Monitoring and Operations Committee Agenda

NOTICE IS GIVEN that the next meeting of the Monitoring and Operations Committee will be held in Council Chambers, Regional House, 1 Elizabeth Street, Tauranga on:

Tuesday 9 March 2021 COMMENCING AT 9:30 am

This meeting will be recorded.

The Public section of this meeting will be recorded and uploaded to Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s website.  Further details on this can be found after the Terms of Reference within the Agenda.

 

Fiona McTavish

Chief Executive, Bay of Plenty Regional Council Toi Moana

1 March 2021

 


 

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Membership

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

Purpose

·                Oversee and monitor the implementation of policies and strategies, promoting effective delivery and coordination between policy and implementation through recommendations to the Strategy and Policy Committee.

·                Monitor the implementation of Council’s activities, projects and services.

Role

Oversee and monitor:

·                Regulatory performance of permitted activities, resource consents and bylaw rules, including compliance and enforcement.

·                Delivery of biodiversity, catchment management and flood protection activities in the region.

·                Delivery of biosecurity activities, including implementation and monitoring of the Regional Pest Management Plan.

·                Effectiveness of navigation safety bylaw responses.

·                State of the Environment monitoring.

·                Implementation of specific programmes in place such as the Mount Maunganui Industrial Air Programme, and integrated catchment programmes (e.g. Rotorua Lakes and Tauranga Moana).

·                Receive information on environmental monitoring and performance monitoring trends and recommend to the Strategy and Policy Committee to inform policy review.

·                Monitor Council’s actions on Climate Change.

·                Operational activities that implement relevant national and regional plans and strategies, including:

§  science

§  flood protection

§  biosecurity

§  catchment management

§  rivers and drainage

§  compliance, monitoring and enforcement

§  resource consents

§  maritime

Power to Act

To make all decisions necessary to fulfil the role and scope of the committee subject to the limitations imposed.

The Monitoring and Operations Committee is not delegated authority to:

·                Develop, adopt or review strategic policy and strategy.

·                Approve Council submissions on legislation, policy, regulations, standards, plans and other instruments prepared by Central Government, Local Government and other organisations.

·                Identify, monitor and evaluate necessary actions by the organisation and other relevant organisations under co-governance arrangements.

Power to Recommend

To the Strategy and Policy Committee on matters necessary for reviewing plans, strategies and policies.

To Council and/or any standing committee as it deems appropriate.


 

Recording of Meetings

Please note the Public section of this meeting is being recorded and will be uploaded Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s web site in accordance with Council's Live Streaming and Recording of Meetings Protocols which can be viewed on Council’s website. The recording will be archived and made publicly available on Council's website within two working days after the meeting on www.boprc.govt.nz for a period of three years (or as otherwise agreed to by Council).

All care is taken to maintain your privacy; however, as a visitor in the public gallery or as a participant at the meeting, your presence may be recorded. By remaining in the public gallery, it is understood your consent is given if your image is inadvertently broadcast.

Opinions expressed or statements made by individual persons during a meeting are not the opinions or statements of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Council accepts no liability for any opinions or statements made during a meeting.

 


Bay of Plenty Regional Council - Toi Moana

Governance Commitment

mō te taiao, mō ngā tāngata - our environment and our people go hand-in-hand.

 

 

We provide excellent governance when, individually and collectively, we:

·        Trust and respect each other

·        Stay strategic and focused

·        Are courageous and challenge the status quo in all we do

·        Listen to our stakeholders and value their input

·        Listen to each other to understand various perspectives

·        Act as a team who can challenge, change and add value

·        Continually evaluate what we do

 

 

TREAD LIGHTLY, THINK DEEPLY,
ACT WISELY, SPEAK KINDLY.


Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                          9 March 2021

Recommendations in reports are not to be construed as Council policy until adopted by Council.

Agenda

1.       Apologies

2.       Public Forum

3.       Items not on the Agenda

4.       Order of Business

5.       Declaration of Conflicts of Interest

6.       Public Excluded Business to be Transferred into the Open

7.       Minutes

Minutes to be Confirmed

7.1      Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 15 December 2020 1

8.       Presentations

8.1      9.30am Site Upgrades and Environmental Improvements at Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd

Presented by: Charlie Bourne - Operations Manager, Dominic Adams - Environmental Manager, Shane Dufaur - General Manager Operations & Supply Chain

8.2      10am Bay Conservation Alliance

Presented by: Michelle Elborn, Chief Executive supported by Julian Fitter, Board Chairman

8.3      Update on Catfish, Aquatic Pests and Wallabies

Presented by: Greg Corbett, Biosecurity Manager

This presentation will provide the committee an update on recent developments with the catfish (and other aquatic pests) and wallaby programmes. It includes information presented to the Lakes Water Quality Society Annual General Meeting on 1 February 2021.

9.       Reports

9.1      Chairperson's Report                                                                               1

Attachment 1 - PDU Dashboard Bay of Plenty November 2020                                    1

Decisions Required

9.2      2020 - 2021 Operational Plan for the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan                                                                                     1

Attachment 1 - 2020 - 2021 RPMP Operational Plan draft                                              1

Information Only

9.3      Outline of Region-Wide Marae Wastewater Project                            1

9.4      Mount Maunganui Industrial Airshed Update                                        1

Attachment 1 - Mount Industrial Area Programme Plan on a Page                               1

Attachment 2 - Mount Maunganui Airshed PM10 exceedances at February 2021      1

9.5      Climate Change Programme Update                                                     1

9.6      Customer Service Performance                                                              1

9.7      Update on Kaimai Mamaku projects                                                      1

Attachment 1 - 2021 02 09 Item 2 - Towards Thriving Kaimai-Mamaku Forest EP Report Dec_Jan 2021 -Brad Angus                                                                                    1

9.8      Environmental Code of Practice for Rivers & Drainage Maintenance Activities - 2020 Annual Review                                                             1

Attachment 1 - Hapu/Iwi Resource Management Plans                                                 1

Attachment 2 - Table of completed Rivers & Drainage Operations Works                  1

Attachment 3 - Rivers and Drainage Operations Complaints Register - 2019-2020   1

9.9      New Environmental Publications - Sea Lettuce Monitoring in Tauranga Harbour and Whitebait Spawning Zones in the Bay of Plenty            1

Supporting Document 1 - BOPRC Environmental Publication 2021/01. Sea lettuce research and monitoring in Tauranga Harbour 2020.

Supporting Document 2 - BOPRC Environmental Publication 2021/02 - The location and habitat conditions of whitebait spawning zones in the Bay of Plenty.

10.     Public Excluded Section

Resolution to exclude the public

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

10.1

Public Excluded Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 15 December 2020

As noted in the relevant Minutes.

As noted in the relevant Minutes.

To remain in public excluded.

 

Minutes to be Confirmed

10.1    Public Excluded Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 15 December 2020

11.     Public Excluded Business to be Transferred into the Open

12.     Readmit the Public

13.     Consideration of Items not on the Agenda


 Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes

15 December 2020

 

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Open Minutes

Commencing:             Tuesday 15 December 2020, 9.30 am

Venue:                         Council Chambers, Regional House, 1 Elizabeth Street, Tauranga

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 Andrew von Dadelszen, Cr Te Taru White

In Attendance:            General Manager, Regulatory Services, Sarah Omundsen, General Manager, Integrated Catchment, Chris Ingle, all presenters – as listed in the minutes, Amanda Namana – Committee Advisor

Apologies:                  Cr Lyall Thurston

 

1.     Apologies

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Accepts the apology from Cr Lyall Thurston tendered at the meeting.

von Dadelszen/Rose

CARRIED

2.     Public Forum

2.1    Larry Jennings

Key Points

·        Planted a citrus orchard circa 1970 with approximately 1000 trees and never irrigated

·        Water rights were granted by Council in 1977 and subsequently the volume was reduced by half. The cost at the time was $10 for a one off application, but the fees had been increasing every year, now having reached $320 annually

·        Had never taken water from the bore

·        Objected to the annual bill received and to having a fee for something that had not been used

·        Did not want to give up the water rights as sons were likely to pursue horticulture options on the property.

Key Points - Members

·        The issue of fees and charges is consulted on every year with consent holders as part of the Annual Plan process, this was a statutory fee charged to cover maintenance, administration and helped fund scientific monitoring of water resources.

2.2    Pat Condon

Key Points

·        Been working in vertebrate pest control industry for 40 years

·        Current president of NZ Feral Action Network, which had 130 members in the Bay of Plenty alone

·        Agreed with the pre-qualification programme for wallaby control in some ways, but costs had become prohibitive

·        Outlined the two main controls on contracts – input and output

·        Described different types of wallaby control and effectiveness

·        If contracts were to cover all introduced vertebrate pests, then contractors could price this into their tender.

3.     Declaration of Conflicts of Interest

None declared.

4.     Minutes

Minutes to be Confirmed

4.1

Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 15 September 2020

Matters Arising

·        In regards to the Whakarewarewa forest spray irrigation, the application to direct discharge into Lake Rotorua had been withdrawn.

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Confirms the Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 15 September 2020 as a true and correct record, subject to the following amendments:

Iti/Clark

CARRIED

5.     Presentations

5.1

Port of Tauranga - Dust Management Underway

Presentation - Particulate matter mitigation: Objective ID A3701674   

Port of Tauranga Environmental Manager Joey McKenzie, supported by Property and Infrastructure Manager Dan Kneebone presented this item.

Key Points

·        The presentation centred around Mount Maunganui wharf side of the Port of Tauranga as that was where air quality issues relating to dust arose

·        Reinforced the Port’s commitment to ensure a healthy environment around the Port

·        The Port would be involved in the new Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party moving forward.

 

Key Points - Members

·        Recognised the efforts of the Port in regards to environmental standards and mitigating dust.

