain and improve our water resource for future generations.
Safe and Resilient Communities	We work with our partners to develop plans and policies, and we lead and enable our communities to respond and recover from an emergency.
A Vibrant Region	We work with and connect the right people to create a prosperous region and economy.
The Way We Work	We look to partnerships for best outcomes.

1.2.1 Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

Medium - Positive

þ Cultural

High - Positive

þ Social

High - Positive

þ Economic

Low - Negative

2. Updates

2.1 Monitoring and exceedances in the current period

The full list of PM₁₀ exceedances since the monitoring network was established is included in Attachment 1. Investigations of these exceedances have shown a single pollution source is seldom the cause and the cumulative effect of emissions from multiple sources is generally responsible.

During this reporting period, no PM₁₀ National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ) exceedances were recorded at any Mount industrial monitoring site. We received a decision from the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) on an application made for dispensation on two exceedances detected at the Rata Street site in June which were attributed to high natural salt concentrations in heavy sea fog which blanketed Mt Maunganui. The decision accepted these exceedances met the criteria for exceptional circumstances and will not count towards our annual total.

2.2 Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party

Two meetings of the Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party have been held since the last report to this Committee in August 2021.

9 September 2021: The focus of the meeting was on updates from MfE, as well as regional consents. The minutes of the meeting are included at Attachment 2. It was agreed at this meeting to undertake a survey of all members to determine whether or not the Working Party should continue and if so, understand what is working and what could be improved. The results of the survey are at Attachment 3.

11 November 2021: The focus of the meeting was an analysis of the impact of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) reassessment of methyl bromide, for which there were several guest presenters and a group discussion to follow. A short workshop was also held on the future of the Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party, given the results of the survey and what it should achieve if it is to continue going forward. The broad agreement of delegates was that it is worth the Working Party continuing in 2022 and further goals need to be defined in the coming year.

2.3 Mount Industrial Area PFAS investigation

Following the discovery of PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) in soil and groundwater within the Mount Maunganui industrial area, Regional Council engaged Aurecon consultants to complete urgent sampling for PFAS in groundwater, drinking water, surface water, soil and sediments in and around the Whareroa Marae. The results of the Phase One sampling showed PFAS substances were not detected in the samples, with the exception of surface water and sediment within the open drain between the industrial area and the airport. However, these low concentrations did not exceed the adopted recreational human health guidelines.

This discovery highlighted the need to carry out a more extensive investigation of the wider Mount Maunganui industrial area to understand the sources and extent of contamination. The work has commenced with a review of existing information and data, where available. This information will then be used to develop a comprehensive plan for further sampling and analysis, as well as management of the contaminant going forward.

2.4 Communications and Media

Off the back of the Monitoring and Operations Committee meeting held on 7 September 2021, we distributed a media release about air quality data showing that dust pollution (not odour) is on the decline in the Mount Maunganui industrial area. We published a similarly themed Facebook post which was later shared by Clear the Air community group.

Prior to the most recent Bay of Plenty lockdown (August 2021), Clear the Air were in the process of organising a community meeting with all of industry to be invited. New restrictions and potential risk saw this idea put on hold. In the meantime a factsheet was developed for Clear the Air by BOPRC, addressing a number of concerns they have, namely about odour related to the manufacture of bitumen. This was shared with Clear the Air, and hosted on our website, on 29 September. We also used this opportunity to update our website content to better reflect what was of interest to the community impacted.

2.5 Policy Matters

A high-level framework of provisions for Plan Change 18 – Mount Maunganui Airshed (PC 18) is being formulated to inform the draft Plan change. Regional Council has also agreed to fund independent planning expertise to assist Whareroa marae and Ngāti Kuku to articulate their values in relation to the plan change. Since the last report there has been little change to the formulation of PC 18 due to Plan Change 13 – Air Quality (PC 13) remaining before the Environment Court, and a series of developments involving central government legislation and external agencies, which are affecting its preparation.

For PC 13, the bulk solid materials rule (AQ R22) and definition remain under appeal and were subject to an Environment Court hearing in October 2020. The Court’s decision has not yet been notified therefore this matter is still confidential. Given the importance of AQ R22 to industrial activities within the Airshed, the Court’s decision on this rule will inform PC 18, this is due to the complementary nature of the two plan changes.

To ensure consistency within the Regional Natural Resources Plan, PC 18’s progress will be limited until the resolution of the remaining PC 13 appeal which, in turn, requires clarity in relation to the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality, which are in the process of being amended by the Ministry for the Environment. The NESAQ amendments are themselves reliant on Ministry analysis of two other sources of information: an impending national air quality study, “Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand”, and the World Health Organization’s “Global Air Quality Guidelines”, released in late September (see paper on the guidelines in this agenda pack).

Council staff have been in regular contact with the Ministry in order to obtain updates on the timing of the possible release of the NESAQ amendments, and in particular in relation to Regulation 17. The Ministry website initially suggested that the NESAQ would be released by mid-2021, but Council staff now understands that there is now no definite timeline for their release.

In mid-October, a letter was sent to the Associate Minister (Attachment 4) noting that the delays to the NESAQ amendments are hindering Council introducing provisions to improve air quality within the Airshed, and requesting that the NESAQ be released as soon as possible.

Once the matters detailed above, which have delayed the development of PC 18, are resolved, the draft framework will be updated to reflect their requirements, and it will be discussed with key stakeholders in the Airshed, and their feedback sought.

2.6 Consents

There are currently nine businesses that have applied for new consents, or are undergoing reviews of existing consents for discharge to air, land or water, within the Mount Industrial air shed. There has been limited change in the status of these applications since last reported on, with the exception of the two mentioned below:

Ziwi: Submissions closed on 28th June 2021 after the application was publically notified. The applicant is currently conducting further odour mitigation testing with the aim of providing further supporting evidence for a hearing. The hearing scheduled for 2nd and 3rd December 2021, has been postponed to March 2022 to allow for completion of the testing of the treatment equipment installed to mitigate odour.

Stolthaven: Consent has been granted for the disturbance of contaminated ground required for the installation of two new tanks. The consent is for a restricted discretionary activity and the matters of consideration are limited to the disturbance methodology and any remediation proposed.

2.7 Compliance

2.7.1 Pollution Hotline calls received and responded to during reporting period

During the reporting period 111 calls were received through the Pollution Hotline relating to events within the Mount Industrial Airshed. Of these, 100 related to air quality, with 82 relating to odour which remains the main cause of calls to the Pollution Hotline. Over 43% of odour complaints relate to the pet food rendering processes at Ziwi Limited.

Pollution Hotline Complaint Categories 10 August to 8 November 2021 – Mount Industrial Area
Category	# calls	% calls
Coastal	4	4
Water and Land	7	6
Air	99	90
Total	110	100
Pollution Hotline Complaint Sub-Categories 10 August to 8 November 2021 – Mount Industrial Area
Sub-Category	# calls	% calls
Water & Land - Discharges to Land	3	3
Coastal - Discharges	4	4
Water & Land - Discharges to Water	4	4
Air - Smoke	4	4
Air - Industrial	6	5
Air - Dust	8	7
Air - Odour	82	74
Total	111	100

2.8 Industrial Activity updates

2.8.1 Activities at the Port of Tauranga

A new bunker barge was brought in to the Port to supply low sulphur fuel to container vessels at Sulphur Point as there are no bunk lines at these wharves like there are at the Mount wharves. Low sulphur fuels are also being supplied through the bunk line infrastructure on the Mount side.

Additional wind fences

Three new wind-break fences with a total combined length of approximately 770 metres will be installed at the Port of Tauranga to assist in dust mitigation in the coming months. This will bring the combined total length of all Port of Tauranga wind break fences to approximately 1.7 kilometres. The additional wind break fences were planned to be installed in late winter prior to high risk dust periods, however, have been significantly delayed by COVID-19 restrictions.

PM₁₀ improvements

Port of Tauranga reports there has been no PM10 exceedances linked directly and solely to activities undertaken on Port land since 13 December 2020. However, the coming summer months present a higher risk for the generation of air borne particulate at the Port. Therefore, dusty activities are being closely monitored and further opportunities to reduce air borne particulate are being investigated and implemented where possible.

Reductions in ambient Sulphur Dioxide levels as a result of international vessels use of low sulphur fuels

Sulphur Dioxide (SO₂) concentration levels measured adjacent the Port have significantly reduced since the majority of vessels visiting the Port moved to low sulphur fuels as of 1 January 2020. Whilst New Zealand flagged vessels are not yet required to use low sulphur fuels, international vessels are largely using low sulphur fuels or exhaust scrubbing technologies as a result of their countries of origin enacting MARPOL standards in some form. While the absence of cruise ships at the port certainly helps, it should be noted that cruise vessels called at the Port until mid-March 2020, whereas reductions in SO₂ became evident on 1 January 2020. In addition to this, reductions in SO₂ have also been identified at air quality monitors located considerable distances to cruise ship berths at the Port.

2.8.2 Dust mitigation developments

As part of the Ports risk assessment regarding communities concerns around dust there is now priority around using misting hoppers when discharging dry bulk materials, along with new grabs (allowing slow release of material into hoppers). The improved handling of discharges this has seen a drop dust issues associated with the discharge of dry bulk materials.

Figure 1: Mechanical grab and misting hopper being utilised during dry bulk material discharge

The Port have again increased their environmental team by employing an additional environmental technician. This takes their environmental team from one FTE staff member in 2018 to currently four and shows a commitment to improving environmental issues relating to the port itself and users within the port.

2.8.3 Activities at Ballance Agri-nutrients

Ballance Agri-nutrients continue with a proactive investment program to address dust issues associated with their site. In recent months some of the activities undertaken by Ballance have included:

· Covering their intake conveyor infrastructure with a scaffold structure and shrink wrap with an enclosed a structure 21m long x 8m wide x 5m high at a cost of $35,000. See Figure 2.This temporary structure was erected to trial the effectiveness of enclosing the intake grid when Mount operations receives dusty raw material from a ship discharge. Undertaking analysis of the data captured by Ballance air quality monitors has confirmed the enclosures are providing excellent effectiveness against fugitive dust discharge, Work is to be undertaken to develop a more permanent long-term solution.

Ballance1

Figure 2: Temporary covering on intake structures to supress dust

· Investment in Burnley baffles on grids at a cost of $100,000. The baffles are designed to reduce dust generation by 50% when product is discharged from trucks to the intake hopper. The baffles are balanced and open/close with very little effort. Opening to allow product to pass through, they close with the rapid air-displacement of the discharge, thus reducing dust emissions (Figures 3 & 4). If the baffles currently installed are successful, Mount Operations will invest in the installation of baffles in the remaining two intake grids at the Mount fertiliser works.

Figure 3: Burnley Baffles installed on an intake grid

Ballance3

Figure 4: Burnley baffles being installed at intake grid #1

· Ballance have invested in enclosing of the dispatch weighbridge at a cost of $1,000,000 with an additional $750,000 still to be spent on installing the a baghouse, (Figure 5). When trucks are loaded with finished product, fines and dust become airborne. Data has shown that containing the dust and fines within the dispatch area will have significant impact on site PM10 emissions. Originally water misters were installed to create a barrier and wet and weigh the product down. This method was partially effective but prone to weather and wind could greatly alter effectiveness. The weighbridge enclosure is fitted with rapid roll doors which have been installed but are not yet functional due to COVID delays.