In Response to Questions

·        There was no split between loading methods for methyl bromide treatments

·        Was looking at options to help facilitate a greater use of trailers

·        Three contracted sweeper trucks worked during peak times from Monday to Friday with reduced requirement on the weekends, and this was constantly reviewed to ensure appropriate coverage.  Port users undertaking dusty activities were required to have their own sweeper trucks

·        There were virtually no unsealed yards at the Port, with the exception of the  section of grass on Waimarie Street and the KiwiRail land adjacent to the Port where the yards were unsealed

·        Invited members to visit the Port and see the dust management mitigation measures firsthand.

 

 

5.2

Introduction to Maritime Summer 2021 and new Harbourmaster

Presentation - Harbourmaster update: Objective ID A3701676   

Harbourmaster Jon Jon Peters presented this item.

 

Key Points:

·           Had held the role of Harbourmaster for just one month and outlined background and working history

·           Described the activities and functions of the maritime team and each vessel in the fleet

·           One of the biggest roles of the maritime team was ensuring the safety of the community on the water, with education being an important part of this

·           There were two patrol boats in the Tauranga harbour educating and regulating people, there were also a similar team in charge of the same function in the lakes

·           2021 summer was predicted to be one of the busiest on record as there had already been an 83% increase of the number of interactions on the water compared with the same time last year

·           People from other regions were largely unaware of local maritime rules, speeds and regulations

·           All patrol boat interactions were recorded on camera.

Key Points – Members

·           Expressed concern over the safety of crossing the Ōpōtiki bar and the jet ski speeds in Ōhiwa Harbour over summer when the tourist population increased.

In Response to Questions

·           Will be more involved with iwi in regards to water safety.

6.     Reports

6.1

Chairperson's Report

Chair Cr Winters presented this item.

In Response to Questions:

·           There would be a new bar camera installed in Ōpōtiki once the harbour project was completed

·           Laboratory samples were prioritised if the results were urgent or the sample could deteriorate, some samples took a long time to go through the analysis process

·           There were different levels of service for different levels of water treatment.

 

Items for Staff Follow Up:

·           Reports to come to 2021 Monitoring and Operations Committee:

o   How to progress Marae OSET work across the sub-regions, how it might get phased, what the outcomes would be and the cost for doing the work

o   Update on the joint project between NZ Avocado, NZKGI and BOPRC water takes (refer Page 27 of the agenda) regarding removing seasonal restrictions on water take consents

·           Staff to investigate the viability of creating an App for reporting to the Pollution hotline.

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Chairperson's Report.

Winters/Rose

CARRIED

 

10.57 am -  The meeting adjourned.

 

11.15 am – The meeting reconvened.

Information Only

6.2

Mount Maunganui Industrial Area Update

Tabled Document 1 - Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party minutes - 7 December 2020: Objective ID A3701738   

Senior Regulatory Project Officer Reece Irving and Compliance Manager: Urban, Industry and Response Stephen Mellor presented this item.

Key Points - Members:

·           A cooperative approach to finding a solution to the air quality problems the public were experiencing was high priority

·           There was still a long way to go in achieving this and there were challenges to the further investigation required.

In Response to Questions:

·           The air monitor at Blake Park only monitored Total Suspended Particles (TSP) so the data received from this monitor was an indicator only, and options for including PM10 were being considered, along with the logistics and viability of this

·           Over the next three to six months, staff would be working on an Action Plan to identify how all parts of the organisation contributed to improving air quality.  This would form an important part of community messaging around the consents process and how this contributed to the overall air quality.

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Mount Maunganui Industrial Area Update.

Crosby/Nees

CARRIED

 

6.3

Rotorua Airshed Boundary Extension

Presentation - Rotorua Airshed and adjacent subdivisions map: Objective ID A3688101   

Senior Regulatory Project Officer Marion Henton and Compliance Manager: Urban, Industry and Response Stephen Mellor presented this item.

Key Points:

·           The black outline on the map defined the current boundary of the Rotorua Airshed

·           The role of the Rotorua Air Quality Working Party was to seek and encourage a reduction in particulate matter within its boundary

·           The Working Party wanted to protect the air quality gains already made and prevent new sources of particulate matter flowing into the Airshed

·           Concern was raised over smoke from woodburners installed in new subdivisions just outside of the existing Airshed boundaries, affecting the air quality within the Airshed and increasing the  concentration level of particulate matter

·           Rotorua Lakes Council was unable to restrict woodburner consent applications outside of the Airshed boundary.

In Response to Questions:

·           Although the Airshed boundary had to be defined, the Strategy and Policy Committee could work with Rotorua Lakes Council to future proof any scheduled developments.

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Rotorua Airshed Boundary Extension.

2        Recommends that the Strategy and Policy Committee:

(a)  Extends the boundary of the Rotorua Airshed to include any subdivisions that could contribute additional particulate matter into the Rotorua Airshed.

Rose/von Dadelszen

CARRIED

 

6.4

Focus Catchments update

Presentation - Focus Catchments Update: Objective ID A3701679   

Principal Advisor, Land and Water Jackson Efford presented this item.

Key Points - Members:

·       Commended the work and especially the focussed approach on specific catchments

·       Would like to see more financial reporting around what was being invested in different focus catchments, percentages on funding to landowners and what monitoring plans were in place to measure success of interventions

·       Climate change reporting to identify what carbon was being sequestered through the planting programme.  This type of information being captured and collated across the organisation would be valuable to identify the real impacts of all planting work carried out.

In Response to Questions:

·       A large amount of work had been undertaken at Kaiate Falls including 10km of new fencing erected over the past season to keep stock away from waterways above the Falls

·       Jobs for Nature funding from the Ministry for the Environment would greatly increase the amount of work being undertaken in focus catchment programmes

·       There had been no supply issues so far with fencing, and plants could be ordered ahead to be grown on contract although contractor availability had been an issue in some of the more remote areas

·       All councils were working on standardising the best measure of swimmability.


 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Focus Catchments update.

Bruning/Clark

CARRIED

 

6.5

Rivers and Drainage Update

Rivers and Drainage Assets Manager Kirsty Brown presented this item.

In Response to Questions:

·           Kaituna scheme classification review was due to go out for tender in early 2021, with works beginning around April 2021

·           Sheetpiles had been manufactured for the Kaituna Mole repair project, but due to shipping issues they were not expected to arrive until February 2021

·           The fishing area at this location would be closed during the works and the public would be notified

·           The Bell Road catchment was included in the review

·           Rock procurement meetings were progressing according to plan.       

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Rivers and Drainage Update.

White/von Dadelszen

CARRIED

 

6.6

Annual Care Group Summary Report

Presentation - Care Groups 2020 summary: Objective ID A3701684   

Team Leader Western Catchments Rusty Knutson presented this item.

Key Points:

·           Regional Council support comprised funding, pest management tools, plants for restoration and technical advice

·           Highlights for the year included:

Groups stayed active despite the Covid-19 outbreak and achieved excellent results across the region

A mobile GIS mapping App had been developed mostly in-house and was used by groups to plot their traplines, report their pest catches and to visually see the outcomes of their mahi.  This App was to be formally released in 2021

·           There had been an increase in engagement noted from landowners within some of the focus catchment groups which had generated funding requests.

Key Points - Members:

·           Commended the work of the care groups and expressed appreciation for the valuable work they did in the community.

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Annual Care Group Summary Report.

Nees/Love

CARRIED

 

11.55 am - Cr Rose withdrew from the meeting.

 

 

6.7

2019/2020 Regulatory Compliance Activity Report

Presentation - Regulatory Compliance Activity: Objective ID A3701687   

Compliance Manager – Primary, Industry and Enforcement Alex Miller and Compliance Manager – Urban, Industry and Response Stephen Mellor presented this item.

Key Points - Members:

·           Suggested a more customer-centric approach to regulatory compliance.

In Response to Questions:

·           Reporting complaints through the pollution hotline was valuable in escalating enforcement action

·           There was a dedicated triage role within the team for complaints across the Bay of Plenty, which was a recent addition

·           A high number of substantiated complaints were in relation to air quality

·           Stormwater ponds across the region were monitored by the  relevant TAs and they were required to report to BOPRC who could ensure they were meeting the required limits and obligations within their consent

·           The capacity for coordination of the three waters portfolio is expanding

·           Municipal wastewater significant and moderate non-compliance:

Currently the most significant was in Kawerau, for which enforcement had been undertaken by issuing a number of abatement and infringement notices and further investigation was being carried out

A particular type of monitoring required on integrity of the pipeline from the Katikati treatment plant was unable to go ahead, but staff are working with iwi and community groups to reach a compromise.

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, 2019/2020 Regulatory Compliance Activity Report.

Nees/Crosby

CARRIED

 

6.8

 

 

Pāpāmoa Hills Upgrade Project - Te Uku o Takakopiri

Senior Projects Officer (Coastal Catchments) Courtney Bell and General Manager Integrated Catchments Chris Ingle presented this item.

Key Points - Members:

·           The current carpark was often at 90% capacity and that Pāpāmoa Hills Park was becoming a viable alternative to Mauao for the public

·           Neighbouring landowners needed to be engaged with during the design phase

·           Cautioned that it was important to achieve sign off by parties at each step of the design process when consulting with tangata whenua, particularly with regards to signage.

In Response to Questions:

·           Health and safety had been a key consideration in relation to cars entering and exiting the carpark and trucks using the quarry - the new carpark location would address this issue

·           Pāpāmoa Hills has had a revegetation plan since 2007

·           Additional funding had not been sought from the Crown from the One Billion Trees fund but could potentially be used to offset costs associated with the approximately 30,000 trees and shrubs currently being planted annually

·           There was potential to accelerate the planting plan in place, though this would have increased operational and maintenance costs.

Minute Note: Subsequent to the meeting the following information within the report was corrected: The land was jointly purchased by BOPRC, Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council in 2004 with BOPRC buying out the other two owners and effectively becoming the sole owner in 2007.

12:34 pm - Cr Rose entered the meeting.

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Pāpāmoa Hills Upgrade Project - Te Uku o Takakopiri.

2        Endorses the attached project concept document that has been co-designed with, and endorsed by, tangata whenua.

3        Directs staff to proceed to detailed design, updating of cost estimates and commencing procurement planning for construction starting in 2021.

4        Nominates Cr Crosby, Cr Nees and Cr Bruning to a Working Party to be part of the detailed design process alongside tangata whenua.

Iti/White

CARRIED

 

6.9

Resource Consents Process: Customer Service Deep Dive Insights and Next Steps

Consents Manager Reuben Fraser presented this item.

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Resource Consents Process: Customer Service Deep Dive Insights and Next Steps.

2        Confirms the public be excluded on the grounds set out in the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 from consideration of the following report attachments:

(a)  Regional Council - Guts (consultants) under Section 48(1)(a)(i) Section 7 (2)(a) as withholding the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons and that this attachment remain in Public Excluded.

(b)  Regional Council - Guts (Tangata Whenua) under Section 48(1)(a)(i) Section 7 (2)(a) as withholding the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons and that this attachment remain in Public Excluded.

Rose/Thompson

CARRIED

7.     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

9.9

Resource Consents Process: Customer Service Deep Dive Insights and Next Steps - Attachment 1 - Regional Council - Guts (consultants) - Public Excluded

Withholding the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons.

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

To remain in public excluded.

9.9

Resource Consents Process: Customer Service Deep Dive Insights and Next Steps - Attachment 2 - Regional Council - Guts (Tangata Whenua) - Public Excluded

Withholding the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons.

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

To remain in public excluded.

White/Nees

CARRIED

 

7.1

Resource Consents Process: Customer Service Deep Dive Insights and Next Steps (Continued)

 

Resolved

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Supports the rollout of new guidance material specifying timeframes and indicative costs for tangata whenua engagement.

Rose/Crosby

CARRIED

8.     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

8.1

Public Excluded Monitoring and Operations Committee Minutes - 15 September 2020

As noted in the relevant Minutes.

As noted in the relevant Minutes.

To remain in public excluded.

Rose/Crosby

CARRIED

 

1.51 pm – the meeting closed.

 

 

Confirmed                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                   Cr Kevin Winters

Chairperson, Monitoring and Operations Committee


 

 

 

Report To:

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Meeting Date:

9 March 2021

Report Authoriser:

 

 

 

Chairperson's Report

 

Executive Summary

This report provides an update on key matters of interest for Monitoring and Operations Committee members, including implementation of the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater and an update on the 2020/21 Water Shortage Event.

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

As reported late last year the NESF and S360 Regulations came into force on the 3rd September 2020. Some requirements of the NESF and S360 requirements have immediate effect while others are phased in over the next five years. The provisions for natural wetland protection, barriers to Fish Passage and some provisions for feedlots, land use Intensification and stock exclusion (for new areas of farm land) are already live.

Most of the consent workload arises from new applications and the consideration of what is (or isn’t) captured by the definition of “Wetland” in the NES. In these situations consent planners are working closely with applicants to determine whether proposed activities are impacted by the new definition. 

Staff have been meeting with interested community groups and agricultural consultants to work through likely scenarios and case studies so that we can improve our advisory material.  These case studies can then be used to provide certainty and clarity.

Recently, questions have centred on;

·      land use intensification (such as conversions to dairying) and

·      intensive winter grazing requirements which come into force in May 2021.

We are anticipating an increase in queries about the synthetic nitrogen cap requirements in terms of information provision as the deadline of July 2021 approaches.

Our approach remains:

a)   Provision of advice and support in terms of understanding the new requirements on request from applicants;

b)  Proactively advise the community that the new provisions are in force and where they can get help to answer any questions;

c)   Carefully assess any new consent applications that are lodged to see if they are impacted by the new provisions.

Council officers continue to be actively involved in the development of Freshwater Farm Plans regionally and nationally. Implementation has been delayed awaiting the development of systems and advisory materials, which we are supporting. Our understanding is that Farm Plans will not be available as a tool until 2022 at the earliest, which means that in the interim some farmers will need to go through a consenting process for those activities that were potentially covered by a Farm Plan.  

2.2      Water Shortage Event management 2020/21

Since the last committee update in early December 2020, conditions have been largely dry across the Bay of Plenty, with the exception of some isolated extreme rainfall events. Weather patterns are largely following the predicted La Niña conditions, which will likely see extended dry spells continue to be interspersed with the unsettled conditions.

December rainfall was lower than normal for much of the region, as was January with only 30-60% of normal rainfall falling for western and central areas. Despite this, lower lying areas between Matatā and Ōpōtiki were affected by two high intensity short duration storm events in early January that resulted in surface flooding and road closures.

Soil moisture levels across the region are declining due to the lack of rainfall coupled with warm conditions. Overall most streams across the region have flows greater than their Q5 7-day low flow values, although many are decreasing.

The exception to this are several waterways originating from near the Rotorua/Mamaku Plateau area, with some of these streams reaching their lowest ever recorded flow rates e.g. Ngongotaha. The drop in flows is likely to be caused by a combination of geology in the area coupled with low rainfall in the region over the last two years. Groundwater in the Rotorua geothermal field has also shown signs of dropping levels.

As a result, on 12 January 2021 a Rotorua Focus Zone was established and immediately escalated to a Level 2 in accordance with Regional Council’s Water Shortage Standard Operating Procedure. This means that additional analysis and reporting is undertaken for streams in the zone, and should be an early indication that possible water restrictions could be imposed if stream flows continue to drop. Direct communication with consent holders in the Focus Zone has occurred.

As we move through to spring, it is possible that additional catchments will move into Level 2. However at the time of writing this report (10 February) there is no immediate risk of Level 3 restrictions being imposed.

The Dry Weather Water Management project page continues to be updated and includes information on the Focus Zones and the latest Situation Reports: https://www.boprc.govt.nz/our-projects/dry-weather-water-management

2.3      Stopbank integrity investigations

The Rivers and Drainage Asset Team has completed some major pieces of work to help support the integrity of community flood protections assets. This has included the development and adoption of the Flood Protection and Drainage Bylaws 2020, a performance review of Rivers and Drainage critical assets identified in the Rivers and Drainage Asset Management Plan and condition assessments of non-critical assets across the River Schemes.

This combined work has highlighted a number of areas where adjacent land owner development (planting or structures) may impact Council flood protection assets. Examples of this might include large trees or structures very close or into the stopbank batter. With the foundation of 2020 Bylaw adoption and the supporting communications plan the Assets Team will be embarking on a project this year to inform and work with land owners where there may be encroachment concerns. The project will require a collaborative approach with the local authorities to ensure consistency of information and acknowledgment of community safety. The first stage of the project is planned for the lower section of the Utuhina Stream in mid-2021.

2.4      Responsibility for Rena dive buoys

As part of the Rena resource consent conditions, the consent holder was required to maintain dive marker buoys at the wreck for a minimum of two years.  This requirement expired in April 2018. At that point the Mount Maunganui Underwater Dive Club expressed an interest in maintaining the buoys and has been working with the consent holder on handing over relevant resources.

The site is exposed and the buoys can be affected by weather events, including being displaced or destroyed. The Dive Club is looking at making some changes to the manner in which buoys are moored, using a more robust and permanent system. The intention is to have one buoy only in place marking a 14 m depth on the wreck. This should be in place shortly.

Regional Council has offered support to the Dive Club, including monitoring of the buoy and vessel support when maintenance is planned.

We have received a complaint from a diver about the arrangements, who believes Regional Council is responsible for funding and maintaining the buoys as a “public recreation facility”. We have confirmed the position that the Regional Harbourmaster is responsible for aids to navigation but that this does not include dive position marker buoys. However, we will continue to provide support to the Dive Club to help them deliver the dive buoy service.

2.5      Tauranga Moana OSET project update

As previously reported to this Committee, Tauranga City Council has resolved to connect all remaining Tauranga City Marae to reticulation, and infrastructure planning and consultation is well underway.

Significant progress has also been made in the Western Bay of Plenty District, particularly as Western Bay of Plenty District Council have secured Central Government funding for a number of projects, including a specific project to address Marae wastewater infrastructure across the entire Western Bay District (ie. not just Tauranga Moana). This project includes implementation, and funding is contingent on infrastructure being installed by March 2022.

The District Council intend to provide reticulation for a number of Marae where connection is viable, and have engaged a project manager to progress this. For those which reticulation is not a practicable option, they have engaged Trisha Simonsen and Frances Tinakore-Curtis to continue working with Marae and design suitable OSET systems, with installation to follow where appropriate.

Regional Council has committed to processing the resource applications for the OSET systems free of charge, and is continuing to work closely with Western Bay of Plenty District Council to assist in the project going forward.

A risk assessment to identify the needs of all Western Bay Marae is underway to ensure those who are in most need receive assistance first. Three Tauranga Moana Marae have already been determined to be in need, due to system failures and current lack of servicing. The procurement process for the first has commenced, with a consent application to Regional Council expected to be lodged prior to the end of March.

2.6      2020 Funding Opportunities

2.6.1    Provincial Growth Fund

There are now 130 Provincial Growth Fund projects in the Bay of Plenty, with a total value of $444m. 74 of these projects are already underway. Attachment 1 provides a high level summary of where the projects are, level of funding they received and progress to date

2.6.2    Crown Infrastructure Funded Projects and Jobs for Nature

At the last Committee meeting, staff advised that the Regional Council are now involved with the Department of Conservation in forming Jobs for Nature sub-regional alliances, together with Iwi participants. This work continues and good progress is being made.

Conservation Minister Kiri Allan has also now confirmed three new Jobs for Nature projects that will employ up to 30 people. These projects are aimed at boosting local conservation efforts, enhancing some of the region’s most special places and supporting its economic recovery. These are:

·      Ngati Tahu-Ngati Whaoa rohe - $826,000 over four years, and

·      Kaitiaki Adventures - Project Aumangea – Tarawera Maunga - $355,555 over one year, and Project Whakahaumanu – Okere - $220,265 over one year

2.7      Resource Consents update

·      We received 515 resource consent applications to 31 January. 17 were returned as being incomplete, nine have been withdrawn, 35 are for dairy effluent discharges and 103 are for bore installation. This compares to 403 resource consent applications received in the same period last year.