Ballance4

Figure 5: Weighbridge has been enclosed with rapid shut doors installed

In addition to above the Ballance site business plan includes measurable reduction in dust. Most managers on site have annual Goals and Objectives directly attributed to dust mitigation.

2.9 Black dust issues at Mount Maunganui

The Mount Maunganui area can experience elevated levels of nuisance dust (often referred to as black dust but more accurately described as urban dust) and particular dust events when certain activity and meteorological conditions co-exist. The composition of most of this dust does not point to any one particular source(s), but rather to a range of contributing sources.

Certain operations within the Port and other industrial activities within the Airshed can result in issues offsite if not well managed. Activities such as volumes of heavy traffic supporting the operation of the Port, shipping, light vehicle traffic, smaller commercial and industrial activities can also contribute to elevated levels of urban dust.

To date collected dust samples and associated information indicate that the base and majority of most of the samples can be defined as typical urban dust, however due to the elevated level of activity in the area (compared with other urban centres within the Region), the quantities are often enhanced to a point where they become a regular visual nuisance if meteorological conditions are conducive.

More recent continuous monitoring of Total Suspended Particulates (TSP)*, within the Mount Maunganui Airshed, particularly around the boundary of the main Port activity, shows that levels of TSP have reduced over the last 5 years when investigating the Totara Street site dataset.

Other sites within the Airshed show values which are typically below the MfE guideline value for sensitive receiving environments (200ug/m3 1 hour). Polar plots illustrated below also give a direction component to the recorded TSP data, these plots show the aforementioned sources.

Additional particle monitoring and analysis within the residential area will further refine Councils understanding of the exposure within this area and the influence of a large industrial zoned area located adjacent to recreational and residential areas.

2.10 EPA reassessment of Methyl Bromide

The EPA decision on Methyl Bromide, released on 18 August 2021 contains a range of mandatory controls such as increasing recapture before venting and increasing buffer distances. e.g. for ships the buffer increased from 100m to 900m, while for log fumigation with no recapture it increased from 50m to between 515 and 700m (depending on the concentration used).

The greatest impact of the EPA decision will be on log fumigation at the Port of Tauranga (the Port). The new buffer distances will make it very difficult to continue with the existing process of methyl bromide fumigation at the Port, for anything other than container fumigation. More effective recapture technology (e.g. carbon) with log fumigations may allow for reduced buffer distances and thus continued Methyl Bromide use.

Other forms of treatment such as Phosphine fumigation (in transit) and debarking of logs will now be increased and there will be a renewed focus on negotiating an alternative treatment model (e.g. lower fumigation concentrations) with our main log export markets.

Ethanedinitrile (EDN) is also currently being assessed by the EPA for use as an alternative fumigant in New Zealand. The EPA hearing reconvenes 25 November 2021.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is processing fumigation resource consent applications to replace existing resource consents. These consent applications are likely to be publicly notified with hearings held next year and will draw heavily on the evidence presented to the EPA for assessing both methyl bromide and EDN.

2.11 Methyl Bromide quantities in New Zealand

The tables below present the amount of methyl bromide used by various NZ Ports in 2019, as presented in the most recent data provided by the PCBU’s to WorkSafe.

Although the figures suggest the amount of methyl bromide used at the Port of Tauranga in 2019 was considerably less than used at the other two Ports, the figures provided excludes fumigations for which recapture technology was used. The total methyl bromide use at the Port of Tauranga, including when recapture was used, was approximately 193 tonnes.

Port of Tauranga

Napier Port

NorthPort

Other sites which used a significant quality, albeit not at a Port location include:

Guru NZ, Saville Drive, Mangere.

Mangere Log yard, Auckland

3. Considerations

3.1 Climate Change

Improving air quality in the Mount Maunganui Industrial Area will not in and of itself impact on climate change. However, cleaner air will certainly ensure potential effects from contaminant discharges will be mitigated. In particular, methyl bromide is an ozone depleting substance and having strict controls on its use as guided by the EPA is important.

3.2 Implications for Māori

Ngāi Tukairangi and Ngāti Kuku ki Whareroa are the Ngāi Te Rangi hapū affiliated with Whareroa Marae and with whom Regional Council staff have been endeavouring to foster closer relationships to ensure council actions will have direct and positive impacts on the Taiaho Place and papakainga communities. Staff have also been working hard to ensure the communities are connected with agencies such as Ministry for the Environment and Toi te Ora and surrounding business and industry.

The establishment of the Air Quality Working Party has provided another platform for engagement with iwi and hapū and for their concerns to be heard around a wider table. This is a space of ongoing commitment from all parties involved as there is clearly still a degree of distrust of government agencies and actions held by the Whareroa community.

3.3 Community Engagement

INVOLVE

Whakaura

To work directly with affected communities throughout the process to ensure that their issues and concerns are consistently understood and fully considered in Council’s decision making.

3.4 Financial Implications

The cost to implement PM_2.5monitoring over a 5yr term is $55000 per site, assuming the additional equipment can fit within the existing housing. The 5 year operation is the term that WaterCare normally work on and they spread the cost of the instruments over this term. The total cost to have PM_2.5over the entire network is $385,000.

Further investigations and sampling of PFAS in the industrial area will require additional funding of $100,000 and this is being sought through the 2022/23 Annual Plan.

4. Next Steps

Staff will continue to update this Committee on all work underway to improve air quality in the Mount Maunganui Industrial Area. There is a wider focus on all environmental discharges and ensuring the minimal impact on human health resulting from industrial activity. The six monthly updates on these works requested by the Minister for the Environment from Bay of Plenty Regional Council on this work continues to be provided with the next due in mid-December.

Attachments

Attachment 1 - Mount Maunganui Airshed PM10 exceedances at November 2021 ⇩

Attachment 2 - 2021-09-09 Final Working Party Meeting Minutes ⇩

Attachment 3 - Overview of the Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party Survey ⇩

Attachment 4 - Request for Release of amended National Environmental Standards for Air Quality ⇩



Report To:	Monitoring and Operations Committee
Meeting Date:	7 December 2021
Report Writer:	Marion Henton, Senior Regulatory Project Officer
Report Authoriser:	Sarah Omundsen, General Manager, Regulatory Services
Purpose:	To provide a summary of the Rotorua Air Quality Implementation Programme that ended on 30 June 2021.

Rotorua Air Quality Implementation Programme Summary

Executive Summary

This report is a summary of the journey of the Rotorua Air Quality Implementation Programme (“the Programme”). It covers:

· The starting point – Rotorua had the worst air quality in the North Island, mainly caused by smoke from solid fuel burners^{^[1]} (SFBs) used for home heating. High pollution days exceeded the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NES-AQ).

· Council’s approach to the problem - heating loans and grants supported SFB regulations. Council funded the Programme until 30 June 2021. Replacing old SFBs with cleaner technology was the focus.

· Repositioning of the Programme – included regular reviews. An engage, educate and encourage compliance approach was taken. Attachment 1 summarises Airshed SFB regulations and Council incentives.

· The end point – the Airshed has met the PM₁₀ NES-AQ for the second consecutive year. The success of the Programme is attributed to: Council’s long-term approach; collaboration from external agencies; inter-group Council support; and 85% of the community replacing their old burners with cleaner technology (Attachment 2).

· Pending changes problematic for the Rotorua Airshed – the Government’s review of the NES-AQ has been identified as a risk for Council. The government indicated a shift from monitoring coarser particles (PM₁₀) to finer particles (PM_2.5). Modelling of Airshed PM_2.5indicates it will not meet the proposed NES-AQ, nor the World Health Organisation Global Air Quality Guidelines (if embedded into the NES-AQ).

· Mitigation approach to the Rotorua Airshed not meeting the proposed NES-AQ – staff will take a firmer approach to compliance and enforcement and will implement Stage 3 of the Rotorua Airshed Air Quality Compliance and Enforcement Plan. Future pollution reduction mechanisms will be considered. External partnerships, Regional Council inter-group collaboration and community engagement will remain a focus.

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

· Receives the report, Rotorua Air Quality Implementation Programme Summary.

1. Introduction

Poor air quality can affect the health of a community. The most vulnerable to its effect are the young, the elderly, and those with respiratory/cardiovascular illnesses.

In 2004 the Government brought in National Environmental Standards for Air Quality^{^[2]} (NES-AQ) to help make the air cleaner and improve community health. The Rotorua urban area is a gazetted airshed (“the Airshed”) and the main source of pollution is smoke from solid fuel burners (SFBs) used for home heating.

Excluding 2011, Rotorua had the worst air quality in the North Island from 2007 to 2018 (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 – Rotorua versus Tokoroa Airshed Number of PM₁₀ exceedances per year

This report is a summary of the journey of the Rotorua Air Quality Implementation Programme (“the Programme”).

1.1 Legislative Framework

· Resource Management Act 1991 s30 (f) Function of regional councils to control discharges of contaminants to air

· Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Air Quality) Regulations 2004

· Rotorua Air Quality Control Bylaw 2010 (reviewed in 2017 and still in force)

· Proposed Plan Change 13 (Air Quality) to the Regional Natural Resources Plan

1.2 Alignment with Strategic Framework

A Healthy Environment

We manage our natural resources effectively through regulation, education and action.

The Way We Work

We use robust information, science and technology.

We look to partnerships for best outcomes.

1.2.1 Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

Medium - Positive

þ Cultural

Low - Positive

þ Social

Low - Positive

þ Economic

Low - Positive

2. The journey

2.1 The starting point (modelling and the extent of the problem)

Rotorua had the worst air quality in the North Island between 2007 and 2018 (excluding 2011). To improve Rotorua’s air quality sufficiently to meet the NES-AQ, Airshed modelling identified the need to remove at least 60 tonnes of particulate matter (PM₁₀ - particles with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less) or a 60% reduction in domestic solid fuel burner emissions. To reduce emissions, converting old, inefficient burners to cleaner technology^{^[3]} became the focus.

In 2005 staff coordinated a domestic heating survey to determine the number of non-compliant SFBs in the Airshed. That study concluded there were 8,500^{^[4]} (this was confirmed in the 2006 census data).

2.2 Council’s approach to the problem

Faced with the task of removing and/or replacing thousands of old burners Council:

· Agreed to take a long-term carrot and stick approach (SFB regulations would be supported by financial incentives)

· Opted to phase-in SFB regulations slowly to give the community a long lead-in time before non-compliant burner-use would be banned (10 years+)

· Took into account Rotorua’s socioeconomic environment (in 2010 Council provided 10-year interest-free heating loans)

· Considered property ownership (as 50% of the Airshed properties were rentals Council assisted landlords with heating loans)

· Agreed to fund the Programme until 30 June 2021

· Drafted a Rotorua Air Quality Action Plan

· Worked with key stakeholders to form the Rotorua Air Quality Working Party. Members represent Rotorua Lakes Council (RLC), the Regional Council, the District Health Board (DHB) and Kainga Ora (formally called Housing NZ)

· Worked collaboratively with RLC to establish the Rotorua Air Quality Control Bylaw 2010. Through a transfer of powers the Regional Council administer and enforce the Bylaw which is still in force.

2.3 Repositioning the programme over the years

Over the years the Programme was regularly evaluated and repositioned. One solution for all did not work in the Rotorua Airshed. Each group had different needs and requirements.

2.3.1 SFB regulations and funding incentive changes

Attachment 1 provides a summary of SFB regulations and Council’s incentives.

Incentives were regularly reviewed and/or new ones developed to accommodate:

· Rotorua’s older housing having no insulation. Insulation was seen as a pathway to clean heat. Council added insulation to their schemes so heat pumps could be installed into insulated properties.

· Council developed grants to mitigate the affordability barrier - low-income owner-occupiers who could not afford to replace their heating (or make loan repayments) were offered grants.

· Better appliances in terms of emissions were favoured (zero emission appliances received zero interest loans while loans for appliances that contributed emissions became interest-bearing). This shift incentivised heat pumps over woodburners.

· Fit-for-purpose heating solutions for property owners (Home Performance Advisors were used who considered the location, condition of the property, and the occupants’ specific requirements).

· A reduction in smoke to improve air quality. Under the free schemes owners weren’t offered brand choice, instead, they received the cleanest devices available.

· A reduction in Council costs – co-funded partnerships were utilised. When shared funding was not available Council purchased ultra-low emission burners and heat pumps directly from the manufacturers to reduce costs.

2.3.2 Programme promotion and implementation changes

Over the years the Programme was extensively promoted to help the community understand the problem and change their non-compliant heating.

Staff took an engage, educate and encourage compliance approach. Examples included: home shows; attending community days; presentations to clubs/health agencies; working with government agencies; liaising with sector/industry groups; and sending individual ratepayer letters to ensure everyone knew what was expected, help available, and compliance deadlines.

Staff focused on getting as many non-compliant SFBs replaced as possible in preparation for the 31 January 2020 Plan Change 13 (Air Quality) rule (that banned all non-compliant SFB use in the Airshed). The approach included:

· Making it easy to replace SFBs that had been illegally installed (by the owners). Regional Council staff verified SFBs when RLC had no record of them thus allowing owners to apply for a building consent to replace them.

· Verifying inoperable SFBs for replacement.

· Making conditions of resource consent applications to install new^{^[5]} woodburners into the Rotorua Airshed ‘easier’ than PC13 specifies.

· Allowing temporary use of non-compliant burners during COVID disruptions.

2.3.3 Partner agency involvement over the years

When possible the Programme partnered with other insulation/heating schemes to leverage funding. Key stakeholders RLC, Kainga Ora and EECA require special acknowledgement for their contribution to the success of the Programme.

Between 2009 and 2019 Kainga Ora systematically retrofitted 600 Airshed properties with compliant heating.

With RLC’s support the Rotorua Air Quality Control Bylaw came into force in 2010 and was reviewed in 2017. The Bylaw’s Point of Sale rule has removed more than 1200 non-compliant burners from the Airshed.

EECA made retrofitting insulation and heating affordable for homeowners and greatly reduced the Regional Council’s grant costs. Rather than fund the work 100%, Council ‘topped-up’ the unfunded (10-33%) EECA portion.

2.4 The end point (as at 30 June 2021) – a successful result

For the second consecutive year the Airshed has met the PM₁₀ NES-AQ (refer to Figure 2). There were zero PM₁₀ exceedances^{^[6]} in 2021 – a very encouraging result!

The success of the Programme is attributed to:

· Council’s 10-year phase-in of SFB regulations – the community had time to adjust

· 10 years of incentives (loans and grants) bridged the affordability barrier

· Collaboration and support from external partner agencies e.g. RLC, Kainga Ora, the DHB and EECA

· Regional Council internal inter-group support and participation (science, environmental data services, finance, policy and planning, compliance, consents, communications, commercial and IT technical services)

· The majority (85%) of the Rotorua community replacing their old, smoky fires with cleaner technology.

Figure 2 – Record of Rotorua Airshed PM₁₀ Exceedances (recorded at Edmund Road)

Attachment 2 is an infographic that summarises accomplishments since 2007.

3. Pending changes problematic for the Airshed

3.1 Government reviewing the NES-AQ (National effect)

Concurrent to the Rotorua Airshed meeting the NES-AQ the Government signalled a review of the NES-AQ. They indicated a shift from monitoring the coarser particles (PM₁₀) to the finer particles (PM_2.5) to protect human health^{^[7]}.

While most councils support the rationale for the move from PM₁₀ to PM_2.5itwill be problematic for NZ towns/cities if their main source of air pollution is smoke from SFBs^{^[8]}.

The national effect of a NES-AQ shift from PM₁₀ to PM_2.5is likely to cause:

· Gazetted airsheds that are currently meeting the PM₁₀NES-AQ could fail to meet the proposed PM_2.5 NES-AQ

· Regional councils across New Zealand, who currently have no airsheds, could be faced with new airsheds in their region as a result of PM_2.5exceedances

· Regional councils with existing airsheds face an increased number of gazetted airsheds within their regions.

3.2 Government reviewing the NES-AQ (Rotorua Airshed effect)

Modelling for PM_2.5in the Rotorua airshedbegan in 2019 in anticipation of the proposed change to the NES-AQ.

To show the Committee the effect of a move from PM₁₀ to PM_2.5on the number of Rotorua Airshed exceedances Council’s Environmental Data Services team prepared some graphs using Edmund Road data (refer to Figures 3 and 4).

Figure 3 – Daily Mean PM₁₀ from 2019 with WHO interim/AQG values

Figure 4 – Daily Mean PM_2.5 from 2019 with WHO interim/AQG values

The modelling indicates the Rotorua Airshed would not have met the proposed PM_2.5 NES-AQ (25 µg/m³). This information can be viewed in Figure 4 – line Proposed NES-AQ Interim 4 (25 µg/m³). The number of PM_2.5exceedances is summarised in Table 1.

Table 1 - Count of PM_2.524-hour exceedances per year

Location of monitoring equipment	2019	2020	2021
Edmund Road	25	14	7

3.3 World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Air Quality Guidelines

There has been a further development in that the Government advised councils they were waiting for the 2021 WHO-AQG to be released before releasing their proposed NES-AQ. This provides them with an opportunity to align the revised NES-AQ to the WHO-AQG recommendations.

The WHO-AQG have subsequently been released and propose an interim target approach. The WHO definition of “interim target” is as follows:

Interim targets serve as incremental steps in the progressive reduction of air pollution towards the air quality guideline levels and are intended for use in areas where air pollution is high. In other words, they are air pollutant levels that are higher than the air quality guideline levels, but which authorities in highly polluted areas can use to develop pollution reduction policies that are achievable within realistic timeframes. The interim targets should be regarded as steps towards ultimately achieving air quality guideline levels, rather than as end targets.

The WHO AQG include a target for even finer particulate matter - a <15 µg/m³target. This information can be viewed in Figure 4 – line AQG level (15 µg/m³). The number of PM_1.5exceedances is summarised in Table 2.

Table 2 - Count of PM_1.524-hour exceedances per year

Location of monitoring equipment	2019	2020	2021
Edmund Road	58	43	47

3.4 Summary of the impact of the NES-AQ review and the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines on the Rotorua Airshed

To summarise the impact on the Airshed:

· The last three years of Rotorua’s Edmund Road PM_2.5modelling indicates the Airshed will not meet central government’s initial proposal – a shift from PM₁₀ to PM_2.5(25 µg/m3). The Airshed will require more pollution reduction measures of air pollution generated by combustion of wood to meet the proposed move to PM_2.5. The last three years of PM_2.5exceedancesshow the numbers tracking down. With more pollution reduction measures it is reasonable to expect the Airshed could meet the government’s proposed PM_2.5standards within a realistic timeframe - and there would be an end date.

· If the government include the WHO-AQG interim targets in their revised NES-AQ the Airshed will still require pollution reduction and/or elimination measures of air pollution generated by combustion of wood. The approach, however, would be much longer-term. For example, when the Airshed reaches the <25 µg/m³ target Council’s focus would shift to meeting the <15 µg/m³target – no foreseeable end date.

4. Considerations

4.1 Risks and Mitigations

4.1.1 Risks

Modelling of Airshed PM_2.5indicates it will not meet the proposed NES-AQ, nor the WHO-AQG (if embedded into the NES-AQ). This is an identified risk for the Regional Council.

As a core function of regional councils is controlling discharges of contaminants to air the Regional Council will be required to mitigate the effects of the Rotorua Airshed not meeting the revised NES-AQ.

4.1.2 Mitigation

A soft enforcement approach was considered the right approach in 2019 when staff workshopped implementation of the Airshed SFB regulations, but now, in the current climate, and pending changes to the NES-AQ a firmer approach is more appropriate.

A key part of mitigation is implementing the Rotorua Airshed Air Quality Compliance and Enforcement Plan. The implementation timeline is set out in Table 3. Stage 3 will commence January 2022 onwards.

Table 3 - Rotorua Airshed Air Quality Compliance and Enforcement Plan Timeline

Stage 1:

December 2008 to
31 January 2021

Awareness raising and voluntary reductions

Stage 2:

February 2020 – December 2021

Light-handed enforcement and information

Stage 3:

January 2022 onwards

Active enforcement and information.

Education, information and advice:

Provide education/advice on permitted heating alternatives and available assistance

Awareness raising:

· Investigate complaints

· Education and advice

· Financial assistance

· Develop regulations

Light-handed enforcement:

· Investigate complaints

· Seek a solution

· Written warnings

· Abatement notice (if no solution is reached and the offending continues)

Active enforcement:

· Investigate complaints

· Written warnings

· Abatement notices

· Infringement notices

· Prosecutions

As well as implementing Stage 3 of the Compliance and Enforcement Plan other future mitigation measures will need to be considered. Table 4 outlines some potential options, most of which were tried and tested under the past Programme.

Table 4: Potential mitigation options could include:

Council approach	· Progressing Council’s BOP Sustainable Homes Scheme as it will provide the ‘carrot’ to support any future SFB regulations in the Rotorua Airshed
Community engagement	· Keeping the community engaged and focused on finding ways to further improve air quality · Promoting better burner operating practice · Promoting burning dry wood · Promoting the consequences of non-compliant SFB use
External agencies	· Continuing to liaise and work with external agencies (RLC, Kainga Ora, MSD, BOPDHB) · Discussing a review of the Bylaw with RLC before its 2027 review date (if more SFB regulations are required)
Internal Council staff	· A shift to a firmer enforcement approach · Maintaining internal inter-group collaboration · Maintaining the Rotorua Airshed property database (SFB location, compliance status & age) · Preparing/planning for future regulatory measures (within PC13 & the Bylaw) to meet the NES-AQ · Preparing to implement Stage 3 – active enforcement of non-compliant SFB use in 2022 · Continue monitoring and evaluating Airshed PM_2.5

4.2 Climate Change

Climate change is mitigated by improving a property’s energy efficiency. Council’s heating and insulation incentives have made thousands of Rotorua Airshed properties more energy efficient.

4.3 Implications for Māori

In 2018 the census data for Māori was 40.1% in the Rotorua district. Although the Airshed only covers the urban area, the proportion is likely to be similar. Other 2018 census data indicated:

· Māori are more likely, than the general population, to live in unhealthy homes (damp, no heating, or inefficient/high emission types of heating)

· Pacific peoples and Māori were also less likely to own their home or hold it in a family trust than other ethnic groups

· People living in damp, cold, and mouldy houses had more frequent colds and flu and were more likely to suffer from asthma. They also tended to have poorer mental wellbeing than people who lived in homes without these problems.