·      Two discounts have been issued from 266 decisions made on applications received within the period. Overall, two discounts have been issued from 370 decisions made.

·      44 (12%) of the 370 decisions made were processed by consultants. All the rest were processed internally.

·      59 of 71 customers responding were either satisfied (27) or very satisfied (32) with the service provided:

·      A breakdown of the type of consents granted so far this year is shown below:

Removal of seasonal restrictions: As previously reported, NZ Avocado, NZKGI, and the Regional Council have collaborated to streamline a process to remove seasonal restrictions from water take consents and provide desired flexibility for growers. This project has now concluded with seasonal restrictions being removed from six consents. These changes do not have any impact on allocation/availability because groundwater is allocated annually. The benefit to Council is that consent conditions have been modernised and telemetry requirements have been introduced.

Consents Customer Service deep dive: the results of the deep dive were presented to this Committee in December 2020. Since that time staff have continued to: develop guidance for tangata whenua and applicants, and work towards online access to consent information. In addition, consent planners have attended the Te Pumaomao nationhood building course. This course is immersive and aims to deepen understanding of Māori world views, laws and philosophies. It is tikanga based and presents strategies to develop a holistic understanding of cross-cultural relationships today.

2.8      Regulatory Compliance update

2.8.1    Pollution hotline and complaint response

·      2018 service requests have been received between 1 July 2020 and 31 January 2021 (see graph below), which is 3.2% lower than this time last year. 35% of these calls were received after hours, up from the 33% in the first half of the year.

·      69% of service requests were related to air quality – odour (665), smoke (507), agrichemical (89) and dust (168). This was up from 66% in the first half of the year.

·      523 (25%) calls were substantiated, and of these 96% of customers surveyed were satisfied with the customer service they received.

·     

73% of calls received were actioned on the day of receipt. 97% of calls were actioned within 3 working days.

 

2.8.2    Compliance monitoring

From 1 July 2020 – 31 January 2021, we have completed 2879 compliance inspections, and received and reviewed 7123 performance monitoring returns from consent holders.

Compliance levels remain consistent with previous reports, with 80% of site inspections identifying full compliance with consent requirements, and 75% 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 1.2% considered to be significantly non-compliant for site inspections.

2.8.3    Enforcement

So far this financial year, Regional Council has issued 66 abatement notices and 15 infringement notices in relation to breaches of Regional Plan rules and/or Resource Consent conditions.

We have the received the following decisions from the Court in relation to 7 prosecutions:

·      BOPRC v. Ziwi Ltd – discharge to land where it may enter water (washdown water); Ziwi were convicted and fined $64,000.

·      BOPRC v. Ziwi Ltd – discharge to air (offensive and objectionable odour): Ziwi were convicted and fined $66,000.

·      BOPRC v. Rere Lake Farm Ltd & Codi Joslin – 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. Kaimai Dairy Farms Ltd, and BOPRC v. Glen 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.

·      BOPRC v. Vercoe & Vercoe Contracting – 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)

Regional Council currently has a further 8 cases before the courts.

A dedicated enforcement webpage has now been established to provide easy access to press releases and decisions received from the courts, which can be found here: https://www.boprc.govt.nz/environment/pollution/prevention-and-compliance/environmental-enforcement

2.8.4    National CME metrics report

For the last three 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.

The results presented in the 2019/20 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[1], with only Environment Canterbury receiving more in 2019/20. Similarly, Regional Council undertook the fifth most compliance inspections of all regional councils, and monitored 85% of the required consents compared to a national average of 80%.

Similarly, Regional Council is relatively active in the enforcement space, with the third highest number of prosecutions currently before the courts, and is consistent in terms of the number of abatement and infringement notices issued, when compared to similar sized regions.

A direct comparison remains limited due to some inconsistencies in reporting format; however, compliance levels observed in the Bay of Plenty appear to be slightly higher than the national average, with lower levels of significant (1.5% compared to a national average of 2%) and moderate non-compliance (6% compared to a national average of 8%) observed.

The report is expected to be released to the general public via a press release from Local Government New Zealand in early March 2021, and a full copy will be circulated to Committee members.

2.8.5    Regulatory Reform

Recent announcements from the Minister for the Environment, David Parker, regarding the repeal and replacement of the RMA with a suite of new legislation hold a number of implications for how compliance monitoring and enforcement might look in the future.

Details regarding compliance monitoring are not expected to be included in the National Built Environment Act “exposure draft”, intended to be presented to Select Committee in May 2021. However, staff expect that Central Government will be actively considering the recommendations provided in Chapter 13 of the New Directions for Resource Management in New Zealand report, prepared for Minister Parker in 2020, which included:

·      Forming clear system links between compliance monitoring, state of environment monitoring and monitoring progress towards outcomes

·      Establishing independent regional compliance hubs, which would be responsible for undertaking resource management compliance, monitoring and enforcement

·      Strengthening the offence and penalties regime, including removing the option for defendants to elect trial by jury, and prohibiting insurance coverage of fines and infringements

·      Providing cost recovery mechanisms for monitoring compliance with permitted activities and responding to unauthorised activities

·      establishing a new power to allow a regulator to apply for a consent revocation order in response to serious or repeated non-compliance

Staff will be working proactively, particularly via the Regional Sector Compliance and Enforcement Special Interest Group, to engage with the Ministry for the Environment to assist with, and inform, the second stage of the development of the National Built Environment Act.

Attachments

Attachment 1 - PDU Dashboard Bay of Plenty November 2020   


Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                                9 March 2021

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Report To:

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Meeting Date:

9 March 2021

Report Writer:

Greg Corbett, Biosecurity Manager

Report Authoriser:

Chris Ingle, General Manager, Integrated Catchments

Purpose:

To seek Committee approval for the 2020-2021 Regional Pest Management Plan Operational Plan

 

 

2020 - 2021 Operational Plan for the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan

 

Executive Summary

The Biosecurity Act requires the management agency for a regional pest management plan (RPMP) to prepare an operational plan to implement the RPMP. The operational plan must be prepared within three months of the commencement of the RPMP.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is the management agency for the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan and is therefore responsible for preparing the Operational Plan. This paper presents the draft Operational Plan for the Committee’s consideration and approval.

 

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, 2020 - 2021 Operational Plan for the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan.

2        Notes that staff considered Council’s Pest Management Strategic Direction, draft Long Term Plan 2021 – 2031 and the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan 2020-2030 in the preparation of the Operational Plan.

3        Approves the 2020-2021 Operational Plan for the Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan 2020-2030.

 

1.        Introduction

The Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan 2020 - 2030 (RPMP) became operative on 17 December 2020. Bay of Plenty Regional Council is the Management Agency responsible for implementing the Plan and, as such, must prepare an Operational Plan to support its implementation.

The Operational Plan must be reported on annually and also reviewed and amended, if necessary, annually.

If Council considers the Operational Plan is inconsistent with the RPMP, it may disallow all or part of it.

The draft 2020/2021 RPMP Operational Plan is attached as a supporting document.

1.1      Legislative Framework

The Bay of Plenty Regional Pest Management Plan 2020 - 2030 (RPMP) became operative on 17 December 2020. Section 100B(1)(a) of the Biosecurity Act requires the Management Agency for a RPMP to prepare an Operational Plan to implement it within three months of the RPMP commencement date.

Section 100B(1)(d) requires the management agency to make copies of Operational Plan available to the public at cost.

Section 100B(4) provides for Council to disallow all or part of an Operational Plan if it considers the Plan is inconsistent with the RPMP it is meant to implement. If Council intends to disallow all or part of an Operational Plan it must do so via written notice in accordance with section 100B(5).

1.2      Alignment with Strategic Framework

 

A Healthy Environment

We develop and implement regional plans and policy to protect our natural environment.

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.

 

Council’s pest management strategic direction aims to protect the Bay of Plenty’s environment, heritage, economy and communities from damaging pests by: preventing new pests from establishing, managing pests when it is practical and cost-effective to do so, supporting landowner and community efforts and partnering with others who have an interest in pest management. The RPMP, and its associated Operational Plan, is one of the ‘tools’ Council uses to implement its pest management strategic direction.

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

 

Pests can, and do, adversely affect all community well-beings. By successfully implementing the RPMP we will:

1.   Reduce the impact of pests on our region’s biodiversity and soil and water resources;

2.   Improve the productive capability of our primary industries; reducing pasture/crop damage, reducing management costs and reducing risks to stock health;

3.   Reduce pest impacts on taonga species and sites of significance to Māori;

4.   Enhance the enjoyment and use of our environment by our communities and visitors.

2.        2020-2021 Operational Plan

2.1      Operational Plan structure

The Operational Plan sets out how Council will deliver its RPMP roles and responsibilities. It includes specific activities and indicative budget allocations for each pest and programme included in the RPMP. The Plan also includes maps showing where RPMP programmes apply for each pest along with current known infestations. 

2.2      Funding the Operational Plan

The implementation of the RPMP is funded through the Biosecurity Activity of Council’s Long Term Plan 2018-2028.

Following consultation on the Proposed RPMP and consideration of submissions received, Council agreed to increase biosecurity funding in the 2020/21 Annual Plan by $650,000. This level of additional funding is proposed to be maintained through the draft LTP 2021-2031. This new funding is specifically focused at wallabies, aquatic pests and well-established pest plants such as woolly nightshade and wild ginger.

3.        Considerations

3.1      Risks and Mitigations

There are no significant risks associated with this matter.

3.2      Climate Change

While the matters addressed in this report are of a procedural nature and do not have Climate Change implications, pest management does provide some mitigation, and adaption will be required over coming years and decades as climatic conditions change.

Successful control of environmental pests improves the integrity of our natural ecosystems, which will improve carbon sequestration.