Council’s approach to improving air quality took into account the high proportion of Rotorua rental properties that were potentially in sub-standard condition (and occupied by Māori). Council allowed landlords (loans) and owner-occupiers (grants and loans) to retrofit dwellings with efficient heating and/or insulation. Landlords were able to take out a loan to insulate, or replace a non-compliant burner, in their rental properties prior to the Residential Tenancies (Healthy Homes Standards) Regulations 2019 coming into effect.

4.4 Community Engagement

Engagement with the community is not required as the recommended proposal / decision [relates to internal Council matters only].

4.5 Financial Implications

There are no material unbudgeted financial implications and this fits within the allocated budget.

5. Next Steps

5.1 Active enforcement (Stage 3 - Compliance & Enforcement Plan) and preparation for anticipated changes to the NES-AQ

The Rotorua community was supported financially over 10+ years to replace their non-compliant SFBs and the majority of Rotorua properties now have compliant heating. There is an expectation, from those with compliant heating, that their efforts will not be undermined.

In January 2022 Stage 3 of the Rotorua Airshed Air Quality Compliance and Enforcement Plan will be implemented which includes active enforcement of non-compliant SFB use, and a firmer stance when administering and enforcing Airshed SFB regulations (than agreed in 2019).

Table 4 outlines preparation for Stage 3 of the Compliance and Enforcement Plan and the anticipated NES-AQ shift to PM_2.5.

Table 4: Preparation - Enforcement Plan and anticipated changes to the NES-AQ

Teams	Stage 3 - Rotorua Airshed AQ Compliance and Enforcement Plan	Preparation for the NES-AQ release
Compliance	· Prepare to implement Stage 3 of the Rotorua Airshed Air Quality Compliance & Enforcement Plan · Plan Rotorua’s 2022 winter enforcement · Take a firmer approach when administering and enforcing Rotorua’s SFB regulations · Maintain the Rotorua Airshed property database which identifies SFB location, age, and compliance status · Maintain external stakeholder relationships (includes Rotorua Air Quality Working Party liaison)	· Keep the Rotorua Air Quality Working Party informed · Contribute feedback to Policy & Planning
Consents	· Take a firmer approach when administering and enforcing Rotorua’s SFB regulations	· Contribute feedback to Policy & Planning
Policy & Planning	N/A	· Consider future pollution reduction mechanisms
Science & Environmental Data Services	N/A	· Continue to monitor and evaluate Rotorua Airshed PM_2.5and PM₁₀ · Contribute feedback to Policy & Planning

Attachments

Attachment 1 - Summary Rotorua Airshed SFB Regulations and Council Incentives ⇩

Attachment 2 - 5411 Summary of Air Quality Implementation Programme - Infographic ⇩



Report To:	Monitoring and Operations Committee
Meeting Date:	7 December 2021
Report Writer:	Reece Irving, Senior Regulatory Project Officer; Shane Iremonger, Team Leader Science and Mark Hamilton, Senior Policy Analyst
Report Authoriser:	Sarah Omundsen, General Manager, Regulatory Services
Purpose:	Information only

An overview of the World Health Organisation (WHO) global air quality guidelines and Our air 2021 preliminary data release

Executive Summary

In September 2021 the World Health Organisation (WHO) released their human health-based global air quality guidelines, updating ambient air quality limits for the first time since 2005. The guidelines cover the air-borne contaminants: particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. The guideline report states that “the burden of disease attributable to air pollution is now estimated to be on a par with other major global health risks such as unhealthy diet and tobacco smoking, and air pollution is now recognized as the single biggest environmental threat to human health”.

This report provides a high-level overview of the findings of the WHO guidelines and assesses the impact of the new guideline limits should they become legislated in New Zealand. The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) have been planning a broad review of the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ) which is widely expected to introduce an ambient standard for PM2.5 and review the current level for PM10. This report analyses current regional data to see the impact a lowered PM10 limit as well as a PM2.5 limit will have.

Additionally MfE have released preliminary data on their Our Air 2021 report on nationwide air-quality with a final report due in mid-December; included in this report is a brief interpretation of the data released by MfE to date.

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, An overview of the World Health Organisation (WHO) global air quality guidelines and Our air 2021 preliminary data release.

1. Introduction

The National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ) is a key tool to manage air quality in New Zealand, and sets a minimum level of health protection for various contaminants, including particulate matter. Regional Councils must monitor air quality in their regions and manage air pollution. Breaches of NESAQ limits must be reported to MfE and the local community and an investigation launched to ascertain the source of each breach.

In 2020, MfE released proposed amendments to the NESAQ to which council made a submission in July. To progress the NESAQ review MfE advised it was required to be informed by two additional pieces of work, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) and the yet-to-be-released Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand (HAPINZ) report.

Whilst waiting for the publication of these reports, MfE has been developing legislation to replace the RMA, with a focus on the new Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA). There has been a corresponding delay to the review of the NESAQ leading to uncertainty around the future of the review itself. MfE have suggested that the NBA will include a National Policy Framework (NPF) which could replace existing National Environmental Standards with a single document. This however remains an idea still under consideration.

The updated WHO air quality guidelines replace existing international contaminant limits which have been in place since 2005 and although the New Zealand limits have not been determined, there is little doubt that the WHO guidelines will influence future ambient air quality limits to control air quality in New Zealand, with the likely inclusion of a new standard for PM2.5.

1.1 Alignment with Strategic Framework

A Healthy Environment	Our environmental monitoring is transparently communicated to our communities.
Safe and Resilient Communities	We work with our partners to develop plans and policies, and we lead and enable our communities to respond and recover from an emergency.
A Vibrant Region	We work with and connect the right people to create a prosperous region and economy.
The Way We Work	We continually seek opportunities to innovate and improve.

1.1.1 Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

Medium - Positive

þ Cultural

Medium - Positive

þ Social

Medium - Positive

þ Economic

Low - Positive

Tighter controls aimed at reducing air pollution will have positive impacts across all of the four well-beings although these may be somewhat lower for the industrial sector which will have to invest in new technology to further reduce their emissions and environmental impact.

2. A high-level summary of key aspects of the WHO guidelines

The WHO “Air quality guidelines – global update 2005” were the first world-wide guidelines published setting limits for air pollution to protect human health. In September 2021, WHO released an update on global air quality guidelines which was the first review of the 2005 limits on airborne pollutants. The guidelines cover particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide.

WHO has determined that every year, exposure to air pollution is estimated to cause 7 million premature deaths and the loss of millions more healthy years of life. The burden of disease attributable to air pollution is now estimated to be on a par with an unhealthy diet and tobacco smoking, and air pollution is recognised as the single biggest environmental threat to human health.

While air quality has markedly improved in high-income countries over this period, it has generally deteriorated in most low- and middle-income countries, in step with large-scale urbanization, industrialisation and economic development. Despite some notable improvements in air quality, the global toll in deaths and lost years of healthy life has barely declined since the 1990s

In the time between updates to the Air Quality guideline limits there has been a marked increase in evidence on the adverse health effects of air pollution, built on advances in air pollution measurement and exposure assessment and an expanded global database of air pollution measurements. New epidemiological studies have documented the adverse health effects of exposure to high levels of air pollution in low- and middle-income countries, and studies in high-income countries with relatively clean air have reported adverse effects at much lower levels than had previously been studied.

The overall objective of the updated global guidelines is to offer quantitative health-based recommendations for air quality management, expressed as long or short-term concentrations for a number of key air pollutants. Exceedance of the air quality guideline (AQG) levels is associated with important risks to public health. These guidelines are not legally binding standards; however, they do provide WHO Member States with an evidence-informed tool that they can use as a base for developing national legislation and policy. Ultimately, the goal of these guidelines is to help reduce levels of air pollutants in order to decrease the enormous health burden resulting from exposure to air pollution worldwide.

In this guideline update, recommendations on AQG levels are formulated, together with interim targets for PM2.5, PM10, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide (as shown in table below). Interim targets are air pollutant levels that are higher than the AQG levels, but which authorities in highly polluted areas can use to develop pollution reduction policies that are achievable within realistic time frames. Therefore, the interim targets should be regarded as steps towards the ultimate achievement of AQG levels in the future, rather than as end targets.

Only evidence assessed as having high or moderate certainty of an association between a pollutant and a specific health outcome was used to define the recommended AQG levels.

The present guidelines are applicable to both outdoor and indoor environments globally. Thus, they cover all settings where people spend time. However, as in previous editions, these guidelines do not cover occupational settings, owing to the specific characteristics of the relevant exposures and risk reduction policies and to potential differences in population susceptibility of the adult workforce in comparison with the general population.

The guidelines do not include recommendations about pollutant mixtures or the combined effects of pollutant exposures, also not considered in the current National Environmental Standards. In everyday life, people are exposed to a mixture of air pollutants that varies in space and time. The main body of evidence on air quality and health still focuses on the impact of single markers of ambient air pollution on the risk of adverse health outcomes, the current guidelines provide recommendations for each air pollutant individually.

The guidelines are a critical tool for the following three main groups of users:

· policy-makers, lawmakers and technical experts operating at the local, national and international levels who are responsible for developing and implementing regulations and standards for air quality, air pollution control, urban planning and other policy areas;

· national and local authorities and nongovernmental organizations, civil society organizations and advocacy groups, such as patients, citizen groups, industrial stakeholders and environmental organizations; and

· academics, health and environmental impact assessment practitioners, and researchers in the broad field of air pollution.

Monitoring and evaluation are equally crucial to ensure that guidelines are implemented.

2.1 Implications on current airshed compliance and ongoing monitoring

A selection of sites have been chosen from the Council air quality monitoring network to demonstrate the relationship between the last three years of recorded data and the WHO 2021 guideline values (the AQG level). This comparison is shown in the figures and discussion below.

Daily Mean PM10 from 2019 with WHO interim AQG values v3

Figure 1: Daily mean PM10 from 2019 with WHO interim / AQG values from a selection of Bay of Plenty sites

2.1.1 Mount Maunganui

PM10

Particulate matter measured at the four Mount Maunganui monitoring locations represented in Figure 1 has shown a generally declining trend since these records begun, and particularly in 2021, with no NESAQ exceedances for PM₁₀ recorded at Whareroa Marae this year. If the revised WHO guideline values were adopted in national legislation such as the NESAQ and current trends continue the three sites reported on (Whareroa, Rail Yard South and Rata Street) would be expected to trend below the guideline values.

However, the new requirements would lead to more certainty for industry and an acceptance of the need to invest in dust suppressant measures and cleaner technology. PC13 rules would require more businesses to operate under discharge consent conditions and MARPOL (Marine Pollution – Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) comes into effect.

In the Mount Maunganui airshed the current monitor configuration includes monitoring PM10 at all 11 operational sites with PM2.5 monitored only at the Totara Street monitoring site – see Figure 3. Current monitoring at this site shows levels of PM2.5 within the WHO guidelines.

The Regional Council’s 2020 air quality monitoring report highlighted the intention of the NESAQ amendment to include a PM2.5 limit and as such staff have factored this into arrangements with WaterCare and internal budgeting.

SO2

Daily Mean SO2 from 2019 with WHO interim AQG values

Figure 2: Daily mean SP2 from 2019 with WHO interim / AQG values

Sulphur dioxide (S02) showed a dramatic decline in levels detected at monitoring sites near the Port of Tauranga boundary from January 2020 which coincides with the adoption of MARPOL Annex VI causing the burning of low sulphur fuels in foreign flagged vessels berthing in New Zealand Ports (see Figure 2). The decreases in SO2 monitored along the port boundary were not so significant at Whareroa Marae where the sulphur dioxide signature is caused by industrial processes from the likes of Ballance Agri-nutrients, Waste Management and Lawter. However all three businesses are currently in consent review processes or have undergone a review which has reduced consented SO2 discharges (see paper on the Ballance Air discharge review also being presented to this committee meeting).

Despite these industrial emissions the levels of SO2 detected at Whareroa are generally within the new WHO guideline limits.

Daily Mean PM2

Figure 3: Daily mean PM2.5 from 2019 with WHO interim / AQG values

2.1.2 Rotorua

In the Rotorua airshed the current monitoring equipment configuration is a mixture of PM10 and PM2.5 at the Edmund Road site. Our data shows a significant domestic heating source profile, exceeding the WHO guidelines within the winter months consistently dropping to levels within WHO guidelines from spring through the summer months. A more detailed analysis of the impacts of PM2.5 in the Rotorua airshed is included in a separate paper being presented to this committee meeting.

2.2 The future of monitoring in the region

Until the NESAQ review has been completed and released by MfE, regional councils are left to speculate on what new parameters will be adopted to limit air pollution in New Zealand. It is highly likely however that the limits set in the WHO air quality guidelines, or even more stringent levels will be adopted in any future NES. This includes the likelihood that PM2.5 either in addition to, or instead of TSP and PM10 will be a contaminant that has to be measured.

If this becomes the case the current air monitoring network will require conversion to include the additional parameter of PM2.5. Many councils in their submissions to the NES review made it clear to MfE that they would not be able to absorb the associated financial costs for monitoring and reporting on PM2.5, however it is difficult to speculate on the pathway that will be adopted by central government in this regard.

MfE have indicated that there is no certainty the NES will continue in its current form and it may be that air quality limits to protect human health are incorporated into the upcoming Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA), however more clarity on this is not expected to be released by central government until mid-2022.

3. Our air 2021 – preliminary data release by MfE

Our air 2021 looks at the state of New Zealand’s air quality for the last four years (2017 – 2020), reporting against the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality for pollutants including PM10, PM2.5 and SO2. Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ produce this report every three years and have explained that the full report will be released on 10 December 2021 when they’ve had a chance to factor in the updated World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines.

We’re pleased to see air quality improvements in both Rotorua and Mount Maunganui reflected in the preliminary data release. However, we note that Rotorua still has significant issues with PM2.5 and that Our air 2021 does not incorporate our extensive air quality monitoring data for particulate matter in the Mount Maunganui industrial area. It instead focuses on winter-time exceedances for particulate matter in the rest of New Zealand.

We do know that in the Mount Maunganui airshed PM is a problem that requires extensive and varied long-terms efforts to see improvement, and a future plan change will be required to achieve this in the polluted Mount Maunganui airshed. It is hoped the full report due in December will draw attention to these issues and therefore provide a more accurate picture of particulate matter issues in this area. We look forward to seeing how the updated World Health Organisation guidelines will influence the findings.

SO2 has been highlighted as an issue in the preliminary data release for the Mount Maunganui industrial area. This is a gas produced by activities like vehicle emissions, shipping, waste processing and fertiliser manufacture. The preliminary data release shows that in the four-year period between 2017 and 2020, overall SO2 levels in this area did not trigger health thresholds set by the Ministry for the Environment but were at times elevated.

Fortunately the landscape has been changing since 2016 and we’re pleased to see SO2 readings have trended down in the Mount industrial area over the last 5 years, following significant investment in mitigation and control measures by some industries. Further major reductions in SO2 levels have also been observed as a result of the introduction of requirements for fuel with a low sulphur content being applied to foreign vessels.

Hundreds of ships berth at Port of Tauranga every year. Air discharges from ships are permitted under the Resource Management (Marine Pollution) Regulations 1998, and the Regional Council cannot make rules that restrict these discharges.

Until recently, the majority of these ships were powered by marine fuel with a high sulphur content which contributed to poor air quality. Since January 2020 all foreign-flagged vessels in NZ waters have had to adhere to an international treaty, MARPOL, requiring the use of fuel with a much lower sulphur content. Since the introduction of MARPOL, SO2 levels recorded within the Airshed have been considerably lower.

4. Considerations

4.1 Climate Change

The matters addressed in this report are of a procedural nature and there is no need to consider climate change impacts.

4.2 Implications for Māori

Air quality in Rotorua the Mount Maunganui industrial area has a direct impact on the local community. If the WHO air quality guidelines are adopted in national legislation further lowering the allowable ambient contaminant levels in air, this will have positive impacts on communities living surrounded by air pollution.

4.3 Community Engagement

INFORM

Whakamōhio

To provide affected communities with balanced and objective information to assist them in understanding the problems, alternatives and/or solutions.

4.4 Financial Implications

The matters addressed in this report are of a procedural nature and there are no financial implications.

5. Next Steps

The Ministry for the Environment advised that they could not proceed with the review of the NESAQ until the WHO Air Quality Guidelines report as well as the Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand (HAPINZ) report were published. HAPINZ is expected to be delivered to MfE before the end of 2021. This however has caused the NES review to be delayed into early 2022 and it may in fact be superseded by the progress of the NBA legislation to replace the Resource Management Act (1991).

Until new direction is provided we will continue to operate as business as usual with air quality monitoring, expecting that at some time in 2022 there will likely be a lowering of current ambient air quality levels for pollutants and the introduction of PM2.5 as a contaminant that will be required to be monitored and reported on.



Report To:	Monitoring and Operations Committee
Meeting Date:	7 December 2021
Report Writer:	Alex Miller, Compliance Manager - Land & Water
Report Authoriser:	Sarah Omundsen, General Manager, Regulatory Services
Purpose:	This report provides a brief summary of Regional Council’s compliance, monitoring and enforcement activity through the 2020/2021 year.

2020/2021 Regulatory Compliance Activity Report

Executive Summary

This report provides the Committee with an overview of the Regulatory Compliance Activity for the 2020/21 year, including:

· 4861 site inspections on 2858 resource consents were undertaken, and 11676 performance monitoring returns from consent holders were reviewed. These site inspections showed that 80% of were complying with their consents, and less than 1.5% were in significant non-compliance.

· Regional Council issued 102 abatement notices, 27 infringement notices, and received decisions from the court in relation to 10 matters, resulting in a total of $396,250 in fines and an enforcement order.

· 3,771 calls were received and responded to through the Pollution Hotline, with the majority being responded to on the same day.

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, 2020/2021 Regulatory Compliance Activity Report.

1. Introduction

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council (Regional Council) uses a variety of regulatory and non-regulatory tools to manage the environmental impacts of activities throughout the region, including rules made and resource consents issued under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). Compliance with the requirements of these rules and resource consents provides an important measure of how we, as a regulatory authority, engage with the community to manage environmental impacts.

This report provides a brief summary of Regional Council’s compliance, monitoring and enforcement activity through the 2020/2021 year.

1.1 Legislative Framework

The Regulatory Compliance function primarily operates as a core council requirement under the Resource Management Act, which sets out an obligation for Regional Councils to monitor and enforce compliance with the Act and any associated instruments (eg. NES), regional plan rules and resource consents.

There is some crossover with other legislation through activities such as incident response and enforcement proceedings.

1.2 Alignment with Strategic Framework

A Healthy Environment	We develop and implement regional plans and policy to protect our natural environment.
The Way We Work	We provide great customer service.

1.2.1 Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

High - Positive

þ Cultural

Medium - Positive

þ Social

Low - Positive

¨ Economic

2. Compliance Monitoring

Compliance monitoring is an important tool for ensuring that consent holders and members of the public are undertaking activities in the correct manner, and complying with the conditions of any applicable resource consents or regional Plan rules.

Consented activities are monitored through a combination of site inspections and desktop performance monitoring, which involves the review of data and reporting provided by consent holders.

The frequency for site inspections is determined according to a range of factors, including the nature, scale, and environmental risks associated with the activity. This frequency is reviewed annually and outlined in Council’s RMA and Building Act Charges Policy.

The frequency for performance monitoring is considered during the consent application process, and set out in the conditions of a resource consent.

2.1 2020/2021 Compliance Monitoring Results

Throughout 2020/21, Regional Council undertook 4861 site inspections on 2858 resource consents, and reviewed 11676 performance monitoring returns from consent holders.

Compliance results for site inspections showed that 81% of consent holders were complying with their consents, which is marginally lower than 2019/20. However, significant non-compliance remained very low at 1.3%.

Of the 11676 performance monitoring returns assessed, 79% were found to be compliant, which is lower than the 85% observed in the previous year. The majority of non-compliance was considered to be low risk, with only 1.74% significant non-compliances identified.

The most frequently monitored activities were earthworks, dairy effluent discharges, and water takes. This is consistent with previous years, and reflects both the environmental risks associated with these activities, and the volume in which they occur within Bay of Plenty Region.

A number of other activities, such as major infrastructure and industrial facilities, can also present a significant risk and are inspected regularly; however, these are fewer in number, and often have a more significant reliance on performance monitoring.

Similar to 2019/20, compliance results for dairy effluent discharge consents (71%) remained lower than historically observed, although the majority of issues remain low risk, with only 0.6% inspections resulting in a significant non-compliance. The compliance team is looking to increase engagement with the dairy sector, outside of compliance monitoring, in order to try and encourage improvements in this space.

Performance on earthworks sites remained strong with 85% compliance across all inspections; this reflects the significant effort that is put into monitoring earthworks sites and industry engagement and education, particularly in high-risk and/or intensive development areas in the Western Bay of Plenty.

Compliance levels for OSET discharges and geothermal takes remain low, which is similar to what was observed in previous years

A summary of compliance inspection results for high risk and/or priority activities is provided in Table 1, below.

Note that results for municipal wastewater consents will be presented and discussed in the 2020/21 Municipal Wastewater Compliance Report, which will be presented at the next Monitoring and Operations Committee meeting on 8 March 2022.

Activity	Total	Complying		Low Risk Non- Compliance		Moderate Non-Compliance		Significant Non-Compliance
Activity	Total	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Dairy	351	251	71.5	72	20.5	26	7.4	2	0.6
Discharges to Air	139	114	82.0	12	8.6	8	5.8	5	3.6
Earthworks	1206	1039	86.2	94	7.8	67	5.6	6	0.5
Geothermal	361	249	69.0	49	13.6	51	14.1	12	3.3
Water Takes	522	445	85.2	41	7.9	27	5.2	9	1.7
OSET	279	180	64.5	53	19.0	40	14.3	6	2.2

Table 1: Compliance Results for High Risk/Priority Activities

3. Enforcement

In 2020/2021, Regional Council Received decisions from the court in relation to 10 matters, resulting in a total of $396,250 in fines, two sentences of 190 hours community service, $5000 reparation payments to victims, and $75,000 costs awarded to council. These decisions are outlined in Table 2, below. As of 1 July 2021, 6 cases remained before the courts.