However, climate change is expected to affect the vulnerability of our region to pests. We are likely to see an increase of sub-tropical pest incursions and increasing number of naturalisations of ornamental garden plants that originate from warmer climes. At the same time it is possible our region will be less at risk from temperate climate pests. 

3.3      Implications for Māori

While the matters addressed in this report are of a procedural nature, Māori are expected to have a strong interest in the delivery of pest control programmes. This interest includes a desire to be actively involved in pest control operations, through to an expectation that their views are considered when certain methodologies are proposed (especially those involving sprays, toxins and aerial applications).

The Operational Plan implicitly provides for Māori to deliver pest control operations and Council already partners with or supports Maori involvement in our programme e.g., Catfish Killas, Te Arawa Lakes boat ramp compliance, Asian paddle crab control and research, Eastern Bay of Plenty wild ginger control, and monitoring on Matakana Island. The Biosecurity team aims to actively grow these partnerships and take advantage of new opportunities as they arise.

3.4      Community Engagement

 

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

Community engagement has already occurred to develop the Regional Pest Management Plan.

3.5      Financial Implications

If the recommendation is adopted by Council, will it result in:

-   Unbudgeted work during the current financial year?

-   Unbudgeted work for any of the years remaining in the current Long Term Plan?

If the answer is ‘no’ to both questions please select the dropdown option 1 and complete appropriately.

If the answer is ‘yes’ to either question please select “Budget Implications” in the building block below and liaise with your Management Accountant in order to complete the Financial Impact table.

There are no material unbudgeted financial implications and the expenditure for this activity fits within the allocated budget, assuming deliberations on the draft Long Term Plan 2021-2031 do not reduce the biosecurity funding envelope.

4.        Next Steps

Next Steps: What next? What resources are needed? Further analysis? Timeframes ahead. Any consultation planned. Remind Council of the process ahead. Next update to Council?

Conclusion: Short concluding remarks. Referring back to recommendations. No new content.

Staff are currently implementing the draft Operational Plan. Assuming the Committee approves the Operational Plan it will be made publicly available on our website.

Note, depending on the outcomes of the Forest and Bird Appeal on the RPMP, the Operational Plan may need to be amended to accommodate any changes as directed by the Environment Court.

Attachments

Attachment 1 - 2020 - 2021 RPMP Operational Plan draft  

 


Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                9 March 2021

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Report To:

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Meeting Date:

9 March 2021

Report Writer:

Alex Miller, Compliance Manager - Primary Industry & Enforcemen

Report Authoriser:

Sarah Omundsen, General Manager, Regulatory Services

Purpose:

 

 

 

Outline of Region-Wide Marae Wastewater Project

 

Executive Summary

Due to the location of many marae in the region, wastewater is often treated using onsite-effluent treatment (OSET) systems, such as septic tanks; in some cases, these systems and disposal methods are old and unable to adequately treat wastewater. This can pose risks to health and the environment, particularly during events where heavy use can result in a system failure.

Regional Council is currently in the latter stages of a pilot project which aimed to identify wastewater issues for marae in Tauranga Moana, and support marae to resolve these issues. This project has resulted in all subject marae in the Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty Districts being committed to either connection to reticulation, or provided with design and installation of consented OSET systems.

Based on the lessons learned through this project, staff propose to partner with Iwi and District Councils to design and progress similar projects for each district. This will be explored through initial hui with each District Council and the respective Iwi. The outcomes and potential resource implications of this project will be reported back to this committee in late 2021 once the hui have been undertaken.

 

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Outline of Region-Wide Marae Wastewater Project.

1.        Introduction

Marae are at the heart of communities in the Bay of Plenty; they provide venues for important functions, community services, and refuge at times of disaster. It is important that marae have the infrastructure necessary to support their operations and build resilience, including sufficient wastewater treatment and disposal.

Due to the location of many marae in the region, wastewater is often treated using onsite-effluent treatment (OSET) systems, such as septic tanks; in some cases, these systems and disposal methods are old and unable to adequately treat wastewater. This can pose risks to health and the environment, particularly during events where heavy use can result in a system failure.

There are approximately 164 marae in the Bay of Plenty; our records indicate that as many as 90 of those marae are neither connected to reticulation, nor hold a resource consent for an OSET system. It is expected that, in many cases, these marae will have very old and/or undersized systems discharging to unsuitable soakholes; this assumption has been confirmed by the findings of the pilot project carried out with marae in Tauranga Moana.

Under the Operative OSET Plan, marae will generally require a resource consent for the discharge from OSET systems, based on the volume and nature of wastewater generated from marae. This can be further influenced by other marae activities such as wharenui, wharekai, wharepaku, kaumatua flats and, in some cases, a kura.

1.1      Alignment with Strategic Framework

 

A Healthy Environment

We develop and implement regional plans and policy to protect our natural environment.

Freshwater for Life

We deliver solutions to local problems to improve water quality and manage quantity.

Safe and Resilient Communities

We work with communities and others to consider long term views of natural hazard risks through our regional plans and policies.

A Vibrant Region

The Way We Work

We look to partnerships for best outcomes.

1.1.1    Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

Low - Positive

þ Cultural

Medium - Positive

þ Social

Medium - Positive

¨ Economic

 

 

2.        Tauranga Moana Marae OSET Pilot Project

The Tauranga Moana Marae OSET project was undertaken to understand the challenges which marae face in regards to managing OSET systems, and identify opportunities to facilitate and/or support marae to have safe and effective waste water treatment systems.

It involved contacting the trustees of 14 Tauranga Moana marae. Of the 14 Marae visited, five marae are affiliated with Ngāi Te Rangi, and nine marae are affiliated with Ngāti Ranginui. Marae that are connected to reticulation or have a resource consent for an on-site system were not visited. 

A site visit was arranged and an interview was conducted to gain an understanding of the following;

·      soil types and proximity to groundwater

·      the type and adequacy of existing wastewater systems,

·      the history of current or past wastewater system problems

·      where the system was undersized, the opportunity to upgrade, and

·      The Trustees future aspirations for development of the marae.

These inspections were carried out from July-August 2018, and the outcomes of were reported to the Regional Direction and Delivery Committee on 10 April 2019.

Following this initial investigation, further engagement was carried out with marae trustees, as well as representatives from Ngāi te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty Regional Council. This has since resulted in commitments from both District Councils to reticulate a number of marae in their respective districts (including all four identified in Tauranga), and Western Bay of Plenty District Council have obtained central government funding to design and install on-site treatment solutions to all remaining marae in the Western Bay District (including the Eastern/Kaituna catchments). Regional Council has committed to waiving fees for processing resource consent applications for those OSET systems.

Further detail on the current status of the Tauranga Moana Pilot Project is provided in the Chair’s report to this committee.

2.1.1    Lessons learned

The initial information gathering exercise confirmed a number of previously held assumptions around common issues and challenges faced by many marae, such as:

·      The use of aging septic systems, in most cases with no outlet filters and disposal to soak hole systems.

·      Identifying suitable land for disposal within the marae site boundaries is likely to be a constraint.

·      Marae trustees are generally volunteers from a range of backgrounds. They do not often have, within their membership, an understanding of wastewater systems, and the need for careful management and regular maintenance.

·      Funding for any upgrades is a significant concern.

·      Wastewater treatment and disposal may not be a top priority for marae, and in many cases the project team considered that could be justified when balanced alongside other challenges in their communities, such as unsecure water supplies and building maintenance issues.

It is anticipated that many marae around the region will be facing similar challenges to those identified through the Tauranga Moana Project; in some cases, particularly for more remote marae, these issues may be more acute.

The subsequent process of engaging with district councils and iwi also identified a number of key learnings; in particular:

·      Although Regional Council is responsible for regulating discharges from on-site wastewater treatment, District Councils have a critical role to play and a keen interest in the health and wellbeing of marae communities, to the point where Regional Council, as the regulator, may not always be the most appropriate agency to lead this initiative.

·      Relationship management is critical, and often complex, with the various linkages between Regional Council, District Councils, Iwi, Hapū and marae trustees.

·      There are a number of potential funding opportunities which may be less well known, including dedicated central and local government funds.

3.        Proposal for Regional Wide Project

Following an update on the Tauranga Moana OSET project at the 15 December 2020 meeting, this Committee directed staff to report back on plans for a region-wide project.

Staff consider that the best way to progress the region-wide project is to do so in partnership with Iwi and District Councils, as outlined in Table 1 below.

Rotorua Lakes Council

Kawerau District Council

Whakatāne District Council

Ōpōtiki District Council

Ngāti Kearoa

Ngāti Tuara

Ngāti Rangiwewehi

Tuhouranghi

Ngāti Uenukukōpako

Ngāti Whakaue

Ngāti Rangiteaorere

Ngāti Pikiao

Ngāti Rongomai

Ngāti Tarāwhai

Ngāti Tahu

Ngāti Whaoa

Ngāti Ruakawa

Ngāti Tuwharetoa

Ngāti Awa

Ngāti Rangitihi

Ngāti Tuwharetoa

Ngāi Tūhoe

Ngāti Whare

Ngāti Manawa

 

Ngāi Tūhoe

Whakatōhea

Ngaitai

Te Whānau a Apanui

Ngāti Porou

 

The biggest barrier to supporting improved wastewater management on marae is the lack of information on those which are neither reticulated nor holding a resource consent. Similarly, it is anticipated that there will be unique aspects to the relationships in each district, both in terms of iwi and Council’s.

As such, the first stage of the project will be to meet with representatives from District Councils and Iwi for each District, with the intent to:

1)   Confirm or update the current level of knowledge on the status of wastewater treatment for marae in each district;

2)   Identify marae which may be eligible for connection to reticulation;

3)   Develop a strategy to engage with marae trustees and/or hapū to facilitate reticulation connection, and support those marae who do not meet current regulatory requirements for onsite wastewater (including those marae about which little is known). It is expected that, at a minimum, this will include the same information sought through stage 1 of the Tauranga Pilot Project, namely:

·      soil types and proximity to groundwater;

·      the type and adequacy of existing wastewater systems;

·      the history of current or past wastewater system problems;

·      where the system was undersized, the opportunity to upgrade; and

·      the Trustees future aspirations for development of the marae.

4)   Establish roles, and agree on timeframes and actions for progressing the project in each district, with the ultimate outcome to be facilitating safe and healthy wastewater treatment solutions for all marae, which comply with Regional Plan rules.

Staff will also seek to engage with Te Puni Kokiri at the regional level to highlight the issues and challenges, and determine what role they can play in providing support to this project.

4.        Considerations

4.1      Risks and Mitigations

This project is primarily focussed on supporting marae to obtain healthy and compliant wastewater treatment. However, through the course of this project, it is expected that Regional Council will identify a number of instances of non-compliance with Regional Plan rules. In some cases, these non-compliances may be considered significant.

It is important to note that Regional Council has discretion in its enforcement decision making, and will take into account the intent of this project, and ability to achieve the desired outcomes for our marae community in the Bay of Plenty, along with any other factors relevant to the non-compliance.

4.2      Climate Change

The potential impacts of climate change are expected to have significant implications for land-based wastewater disposal, particularly in low-lying and coastal areas; this project seeks to provide solutions which will improve community resilience.

4.3      Implications for Māori

The project team for the Tauranga Moana Pilot Project noted the pride that all Marae have on their Turangawaewae for their hapū and iwi. Having a robust and effective wastewater system will allow them to fulfil their iwi aspirations to have a functional Marae: a complex that can cater to the needs of manuhiri (visitors), and effectively practice their tikanga (cultural customary practices) and manaakitanga (hospitality and care) from iwi to iwi.

The primary purpose of this project is to provide support to marae in obtaining solutions for compliant wastewater treatment and disposal, in order to provide for better health and environmental outcomes.

4.4      Financial Implications

There are no material unbudgeted financial implications from this first stage of the project and this fits within the allocated budget.

However, it is anticipated that funding and/or resourcing will be required as the project is further developed in each district, particularly if Regional Council is required to play a bigger role in order to progress outcomes. These will be discussed further with councillors in a future committee meeting, following engagement with District Councils and Iwi.

5.        Next Steps

Staff intend to progress engagement with Iwi and District Councils as soon as practicable, and will report back to a future committee meeting in 2021 to provide an update on the outcomes and proposed next step for each district, including any resources required for Regional Council to progress next steps.

 

 

  


 

 

 

Report To:

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Meeting Date:

9 March 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 in the Mount Maunganui Airshed

 

 

Mount Maunganui Industrial Airshed update

 

Executive Summary

This report provides an update on activities undertaken to improve air quality in the Mount Maunganui Industrial Area and Airshed. The report covers the period from early December 2020 until mid-February 2021.

 

Five breaches of the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ) PM10 were recorded during this period. Breaches at Whareroa and Rail Yard South in December are under investigation. Three consecutive breaches at De Havilland Way in early February were attributed to runway resurfacing at Tauranga Airport and led to an abatement notice being issued to cease the discharge.

 

The inaugural meeting of the Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party was held on 7 December 2020. The hui brought together 16 delegates representing Regional Council, Territorial Authorities, iwi, hapū, Toi Te Ora District Health Board, Public Health Officers, industry and business, and Ministry for the Environment. The meeting laid the foundations to expand the reach of the working party and confirm a Terms of Reference to work towards better community outcomes regarding the health of the environment. The second Air Quality Working Party hui was held at Whareroa Marae on 3 March 2021.

 

 

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 in the Mount Maunganui industrial area. Air quality in the area has been perceived as degrading over a period of time as industrial activities and vehicle movements have increased significantly in recent years. Regional Council has an extensive work programme underway to improve air quality in this area.

Following the expansion of Regional Council’s air quality monitoring capability in late 2018, 34 exceedances of the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ) PM10 have been detected. Additional Air Quality Guideline exceedances of H2S gas have been measured. 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.

After no breaches of National Environmental Standards between January and October 2020, there were two PM10 exceedances detected in December 2020 and three in February 2021.  The February exceedances were all attributed to works undertaken to improve the runway at Tauranga Airport. An abatement notice was issued against the main works contractor.

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 NES 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.

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

¨ Environmental

Medium - Positive

¨ Cultural

High - Positive

¨ Social

High - Positive

¨ Economic

Medium - Negative

 

Regional Council has a goal to improve the air quality within the Mount Maunganui airshed and ensure discharges do not cause breaches of the NESAQ ambient air quality limits. Achieving this goal will have positive environmental, cultural and social affects for the Mount Maunganui area. However, significant investment from industry will be required which is likely to have short term economic impacts. Since the gazetting of the airshed, some industry have advised staff that they may delay or reconsider proposals to invest in plant or infrastructure due to uncertainty in their future in this location.

 

 

2.        Updates

A summary of the Regional Council’s work programme in place to improve air quality in the Mount Maunganui Industrial Area is included in Attachment 1. The summary sets out the purpose, outcome and objectives of the programme as well as specific deliverables and priority areas for action.

2.1      Monitoring and exceedances

Five breaches of the NES PM10 limits have been recorded in the Mount Maunganui airshed since the last report was tabled. Two of these occurred in early December, one at Rail Yard South and the other at Whareroa Marae. Electron scanning microscope analysis of particulate composition collected at the time of these breaches is underway to determine if a single source can be pinpointed. 

Additionally, breaches were detected at the De Havilland Way monitoring site on February 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Investigation at the time revealed that large scale works using heavy machinery to upgrade the runway at Tauranga Airport was in progress. These works were located upwind of the De Havilland monitoring site, with extremely dry weather and an easterly wind blowing dust directly over the monitor. This was a major contributor to the three days of consecutive exceedances detected. As a result, an abatement notice was served on the lead contractor undertaking works for Tauranga Airport.

The lead contractor and Tauranga Airport management worked with compliance officers to identify the source of the dust discharges and made changes to the operation that have ensured no further exceedances have been recorded.

A list of PM10 exceedances since the monitoring network was established is included in Attachment 2.

2.1      Investigating a managed retreat of industry

Following the recommendation to the 19 June 2020 Tauranga Moana Advisory Group, consultants have been commissioned to undertake a study into what a managed retreat of polluting industry from the Mount Maunganui Industrial Area might look like. They have now met with the Whareroa community several times, and we are expecting a progress report shortly.

2.2      Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party

A meeting of the Mount Maunganui Air Quality Working Party was held at Whareroa Marae on Wednesday 3 March. The full minutes of the Working Party will be circulated at this Committee meeting.

2.3      Mount Industrial Network meeting

The next meeting of the Mount Industrial Network (MIN; previously known as the Mount Industrial Environment Network) is scheduled to be held on Wednesday 24 March. There are now 145 delegates on the MIN mailing list representing a broad range of industry and business interests in the Mount Industrial Airshed.

2.4      Communications and Media

On 23rd December the second community focused quarterly e-newsletter was sent out, updating the community on the following topics:

•      Air Quality Working Party established

•      Submissions on the Genera consent application

•      NES exceedances & what Council are doing to investigate these

•      Investigating an app for reporting pollution

The next quarterly Community and Mount Industrial Network newsletters are both scheduled for March 2021.

Media and community commentary surrounding the Mount Industrial area has increased significantly in February 2021. This increase in interest can mostly be attributed to Regional and Tauranga City Councils’ joint media release regarding the independent commissioner’s decision to decline the Timaru Oil Services Limited jet fuel tank farm consent application. This story was highlighted by the Clear the Air Mount Maunganui community group and their Facebook post was shared over 50 times, with supportive community comments.

Multiple media outlets covered the Timaru Oil story, including Bay of Plenty Times,  Te Ao Māori News, One News, Sunlive, Te Karere and Voxy. Some of the news reporting noted the overall context of the industrial area bordering a residential area, Whareroa Marae’s plight and goal of seeing a managed industry retreat, plus community concerns over air quality. Overall the resource consent being declined was framed as a win for the community.

2.5      Policy Matters

Suggested content of new provisions for a proposed Mount Maunganui Airshed plan change was reported to a Strategy & Policy Committee meeting on 16 February. Approval from the Committee was also sought on direction and scope of the plan change.

The suggested scope of the proposed plan change is to be limited to the Mount Maunganui Airshed and for the provisions to be restricted to PM and odour. As Plan Change 13 (Air Quality) has only recently become operative, no amendments are recommended for the provisions currently included in PC13.

For Plan Change 13, the bulk solid materials rule (AQ R22) and definition are still under appeal and were subject to an Environment Court hearing in October 2020. The Court’s decision has not yet been notified and so this matter is still confidential. However, all of the remaining provisions from Plan Change 13 are beyond appeal and must be treated as operative.

2.6      Consents

There are currently nine businesses or activities 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 progress with the consents over the December/ January period as 20 December to 10 January are not defined as working days under the RMA. Some requested further information was received in December (HR Cement and Ziwi) and is currently being technically reviewed. For completeness, the December status has been reported where no advancement has occurred.

Lawter Ltd: The application has been accepted. An independent consultant has undertaken an assessment of the effects of the activity as well an assessment of the cumulative effects of discharges from Ballance, Lawter and Waste Management. The information has been circulated to Lawter for their review. This review is still underway. The next step will be for Council staff to meet with Lawter to discuss how they will implement reductions in sulphur dioxide discharges as required. Lawter have requested public notification of their application.

HR Cement: The application has been accepted as complete under sec.88 of the Resource Management Act (RMA). The company are currently consulting with relevant iwi authorities. Further information has been received and is being technically reviewed.

Higgins: The application has been accepted as complete and an independent technical review completed. This review highlighted several things that are required from Higgins, including providing a summary of the stack testing undertaken to date, completing additional stack testing and undertaking dispersion modelling using the stack emissions testing results. By undertaking more stack testing Regional Council will get a better understanding of actual use to inform new consent limits. Higgins is requesting a 10 year term even though they propose to move out of the airshed in the short term. Higgins is still working on the additional information requested.