Matter	Summary
BOPRC v TBE 2 Ltd	Discharge to land where it may enter water (sediment contaminated stormwater); the defendants plead guilty and engaged in a restorative justice process with Regional Council, in which they offered to pay for Regional Council’s legal costs associated with the prosecution (at the time, $119,000), and an additional $50,000 contribution towards an environmental restoration project. Judge Dicky considered that the appropriate starting point for a penalty would be a $95,000 fine; however, in light of the contributions made through restorative justice, she chose to convict and discharge the defendants with no further penalty imposed.
BOPRC v Merrie, Merrie & Spencer	Breach of an enforcement order, which was issued as a result of a previous prosecution for the illegal stockpiling of tyres in Kawerau and Waihī Beach. The Enforcement Order required that the defendents remove all remaining tyres from the site in Kawerau, which they failed to do. Following late guilty pleas, all three defendants were convicted and ordered to pay Regional Council $25,000 in costs. Alan and Angela Merrie were each sentenced to 190 hours of community service, and Jonathan Spencer was fined $29,750.
BOPRC v CRS Ltd	Discharge to land where it may enter water (sediment laden stormwater). CRS Ltd plead guilty and was fined $86,250
BOPRC v. Rere Lakes Farm Ltd	Discharge to land where it may enter water (dairy effluent): Rere Lake Farm was convicted and fined $42,350. Codi Joslin, the farm worker, was convicted and discharged.
BOPRC v. Ziwi Ltd (Water)	Discharge to land where it may enter water (washdown water); Ziwi were convicted and fined $64,000
BOPRC v. Ziwi Ltd. (Air)	Discharge to air (offensive and objectionable odour): Ziwi were convicted and fined $66,000.
BOPRC v. G & J Vercoe Ltd	Discharge to land where it may enter water (earthworks): The defendants were convicted and charged a combined total of $16,800
BOPRC v. Kevin Davies	Discharge to air (burning of demolition waste): Kevin Davies was convicted and fined $14,000 ($5000 of which was paid as reparations to impacted victims)
BOPRC v. Kaimai Dairy & Glenn Ashford	Discharge to land where it may enter water (dairy effluent): Kaimai Dairy Farm was convicted and fined $34,650. Glen Ashford was convicted and fined $23,450 following a restorative justice conference.

Table 2: Prosecution Decisions Received in 2019/20

Regional Council issued 102 abatement notices, and 27 infringement notices, totalling $16,050 in fines. The majority of abatement and infringement notices related to Section 15 offences (discharges of a contaminant).

4. Pollution Hotline Response

The Pollution Hotline is a 24/7 service for members of the community to report incidents and pollution which may be in breach of consent conditions or regional plan rules. In addition to providing an opportunity to identify and respond to incidents as and when they happen, it provides a useful insight into community concerns, particularly when these relate to permitted activities and/or emerging issues.

In 2020/21, Regional Council received and responded to 3,771 calls to the Pollution Hotline, which is reduction of 2% on 2019/20, making it the first time in ten years that service request numbers have not increased annually

Outside of business hours (weekends, and 4:30pm – 8:30am weekdays), the Pollution Hotline is staffed with an on-call duty officer, in order to ensure that any serious incidents are appropriately responded to as soon as possible; this is particularly important for time-critical incidents, such as oil spills or discharges to the environment. After-hours calls accounted for approximately 32% of calls to the hotline in 2020/21.

97% of service requests were actioned within three days, with the majority (92%) responded to within a day or less. 53 calls were classified as urgent, and attended to within less than 12 hours.

In responding to service requests, Regional Council substantiated breaches of consent conditions and/or regional plan rules in 23% of all calls, and is slightly more than identified in 2019/20 (20%).

March 2021 was the busiest month, with 410 calls, respectively. This is consistent with previous years, with calls peaking over the summer months.

Similar to previous years, the majority of calls (73%) related to air quality, with approximately half of those being related to odour.

5. National Benchmarking

For the last four years, the Regional Sector Compliance and Enforcement Special Interest Group (CESIG) has produced an annual report of compliance data collected from Regional Councils and Unitary Authorities. The report is primarily for the purpose of promoting consistency across the regional sector; it also provides an opportunity to benchmark compliance performance in the Bay of Plenty, compared to the rest of the country, at a high level.

At a national level, the numbers again demonstrate that the Regional Sector is managing a huge volume of work to deliver its RMA regulatory functions, and has continued to deliver on its obligations through covid/lockdown related disruptions over the last two years.

In addition to demonstrating an ability to do the mahi, this report is one of a number of tools which is helping the Regional Sector to continue improving consistency and adoption of best-practice in compliance monitoring and enforcement. This places us in good stead amidst central government’s RM Reform package, and aligns well with the intent of the reforms.

From a regional perspective, the results presented in the 2020/21 report indicate that the Bay of Plenty Regional Council undertakes a significant volume of work compared to other regions, responding to the second highest number of incidents/service requests out of all regional councils^{^[9]}, with only Environment Canterbury receiving more in 2019/20 (see snapshot in Attachment One). Similarly, Regional Council undertook the third most compliance inspections of all regional councils, and monitored 86% of the required consents compared to a national average of 83%.

The Regional Council is active in the enforcement space, both in terms of lower level tools such as abatement notices (102 issued), infringements (27), and more significant steps such as prosecutions (10 prosecutions concluded, for a total of $396,250 in fines).

81% of Regional Council compliance inspections found consent holders to be complying with the conditions of their consent; of those who were non-compliant, only 1% were considered to be significant breaches of consent conditions (compared to 71% and 3%, respectively, for all regional councils).

6. Considerations

6.1 Risks and Mitigations

The regulatory compliance function operates in a number of high risk areas, both in terms of environmental risk (particularly through the incident response function), and legal risk through the enforcement function. Regional Council has a number of robust systems and policies in place to manage and mitigate these risks.

6.2 Climate Change

The matters addressed in this report are of a procedural nature and there is no need to consider climate change impacts.

6.3 Implications for Māori

The Māori population in the Bay of Plenty equates to about 28% of the total population. BOPRC has clear statutory obligations to Māori under the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA), and the RMA. In particular, Part 2, Sections 6 and 7 of the RMA recognises and provides for participation in decision-making, having regard to kaitiakitanga, consultation and fostering development.

Tangata whenua, as kaitiaki, seek to protect the natural and physical environment, waahi tapu and other sites of cultural significance to ensure community and cultural sustainability is achieved. This aligns closely with the goals of compliance monitoring and enforcement, and is considered in the day to day implementation of our compliance programme.

In practical terms, this may include ensuring tangata whenua are notified of incidents in their rohe ("no surprises" approach), and seeking involvement in projects where appropriate (eg. marae wastewater).

He waka eke noa – We’re all in this together.

6.4 Community Engagement

Engagement with the community is not required as the report is of a procedural nature.

6.5 Financial Implications

There are no material unbudgeted financial implications and this fits within the allocated budget.

7. Next Steps

The Regulatory Compliance group will continue to investigate process improvements to ensure that the compliance monitoring programme is implemented effectively and efficiently. Similarly, staff are continuing to hone data over time to provide avenues for more proactive approaches to encouraging compliance.

Priority focus areas in the future include implementing the recently gazetted National Environmental Standard for Freshwater, and continued work in the Air Quality space, as well as planning for further changes through the development of new plans under the revised National Policy Statement for Freshwater and wider RMA legislative reviews.

Attachments

Attachment 1 - 20-21 CME National Metrics Report - BOPRC Snapshot ⇩



Report To:	Monitoring and Operations Committee
Meeting Date:	7 December 2021
Report Writer:	Jackson Efford, Principal Advisor, Land and Water
Report Authoriser:	Chris Ingle, General Manager, Integrated Catchments
Purpose:	This report provides some end-of-year highlights from the land management team and Focus Catchments Programme

Land Management / Focus Catchments Highlights

Executive Summary

The land management Focus Catchment Programme is now in its third year, with good progress being made with actions to address water quality issues, alongside other facilitation and extension work with catchment communities.

Co-funding from MPI and MfE for fencing and planting have enhanced the scale, quality and pace of work in Focus Catchments. We have also seen increased uptake of more aspirational agreements by landowners due to higher grant rates.

Council is meeting its Deed of Funding milestones and obligations to MfE; and a recent MfE audit confirmed full compliance with deed conditions.

Focus Catchment “Score Cards” provide a quick visual update on the progress of fencing, planting and other actions delivered. Score cards report investment from Council, landowners, and other co-funders such as MPI and MfE.

Water quality continues to be monitored in Focus Catchments, but it is too early to report on water quality outcomes at this stage.

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Land Management / Focus Catchments Highlights.

1. Introduction

The Land Management team has had a successful year progressing the implementation of its Focus Catchment Programme of support for communities in the highest priority catchments for water quality improvement. This paper builds on the Focus Catchment programme paper to the Monitoring & Operations Committee paper of 15/12/2020, which included catchment specific water quality issues, actions, and alignment with national freshwater policy direction.

Since 2020, our land management work has been supported with significant new co-funding from the Ministry for the Environment ‘Jobs for Nature’ programme and Ministry of Primary Industries/Te Uru Raku ‘One Billion Trees’ fund. Support for fencing and planting are one of the key ways that the land management team incentivises water quality and biodiversity improvements. Equally important is the team’s work on initiatives such as extension and outreach, technical advice, community group facilitation, science, and monitoring work.

This short update to Council utilises the Focus Catchment snapshot “Report Cards” as presented at the Monitoring and Operations Committee meeting on 8/6/2021. These provide a visual indication of the overall scale of works delivered by the programme around the region, along with the contributions coming from each funding partner.

Monitoring programmes are in place to measure long-term success of land management efforts around biodiversity and water quality in each catchment. The results of the monitoring work will be presented here at a later date when the programme matures sufficiently.

1.1 Alignment with Strategic Framework

A Healthy Environment	We work cohesively with volunteers and others, to sustainably manage and improve our natural resources.
Freshwater for Life	We deliver solutions to local problems to improve water quality and manage quantity.

1.1.1 Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

High - Positive

þ Cultural

Medium - Positive

þ Social

Medium - Positive

þ Economic

Low - Positive

The Focus Catchment work contributes directly to positive environmental outcomes as its core purpose, with positive co-benefits around Cultural and Social well-beings.

2. External co-funding project updates

2.1 MfE PWER Funding (part of Jobs for Nature COVID-19 recovery)

Council was awarded $3 million from the MfE Public Waterways and Ecosystem Restoration Fund to accelerate the delivery of its land management programme across our Focus Catchments. The MfE funding contributes up to 50% of the overall project costs (direct materials and labour only), with the remainder being covered by Council, landowners, and in some instances 1 Billion Trees funding. The project Deed of Funding was signed in November 2020, and all work is due for completion by 30 June 2022. Land management staff have been particularly busy over the last year with the increased project management work required to deliver this project. Uptake for environmental works has been higher with the higher grant rates able to be offered with new co-funding.

A key focus of the work from MfE’s perspective is the employment generated through the project and the general ‘economic stimulus’ following initial impacts of COVID-19 and lock-downs. The fencing and planting are also important, along with their linkage to water quality and biodiversity outcomes. The Council project team overseeing works meets regularly and reports back to MfE on key metrics such as number of different people employed, number of people-hours worked each month, and length of fence line erected and trees planted.

For this project to date (1/11/2020 – 1/11/2021), hundreds of landowners and external works contractors (excluding staff) have already collectively achieved:

· 23,000 people hours contributed to the work

· 50 different properties involved

· 100 km of new fencing for water quality/biodiversity protection

· 200,000 new native plants established.