Ziwi: The application has been accepted as complete with an independent consultant engaged to undertake a technical review. The technical review has raised a number of questions and further information has been sought from Ziwi which was due in December 2020. Ziwi have requested a 20 year term for their consent, as well as public notification. Additional information requested has been received and is being reviewed. The application will be publically notified.

Port Operators (Matariki, Timberlands & TPT): Three consents are all being processed together. They are the dust discharge applications from the log yards at the Port. The applications were lodged in November 2019 and we asked for further information to quantify the volume of dust anticipated to be discharged and some modelling to demonstrate how far that might travel (so that an assessment of potentially affected parties could be made). The applicants are still working to provide the information requested.

Timaru Oil: The independent commissioners’ joint decision (TCC and BOPRC consents) was received and the decision was to decline the consent due to the adverse effects on the Whareroa Marae.

Allied Asphalt: A consent has been lodged and further information has been requested. A meeting was held with Allied Asphalt, in which they indicated that they intend to upgrade their plant. The upgraded plant will include best practice technology, which will significantly reduce their emissions.   Conceptual information on the proposed upgrades and timing thereof will form part of the additional information to be supplied to Council.

Waste Management: A meeting was held with Waste Management on 16 July 2020 to get an update on their application before progressing it to make sure there haven’t been any major changes. The applicant has provided information on their production hours and new odour mitigations they have installed. An independent technical review has been undertaken and additional stack testing has been requested.

2.7      Methyl Bromide

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Methyl bromide reassessment

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are deliberating before making a decision following the hearing for the modified reassessment of methyl bromide. All final comments by submitters were to be provided to the EPA by 29 January 2021.

The main issues under review are; the buffer distances to protect workers and the public, management controls, the degree of recapture required and the control that required that operators recapture methyl bromide from October 2020. 

The degree of recapture necessary to be considered ‘recapture’ is a crucial aspect. Industry originally applied to have it defined as 80% of the gas recaptured (and 20% released to air) however changed that to 30% of the gas recaptured (and 70% released).  By comparison the level stipulated in our Natural Resources Plan is 80% of the remaining gas captured, decided by commissioners partly on the basis of industry submissions at the time. The current legislation set in place in 2010/2011 assumed that recapture was over 99.9% effective however it is now understood that is not generally possible with current technology.

The Decision Making Committee commissioned further air dispersion modelling during the hearing as there were significant differences between modelling undertaken by the applicant (STIMBR) and submitters. In particular the buffer distances proposed by the applicant were far less than those derived from the independent modelling, including that commissioned by the Regional Council. Results of the further modelling have been published on the EPA website corroborating the concerns raised in Council’s submission.

Genera consent applications

Genera have applied for replacement fumigation consents for their fumigation operation (using methyl bromide and phosphine) both at the Port of Tauranga and also for fumigation elsewhere in the region. The consent for fumigation at the Port has been publicly notified and 345 submissions have been received. Commissioners are now being selected and a hearing date will then be set, which is likely to be around the middle of this year following the expected EPA decision.

The other consent for fumigation elsewhere in the Bay of Plenty is still being considered for sufficiency of information before a decision is made on whether or not it will be publicly notified.

2.8      Pollution Hotline calls received and responded to

During the reporting period 111 calls were received through the Pollution Hotline relating to events within the Mount Industrial airshed. Of these, 98 related to air quality, with 82 relating to odour discharges, which remains the main cause of calls to the Pollution Hotline. Over 70% of odour complaints relate to the manufacturing processes at Ziwi Limited.

Pollution Hotline Complaint Categories 17 November 2020 to 12 February 2021  – Mount Industrial Area

Category

# calls

% calls

Coastal

5

5

Water and Land

8

7

Air

98

88

Total

111

100

 

Pollution Hotline Complaint Sub-Categories 17 November 2020 to 12 February 2021 – Mount Industrial Area

Sub-Category

# calls

% calls

Coastal - Unknown

1

1

Air - Unknown

1

1

Air - Industrial

3

3

Water & Land - Discharges to Land

4

4

Water & Land - Discharges to Water

4

4

Coastal - Discharges

4

4

Air - Smoke

4

4

Air - Dust

8

7

Air - Odour

82

74

Total

111

100

2.9      Compliance

2.9.1    Genera Limited

Fumigation Consent RC 62719:  Port of Tauranga

Genera has changed the main location for undertaking log fumigations on the Port. The previous locations main boundary area had high levels of vehicle and train movements which impacted on boundary monitoring results. The new area is also further removed from the Port boundary and general Port users.

Through initiatives such as debarking and increased fumigation using phosphine in ships hold, the total on Port methyl bromide usage has decreased by 36.6% between 2017 and 2020. Genera are trailing a new fumigant application methodology which could further reduce the amount of MB used by approximately 30-40%. Genera continues to meet and exceed current methyl bromide recapture targets, that is, 100% of all containers and more than 75% of all log rows fumigated on the Port of Tauranga are recaptured. This consent expired 30 April 2020 but can continue to be used until the replacement application is determined.

Fumigation Consent RC 63371: Region wide

In December 2020 a compliance inspection was undertaken by BOPRC staff to observe the fumigation and subsequent venting of shipping containers authorised under Genera’s region wide fumigation consent.  All the controls to ensure the activity is carried out safely such as signage, monitored safety zones and electronic monitoring equipment were assessed compliant with the resource consent requirements. This consent expired 31 December 2020 but can continue to be used until the replacement application is determined..

2.9.2    Lawter

In January a full compliance inspection focusing on the stormwater system was undertaken at Lawter (NZ) Limited on Totara Street. Lawter confirmed they are planning a significant upgrade of the stormwater system in the future which will involve further separation of clean and potentially contaminated stormwater. During the site visit no issues were identified and the site was assessed compliant.

2.9.3    Ballance Agri Nutrients Limited

Ballance continue to submit routine compliance returns for their stormwater, wastewater and air discharge consents however these returns were assessed as low risk non-compliance due to the late submission of returns in this reporting period.

Ballance are currently engaged in a $1.5M project to undertake a number of emissions mitigations on their site. The project will see improvements such as an additional structure that encloses the dispatch/weighbridge area of the product haulage operation thus reducing fugitive dust emissions.

Process and procedural changes which have been initiated include:

·      Vacuuming = Reducing the need to use compressed air to clean in departments

·      Closed door policy

·      Door on-route from the E.U. scheduled to arrive mid/late March.

On-going trials throughout site include:

·      Mill vacuums

·      Baffles at intakes grids

·      Planting of 200+ natives on perimeter as windbreaks and screening. 

2.9.4    Ziwi Limited Prosecution

Ziwi Limited (petfood manufacturers) were prosecuted by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council for offensive and objectionable odour as well as the discharge of wash down water to the Tauranga City stormwater network. In two separate judgements, Ziwi pled guilty to the charges laid and in sentencing were fined $64,000 for the stormwater discharges and an additional $66,000 for the offensive and objectionable odour discharges to air.

2.10    Port of Tauranga update

2.10.1  Fine water misting hoppers 

Following a successful trial of using fine water mist to control fugitive dust generated from the unloading dusty cargo, six of the eight port owned hoppers have now been fitted with fine water misting suppression systems. Stage two of the project, which involves the installation of sensors to the systems, is currently underway.  The use of sensors allows for the misting units to only operate when product is being loaded into the hopper which is when the large majority of the fugitive dust is generated.  While the misting units use very little water, the use of sensors will further reduce water use/wastage.

2.10.2  Dust & particulate monitoring, surveillance and improvements.

Ongoing monitoring and surveillance of port user’s activities over the past two summer months has identified generally good management and mitigation of potential nuisance and inhalable dust sources during this high risk summer period.  The Ports monitoring and surveillance of PM10 concentrations measured adjacent to the port has also shown compliance with national standards over this time period.  In addition to this, the Port is currently working with Port users and customers to review and update current ‘best practice’ procedure documents to improve environmental outcomes, this includes measures to further mitigate risk of adverse effects on air quality.

3.        Considerations

3.1      Climate Change

The matters addressed in this report are not sensitive to the effects of climate change and there will be no effect of the initiative on greenhouse gas emissions.

3.2      Implications for Māori

Ngāi Tukairangi me 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 papa kainga 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.

It is hoped the establishment of the Air Quality Working Party will provide a key platform for engagement with iwi and hapū and for their concerns to be heard around a wider table.

3.3      Community Engagement

 

Adobe Systems

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 monthly costs attributed to the air monitoring station located on de Havilland Way are unbudgeted. This monitoring is likely to continue throughout the current financial period.

 4.       Next Steps

Staff will continue to update this Committee on all work underway to improve air quality in the Mount Maunganui Industrial Area. Staff are building relationships with new contacts within the Ministry for the Environment, through whom the new Minister for the Environment has requested six monthly updates from Bay of Plenty Regional Council on this work within the Mount Industrial airshed. The first of these updates to the Minister will be provided at the end of March.

 

Attachments

Attachment 1 - Mount Industrial Area Programme Plan on a Page

Attachment 2 - Mount Maunganui Airshed PM10 exceedances at February 2021  

 


Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                9 March 2021

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Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                9 March 2021

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Report To:

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Meeting Date:

9 March 2021

Report Writer:

Heidi Fraser, Programme Coordinator Integrated Catchments and Laverne Mason, Integrated Catchments Programme Manager

Report Authoriser:

Chris Ingle, General Manager, Integrated Catchments

Purpose:

To provide Monitoring and Operation Committee members with an update on the Climate Change Programme.

 

 

Climate Change Programme Update

 

Executive Summary

This report provides a biannual update on the delivery of climate change actions set out in the Climate Change Action Plan. Monitoring and reporting on these actions occurs through the Climate Change Programme, covering internal and external projects along with related operational activities across the organisation.