This represents a significant increase in the previous pace of delivery for this type of land management work and has required a streamlining of processes at BOPRC and more focussed and dedicated work from our staff. The overall project is approaching 50% completion (1.1 million claimed back from MfE for completed works) and is largely on track to be fully delivered by mid to late 2022.

Following the completion of the first financial year of the project in June 2021, Council was required by MfE to engage a full independent audit of the project to confirm compliance with all Deed of Funding conditions. This audit was completed in August 2021 by Grant Thornton NZ Ltd. As per MfE’s requirements, it was a thorough audit, sampling >95% of project elements, meaning every land owner agreement and every transaction processed was scrutinised. Full compliance was achieved, confirming appropriate use of the MfE grant funding and sound processes and procedures. This audit outcome confirms our reputation as delivery experts and strengthens our position to receive future co-funding from central government.

2.2 MPI One Billion Trees Funding

Council has also been the recipient of three separate funding grants from the MPI/Te Uru Rakau’s One Billion Trees Programme (1BT) in 2020, collectively totalling $1.5 million to be spent over four years. With our experience in administering and delivering planting projects with community in priority areas, MPI had reassurance that the funding would be passed onto landowner’s projects with the highest chances of success through our technical and project management oversight. There has been a strong focus on the principles of “right tree-right place” and monitoring survival, with the funding going almost 100% towards planting of native plants and with high (>80%) establishment/survival rates.

Since 2020, the 1BT programme through BOPRCs administration has already co-funded the establishment of:

· 460,000 native plants in the region.

The remaining 1BT funding available has been largely committed through signed Environmental Programmes with landowners and will see at least the same number of plants again established before 2024 when the project is due to end.

The demand for subsidies for planting remains high, as observed through requests for support through the land management teams. With the MPI 1BT and the MfE PWER fund both largely allocated now, it would be beneficial for the region’s environment if government funds such as these can meet ongoing demands. Council would be well placed to assist Government with the administration, technical support and delivery of any such funding, and when coupled with BOPRC contributions, this represents excellent return on investment for government, which is also important in light of the climate change mitigation target recommendations emerging and water quality changes required.

3. Focus Catchment Progress Snapshot Report Cards

3.1 Tauranga Focus Catchments

Tauranga Moana area includes the Focus Catchments of Uretara and Te Mania in the northern harbour, and Kopurererua and Waitao in the southern harbour.

The Waitao Focus Catchment has had a significant investment from MPI 1BT to incentivise land retirement upstream of the iconic Kaiate Falls and address swimmability issues. Over 30 hectares of waterway and critical source areas like wetland seeps have been retired from grazing and planted. Wild cattle have been removed from native scrub upstream of Kaiate falls, which will reduce bacterial inputs. Water quality results have remained variable as plantings are establishing, but some promising early trends could be emerging to suggest some improvement has been achieved, including bathing site sampling results so far this summer showing improvement on the previous years.

Kopurererua Focus Catchment work has ramped up in the last 6 months with targeted 1:1 engagement with each landowner in progress. Plans are underway to construct a detainment bund in the upper catchment for phosphorus and sediment retention along with other fencing and planting. Catchment work is complimented by the joint project with Tauranga City Council (TCC) to reconnect a portion of the main Kopurererua channel into the flood plain. There is also a project with Ngai Tamarawaho and TCC to enhance and create habitat for inanga in the Koromiko wetland which runs parallel to the lower Kopurererua Stream. The project is being funded by the Port of Tauranga’s Nga Matarae Trust and is in the early stages with scoping and investigation work currently underway, with on-ground works due to commence in Spring 2022.

The Uretara & Te Mania Focus Catchments work continues to be supported in partnership by “Project Parore” catchment group who often contribute up to 40% of the cost of Environmental Programme works through their various funding sources. Demand continues for support more-so in Te Mania than the Uretara given the co-focus coming from Project Parore. Early summer monitoring indications suggest that bacterial levels in the Uretara Henry Rd Ford site are below the “amber/alert” level of 540/100ml cfu, so far this bathing season.

3.2 Kaituna, Maketū and Waihī

Ford Road & Waitepuia area in the Kaituna/Maketū Catchment have remained challenging to make significant progress over the last year, likely given the landowners’ perceived uncertainty around the Ford Rd Pump Station Upgrade and related developments, and their large investments already made in new effluent infrastructure. Nonetheless a number of smaller Environmental Programmes have been signed up for the next few years, largely to deliver best practice drain management upgrades and retire areas of salt impacted pasture and wetlands. This work will help to build trust with landowners ahead of more significant works likely being required in future through a regulated farm planning framework currently in development by government. Consent has also been granted for the Te Arawa Lakes Trust farm constructed treatment wetland project, with earthworks planned for the New Year.

Kopuaroa in the Kaituna has also remained somewhat challenging for similar reasons to Ford Road/ Waitepuia, with a modest amount of work completed so far, but more planned through signed Environmental Programmes. Generally uptake has been much higher on dry-stock properties compared with lowland dairy farms, with farm plans expected to help raise awareness for land management work in many areas.

Waihī Estuary catchment is a leading Focus Catchment in terms of both community buy-in and momentum, as well as on-the-ground works delivery. The Wai Kokopu Catchment group continues to gain independent funding support towards extension, facilitation and water quality improvements. A significant portion of the MfE PWER fund has been invested in this area, with high uptake as a result of the grant rates offered. Two large constructed treatment wetland projects with NIWA have also been granted consent with earthworks currently underway. A more thorough monitoring network is also being established around the estuary, utilising new technologies such as continuous monitoring sensors and auto-sampling.

3.3 Upper Rangitāiki

Upper Rangitāiki area has benefited significantly from new co-funding with demand continuing for support from Council. Given the small number of very large sized properties, there is excellent scope to continue working with farms as they prioritise land management works across the landscape. Indigenous planting around retired wetland areas has seen the return of whio / blue duck in one location.

3.4 Ōhiwa Harbour and Waiōtahe

The focus historically in the Ohiwa catchment has been on fencing and riparian planting of the class 4 (LUC) or below land that borders the Ohiwa harbour and Nukuhou River. Historically the Nukuhou river was identified as high in N loss with trends over the last 20 years showing a decrease overall but a slight increase in the last few years. Recent work has been targeting the ever increasing loss of sediment that enters Ohiwa harbour. Mitigation is being applied on land classes 6-7 to target vulnerable soils. A large investment of BOPRC, MFE and MPI money will accelerate work. A local farmers’ focus group is being expanded to try and include all willing landowners working towards a common goal in improving water quality for the harbour.

Interest also remains strong in Waiōtahe with an emphasis on managing critical source areas for bacterial run-off, especially stock exclusion. A recent catchment group session with an E. coli expert from the ESR confirmed that the group and Council were pursuing appropriate mitigations to address the complex bacterial issues in the pipi beds, and that to some degree, it would be very difficult to ever completely reduce storm flow E. coli spikes under the current land use when much of the lowland catchment could be viewed as one large “critical source area”.

4. Considerations

4.1 Risks and Mitigations

There is a minor risk that given the large volume of extra land management work taken on through the increased co-funding, a time extension could be required to the funding agreement with MfE to complete proposed works. The Council is in regular contact with the Ministry and they are flexible around completion milestones provided the overall project is showing good progress, which is the case here.

4.2 Climate Change

Mitigation			Adaptation
Reduce GHG emissions	Produce GHG emissions	Sequester carbon	Anticipate climate change impacts	Respond to climate change impacts
☒	☐	☒	☒	☐

4.3 Implications for Māori

Catchment work spans the rohe of a number of different iwi/hapū. Consideration has been given to the aspirations of iwi/hapu in the data capture and action planning stages of each focus catchment programme, with strengthening partnerships in various stages of engagement and development.

There is close alignment between Council’s and iwi/hapū objectives around water quality, swimmability and protecting and enhancing habitat for mahinga kai. Our Focus Catchment Programme extends to Māori landholders in the community, with numerous partnership projects underway in a number of different areas, as mentioned in this report above.

4.4 Community Engagement

INVOLVE

Whakaura

To work directly with affected communities throughout the process to ensure that their issues and concerns are consistently understood and fully considered in Council’s decision making.

The entire Focus Catchment Programme approach relies strongly on collaborative, voluntary work with landowners and community to achieve water quality objectives

4.5 Financial Implications

There are no material unbudgeted financial implications and this work fits within the allocated budget for the programme. Demand remains high for incentivised land management work and new Government funding is increasing the scale and quality of on-the-ground actions possible. Our existing operational budgets have been used to leverage matching Central Government co-funding, such that our programme has expanded significantly for the next 2 years.

5. Next Steps

Land Management will continue with the evolution of its Focus Catchments approach to address serious water quality issues in the Region, with a commitment to the on-the-ground incentivised voluntary action in priority locations, and leverage of new co-funding support, and expanded partnerships with our communities.

Over time, monitoring will reveal the effectiveness of this focus catchment approach in terms of actual water quality improvement over time; thereby confirming whether this programme alone can achieve sufficient water quality improvement, or whether additional regulation will be required in some locations.



Report To:	Monitoring and Operations Committee
Meeting Date:	7 December 2021
Report Writer:	Helen Creagh, Rotorua Catchments Manager
Report Authoriser:	Chris Ingle, General Manager, Integrated Catchments
Purpose:	To provide an update on work of the Te Arawa Lakes Programme, including as set out in the Purongo ā-tau recently approved for the 2020-2021 financial year.

Te Arawa Lakes Programme - Purongo ā-tau 2020-2021

Executive Summary

This report updates the Committee on progress with the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes Programme as set out in the 2020-2021 Purongo ā-tau recently adopted by the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes Strategy Group. The report also provides an update on activities in the Programme in the first quarter of the new financial year.

Some highlights of progress include the finalisation of the Lake Rotorua Nutrient Rules through the Environment Court and significant progress with the implementation of those. Also the re-instigation of phosphorous locking and weed harvesting on Lake Rotoehu.

The report includes the Annual water quality results for the lakes, while those overall results are positive – challenges remain.

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1 Receives the report, Te Arawa Lakes Programme - Purongo ā-tau 2020-2021.

1. Introduction

Attached is the 2020-2021 Purongo ā-tau for the Te Arawa Lakes Programme which outlines progress with the Programme. At their meeting in October, the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes Strategy Group approved the report for submission to the Minister in accordance with the requirements of the Deed of Funding for the Programme.

The report is prepared as part of the requirements of the Deed of Funding with the Crown which underpins the Programme, it includes progress on interventions in the Programme (Deed and Non-Deed funded) but also the annual lake water quality results.

An update on progress with implementation of the Programme for the first quarter of the new financial year is also provided.

1.1 Alignment with Strategic Framework

A Healthy Environment	We manage our natural resources effectively through regulation, education and action.
Freshwater for Life	We collaborate with others to maintain and improve our water resource for future generations.

The Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes Programme is a collaboration between Toi Moana, Te Arawa Lakes Trust and Rotorua Lakes Council. It was set up following Te Arawa’s Treaty of Waitangi settlement with the Crown.

The Programme has committed funding for interventions until 2032, from both Councils and the Crown. The funding is aimed at maintaining and improving the water quality of the Te Arawa Lakes, including the objectives set out in the Programme’s overarching Strategy document.

1.1.1 Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

þ Cultural

¨ Social

¨ Economic

The purpose of the programme is maintain and enhance water quality across the Te Arawa Lakes, but also to achieve other goals set out in the Programme’s overarching Strategy. The Programme was funded and commenced following Te Arawa’s Treaty Settlement with the Crown - in order to respond to the degradation that had occurred in the lakes in the decades prior to that settlement. Restoration and protection of the cultural values of the lakes is also a key focus of the Programme.

2. Purongo ā-tau (Annual Report 2020-2021)

The purpose of the Purongo ā-tau 2020-2021 is to report on the achievements against the 2020-2021 Annual Work Plan of the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes Programme (the Programme).

Following feedback from the Strategy Group, the structure, look and feel of the report was refreshed in order to better reflect Te Ao Māori. The 2020-2021 report attached is structured around the guiding values of the Programme’s work on the lakes, Te Whakapapa o te Wai, as set out in Te Tuapapa o ngā wai o Te Arawa (a Te Arawa cultural values framework).

Following an overview of work undertaken during the year on the Deed Funded Lakes (Waiariki), the report then outlines the current status of the health of the Te Arawa Lakes (Wai Ora), including western science and Mātauranga Māori measures.

The report provides a detailed breakdown of the Deed and Non-Deed funded interventions on each lake (Wai Rua). The financial status of the Deed funded interventions is also provided in Wai Ata.

This Purongo ā-tau outlines the on-the-ground work undertaken by the Partners to collectively work towards the aspirations for the Te Arawa Lakes, as set out in the Strategy document.

The report also provides the anticipated annual lake health update which measures lake health in a number of ways, including against the target Trophic Level Index (TLI) set for each lake in the Regional Natural Resources Plan.

2.1 Wai Rua - Progress on Restoration Projects

The report itself provides a detailed and extensive breakdown of the work of the Programme Partners within the Te Arawa Lakes Programme kaupapa over the year.

The report is not repeated here but a few key matters are highlighted as follows:

• The Lake Rotorua Nutrient Rules (previously known as Plan Change 10) achieved a significant milestone during the year, having all appeals resolved and receiving a consent order from the Environment Court. This is a significant milestone following a 10 year process to develop them in collaboration with stakeholders and move through the processes prescribed by the Resource Management Act.

• During this year the Lake Rotorua Incentives Scheme has supported the planting of approximately 193,000 trees in the Lake Rotorua catchment. The Scheme has secured 30 tonne of nitrogen reduction and over 4,000 hectares of land use change. A further ~10 tonne is in the pipeline.

• During the year work was undertaken on the viability of constructed wetlands providing the remaining 42 tonne required to achieve the 50 Tonne Engineering Solutions reduction of the Integrated Framework; this work confirmed that pursuing constructed wetlands are a viable option and work is underway to confirm potential of identified priority sites.

• Phosphorous locking on the lake is also Deed funded and it appears that temporary facilities that were established on the Puarenga while the permanent tank was replaced in 2020 managed to counter an algae bloom on the lake (and associated Public Health warning) during October/November 2020. Alum dosing of the lake continues to maintain the water quality around its target TLI of 4.2, at the time of writing this report another algae bloom has been notified on Lake Rotorua and the western end of Lake Rotoiti.

• Sewerage reticulation of the final part of the Rotoiti lakeside community and the detailed design for reticulation at Lake Rotoehu continues. Matters related to funding of both are being worked through between the Partners.

• Weed harvesting and alum dosing both recommenced on Lake Rotoehu during the year, after a long hiatus due to high lake levels.

2.2 Wai Ora - Lake Health Update

The Water Quality Dashboard provided with the Purongo ā-tau summarises the work done by the Programme to monitor and measure the health of the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes during the year. Of particular note:

• The Dashboard shows that five of the lakes achieved their target Trophic Level Index (TLI) over for the year, that four lakes have a three year rolling average TLI which meets their target, and that four have a three year rolling TLI of 0.2 or less points above their target TLI.

• While Lake Rotoehu again did not achieve its target TLI, this is the second year of significant improvement in the measured TLI.

• For Rotokākahi, which also did not achieve its target TLI, this is the best TLI result for that lake since 2004.

• An elevated TLI for Tikitapu this year is of concern and staff will be monitoring this closely; the land use in this catchment is already very low intensity.

• Monitoring is showing juvenile koura are being impacted in lakes where catfish are present.

Overall these results for the Te Arawa Lakes remain positive, however close monitoring and management is required – particularly given that challenges such as climate change are likely to continue to impact on the ability of the Programme to maintain and improve water quality across the lakes.

3. Quarter One 2021/2022 Status Update

A summary of progress in the first quarter of the new financial year (2021-2022):

· Overall 224 properties have now registered with the Advice and Support Service, associated with the implementation of the Lake Rotorua nutrient rules. 90 over 40 ha properties and 127 under 40 ha. There are around 40 landowners between 10 and 40 hectares who have not yet engaged with the Service or responded to calls to do so. Staff continue to work to engage these parties. Properties under 40 hectares require resource consent by July 2022.

· Work commenced on the wattle project for the 2021 winter control period in June (an action in the Tarawera Restoration Plan). Approximately 33 ha of bush, with varying density of acacia, is targeted this season. Staff have been at the Isthmus Track on Lake Tarawera pulling wattle seedlings which are coming back up from wattle tree control activities in that area. The results this year are heartening with far fewer seedlings appearing. The landscape is challenging and unfortunately there is heavy predator sign: deer, wallabies and possums - which a significant challenge to the restoration of natives. The wattle crew has now moved to the mountain to commence work on the wilding pines for summer.

· Three Incentives agreements have been monitored in the first quarter and are deemed compliant. The 30 tonne cumulative target by December 2021 (set in the Annual Work Plan) has been achieved.

· Retirement of 16 hectares of seepage areas and wetland on a farm at Hamurana in the Lake Rotorua catchment is being undertaken under a Toi Moana Environmental Programme, 50% funded by the Government as part of their Jobs for Nature Covid-19 recovery funds and 50% by Toi Moana.

· Work on the 2022 Science Review required by the Lake Rotorua Nutrient rules (Plan Change 10) is underway.

· The Covid-19 lockdown meant that alum dosing on Lake Ōkaro was not able to occur in August. The next dose will occur in March 2022.

· The Lake Ōkāreka outlet pipeline was completed in the quarter, including the inlet and outlet structures. This project is now complete.

· Resource consent has been granted to continue phosphorous locking/alum dosing on Lake Rotorua (Utuhina and Puarenga) for a further 10 years. There is a significant suite of resource consent conditions associated with this continued work, including cultural monitoring of taonga species.

· A hedged Mānuka trial on two Māori owned whenua (funded by the Lake Rotorua Low Nitrogen Land Use Fund) is underway. It is hoped that hedged mānuka (for oil) will prove itself as a viable alternative low nitrogen land use in the Lake Rotorua catchment.

· There was a lot of work over the planting season associated with Environmental Programmes funded by Toi Moana:

· The 8 Mile Gate wetland which is part of a partnership restoration Programme between Tipu Waiariki Charitable Trust, Te Arawa Lakes Trust, Whakarewarewa Pest Free, CNI and the Regional Council for that wetland.

· On the Puarenga, in the dog park, to plant up the last part of the bank which is a highly used access for dogs for swimming and is subject to significant erosion. Students from Whakarewarewa School and Tatau Pounamu volunteers did the mahi.

· On the Ngongotahā Stream, planting where gum trees have been removed as part of the Crown funded Regional Council work to remove large trees in the riparian zone on the stream.

· Rotorua Lakes Council completed design of the main linking Rotoehu to the Rotoiti/Rotomā sewer trunk main was completed during the quarter. It is planned to complete the mains reticulation for this project over the coming summer. A Contract for the supply/installation and operations and maintenance of onsite systems (Biolytix) for the reaming Rotoiti sewerage scheme has been awarded and work is expected to commence in October.

· The Independent Panel Review of Overseer released by the Government following the end of the 2020/21 financial year, has potentially provided a challenge to the Programme in terms of maintaining momentum in the implementation of the Lake Rotorua Nutrient Rules and the Incentives Scheme. The Partners have discussed the report and Government guidance and are resolute in continuing momentum to the 2032 target for Lake Rotorua. They have agreed to follow the Government Guidance, i.e. the continued use of Overseer while the four options identified by the Government to respond to the Panel Report are worked through.

· The new Toihuarewa Waimaori (Chair of Freshwater and Lake Science) has been appointed by the University of Waikato, to start in early January 2022. The appointee is Dr Deniz Ozkundakci. Deniz brings considerable research expertise in lakes and freshwater systems (including a recently-awarded MBIE Smart Ideas project), and a wealth of experience in community engagement through his work for the Waikato Regional Council.

Considerations

3.1 Climate Change

Mitigation			Adaptation
Reduce GHG emissions	Produce GHG emissions	Sequester carbon	Anticipate climate change impacts	Respond to climate change impacts
☒	☐	☒	☒	☐

The Programme has a role in both mitigation of and adaption to the effects of climate change. For example, a large part of the Programme involves the retirement of marginal land to trees, and Emissions Trading Scheme income makes many of those deals attractive to landowners. The constructed wetlands project also has potential benefits for climate change.

Ongoing adaptation by the Programme is necessary to respond to the impacts of climate change, climate change will impact on our ability to achieve target TLI across the lakes and the Water Quality Technical Advisory Group has a role in assisting the Programme to adapt and respond.

3.2 Implications for Māori

Te Arawa Lakes Trust are a partner in the Programme and heavily involved in delivery and governance, including the approval of the Purongo ā-tau to the Ministry for the Environment. Engagement and partnership with Māori on deliverables throughout the programme is essential to successful delivery, current examples include the mānuka trial plots through the low nitrogen land use fund, incentives agreements, the constructed wetlands project, catfish management and lake biosecurity.

3.3 Financial Implications

The Purongo ā-tau covers progress of the Programme within the previous financial year. Work of the Programme moving forward is included in the Long Term Plan of Toi Moana.

4. Next Steps

The Programme will continue to implement the 2021/22 Annual Work Plan, with the deliverables of Toi Moana included set out in the 2021-2031 Long Term Plan. The 2021/22 Six Month Report for the Programme will be brought to Strategy Group early in 2022.

Attachments

Attachment 1 - Final Strategy Group Approved - October 2021 - Purongo a-tau Annual Report 2020-21 ⇩

[1] Solid fuel burner – any device that is capable of burning wood, coal or wooden pellets.

[2] Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Air Quality) Regulations 2004.

[3] The 2004 NES-AQ included new design standards for woodburners (to produce less smoke).

[4] 8,500 SFBs did not represent individual properties as a single dwelling could have more than one non-compliant SFB.

[5] Resource consents are required if an owner wants to install a woodburner in a property that doesn’t have an in situ burner to replace, or, their burner was illegally installed. Resource consents are not required when replacing lawfully installed in situ burners.

[6] Exceedance – when the ambient concentration of PM₁₀exceeds 50 micrograms per cubic metre (50μg/m³) averaged over 24 hours.

[7] Fine particulate matter of 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter, is the most dangerous pollutant because it can penetrate the lung barrier and enter the blood system, causing cardiovascular and respiratory disease and cancers.

[8] The ratio of particulate matter for solid fuel burner wood smoke is approximately 10% PM₁₀ and 90% PM_2.5.

Chairperson	Cr Kevin Winters
Deputy Chairperson	Cr Norm Bruning
Members	All Councillors
Quorum	Seven members, consisting of half the number of members
Meeting frequency	Quarterly