 

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Climate Change Programme Update.

1.        Introduction

Climate change is a strategic priority for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Council has a focus on ensuring the region is adapting to the changing climate and on helping to facilitate a community-wide transition to a low carbon economy. 

The detailed climate change actions are being managed through an internal climate change work programme, ensuring coordinated delivery. Monitoring and reporting on the delivery of specific actions occurs via the programme. The diagram below shows the various elements of climate change work occurring.

 

 

1.1      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 provide systems and information to increase understanding of natural hazard risks and climate change impacts.

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.

 

 

2.        Climate Change Programme Update

The Programme consists of internal and external projects along with operational activities across the organisation. A Climate change work programme has been established to monitor and report on delivery of the climate change actions set out in the Climate Change Action Plan (a summary of the 12 Action Plan goals is provided in Appendix 1).

2.1      Internal Projects

Project

Progress

Action Plan ref.

Staff travel plan, phase 1

The staff travel plan phase 1 was presented to Leadership Team. Approval has been given to establish a travel plan.

Goal 6

Corporate waste reduction and reporting systems

Feasibility study looking at internal compost waste disposal with the aim to standardise to allow for standard measuring.

Goal 4

Corporate fleet management

Two new electric vehicles will replace diesel vehicles in 2020/21.

Goal 5

Corporate Emissions Management and Reduction Plan

Continuing with emissions tracking against the baseline.

Goal 2

Recycling of used BOPRC uniforms feasibility study

Liaising with company ‘Usefully’ who help with recycling uniforms.

Goal 4

TOITU audit

Overall, during 2019-2020 BOPRC has achieved an 8 percent reduction in carbon emissions.

Building refurbishments have helped us reduce a massive 20 percent in our energy emissions.

Emissions from diesel remain our highest emissions source and we are continuing to look at avenues that could help us reduce fuel consumption.

Goal 1

Climate change guide: an internal document to help staff consider how their work impacts on and is impacted by climate change and to make these considerations explicit.

Complete – available on the staff intranet.

Goal 8

Plan change 14 (OSET): new OSET system designs will need to take climate change into consideration.

Tonkin and Taylor are undertaking research to inform the rules for Plan Change 14.

Goal 8

Climate change narrative and story maps: detailed data from the NIWA report on the climate change impacts for the region will be used to create story maps outlining the key impacts.

Project is progressing with content and maps in the process of development.

Contracted NIWA to sub-regionalise the data received in the full NIWA report.

Budget $20,000

Goal 12

Communications plan focused on weaving climate change messaging into business as usual communications both internally and externally.

The communications plan was presented to Leadership team on 16 November 2020 and approved and is now operational.

 

Goal 12

Coast care Life’s a Beach: developing a climate change module

Work to the module will be done in stages as budget allows.

Goal 12

Climate change fund

PricewaterhouseCoopers Financial Strategy is key to progressing this piece of work.

Goal 8

Council reporting templates

Complete. Climate change added as a mandatory section of Council reporting templates.

Goal 8

Breakfast panel events

The project is being scoped.

Goal 12

Informal supplementary LTP document to support māori

An informal document is being prepared to supplement the LTP consultation document, specially targeted to Māori engagement.

Goal 12

Climate change sub-brand

Complete. Brand shown below:

Goal 12

2.2      External Projects

Project

Progress

Action Plan ref.

Contributing to national and regional direction on climate change

An information request was received from MFE in September 2020 on how BOPRC is preparing for the impacts of climate change. A response was provided within the timeframe required.

Staff are currently preparing a submission on the Climate Change Commission report.

Submissions were prepared on Rotorua Lakes and Whakatāne District Council’s climate change work.

Goal 9

Climate change adaptation: risk assessment

An output of the regional risk assessment workshop was to establish a technical working group to collectively design a risk assessment framework for the Bay of Plenty. The group met late December and are meeting again early 2021.

Budget $80,000

Goal 11

Lifelines utilities climate change risk assessment project

We are currently collecting hazard data from territorial authorities, BOPRC and NIWA. Next phase is assets elicitation workshops with utilities sectors.

Goal 11

 

Priority One business community climate change survey: Priority One, in partnership with BOPRC are surveying the Western Bay business community. The purpose of the survey is to understand awareness, needs and readiness with regard to the impacts of climate change.

Priority One survey has been completed by 106 businesses. Results are currently being analysed. To further support the robustness of the survey Priority One are going to undertake some qualitative interviews. A report will be supplied to BOPRC in due course.

Budget $50,000

Goal 12

Regional waste facility feasibility study

Next steps are to convene a meeting with councils to better understand the current landscape of waste collection and management across the region, identify gaps and opportunities and areas for improvement.

Goal 10

2.3      Operational Delivery – Other work of relevance to climate change

Team

Delivery

Property

·      Toitu certification achieved 17 July 2020. Recertification was achieved February 2021.

·      There are 6 electric fleet vehicles in the staff vehicle fleet. 2 electric vehicles are scheduled to be purchased in 2020/21.

·      These vehicles are estimated to reduce annual emissions by 90 tonnes CO2e.

·      The organisation’s carbon footprint in 2019/20 is 8% lower (1,066.53 tonnes CO2e) than 2018/19 total of 1,159.33 tonnes CO2e.

Public transport

·      5 electric buses: estimated emissions reduction of 590 tonnes CO2e in 2019/20.

·      4,300 tonnes CO2e estimated total emissions from the entire bus fleet over 2019/20.

·      75 percent increase in school bus patronage compared to the same period in 2019.

Information Technology

440kg of e-waste recycled in 2019/20.

Biosecurity

The Regional Pest Management Plan activities generally have positive effects on climate change, particularly the control of browsing animal pests such as wallabies.

 

The control of introduced browsing animal species is positive for climate change mitigation because it enables regrowth of native forest understory plants, which store carbon. The ecological health of the forest ecosystem recovers over time which helps reduce the amount of sediment in streams after heavy rain events.

Science

The information and data generated by State of the Environment programmes is used to describe the impacts of climate change (e.g. monitoring of rainfall intensity and its impact on flooding). These programmes also provide input data to modelling which is carried out to anticipate and respond to future climate change impacts.

Regulatory Compliance

The impacts of climate change on wastewater infrastructure is a significant issue facing TAs, particularly in low lying coastal areas. The Bay of Plenty Lifeline Utilities Group (Emergency Management Bay of Plenty is a member) is undertaking a Climate Change Risk Assessment project which will focus on infrastructure, including the Three Waters. The outcomes will inform adaptation by individual Lifeline Utilities (including TAs).

Land Management

Land management work contributes positively towards buffering the effects of climate change, with permanent native tree planting and steep land retirement reducing the impacts of soil loss from severe weather events, and riparian set-back/wetlands mitigating against changes in water levels.

Planting work also contributes significantly towards carbon sequestration. During the last planting season, Council planted or contributed to the planting of 250,000 plants, predicted to sequester over 38,000 tonnes of carbon over the next 80 years.

Wetlands are very important for climate change adaptation and mitigation. They capture and store carbon and provide resilience to hazards such as flooding, storm surge and coastal inundation. Inland wetlands function like sponges, absorbing and storing excess rainfall and moderating flood surges. Wetlands are some of the largest reservoirs of carbon on earth, estimated to store one third of the earth’s terrestrial carbon. If wetlands are drained or cleared, they become a carbon source, releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere.

Rivers and Drainage

Several programmes, including the River Scheme Sustainability programme, provide for adaptation to the changes we are facing with future climate change and the potential impacts. Adaptations are based on the climate change projections outlined in the NIWA report “Climate Change Projections and Impacts for the Bay of Plenty Region” October 2019.

Adaptation information is built into all capital improvement and maintenance programmes.  By integrating climate information into programme development and investment decisions, Council can avoid dysfunctional projects (e.g. investing in a stopbank that is likely to be inundated by rising water levels in the short-term).

3.        Considerations

3.1      Risks and Mitigations

With the council declaring a climate emergency in June 2019, there is a reputational risk of Council being perceived as not taking sufficient action on climate change considered commensurate with an ‘emergency’. Climate change impact is listed on BOPRC’s Key Risk Register, due to the impact this will have on regional council’s decision making processes over the longer term.

Late in 2020 BOPRC completed an internal audit review of Climate Change Impacts Risks and Mitigations, as per the 2020/21 Internal Audit Work Plan. Based on the results of the review, the overall rating was Adequate. This reflect that BOPRC is able to demonstrate it is performing a majority of the mitigations listed in the Key Risk Register, with minor improvements recommended.

3.2      Climate Change

 

Mitigation

Adaptation

Reduce GHG emissions

Produce GHG emissions

Sequester carbon

Anticipate climate change impacts

Respond to climate change impacts

The Climate Change Programme delivers Council’s response to climate change in terms of priorities and actions around both mitigation and adaptation.

3.3      Implications for Māori

Climate change is of interest to Māori as it is to the whole community. Māori have particular interest around the impacts of climate change on land and land use – and in climate change adaptation where coastal areas are subject to sea level rise and the likely impact of more intense weather events. Some iwi already have climate change plans in place (eg Te Arawa) and are working alongside council already.

Climate change is beginning to be identified specifically in iwi management plans with the inclusion of natural hazards as a key topic. Providing accessible and useful information around the climate impacts and hazard risks for the region, and for specific communities, will help to inform the response by iwi and hapu.

3.4      Financial Implications

There are no material unbudgeted financial implications and this work all fits within the allocated budgets.

4.        Next Steps

The Climate Change Programme will report back to Council twice yearly. Council will be kept updated on changes in legislation as a result of direction received from Central Government.

 

 


 

Appendix 1 Climate Change Action Plan Goals

 

 


 

 

 

Report To:

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Meeting Date:

9 March 2021

Report Writer:

Rachael Burgess, Customer Contact Manager

Report Authoriser:

Mat Taylor, General Manager, Corporate

Purpose:

To update the Committee on customer service performance improvements

 

 

Customer Service Performance

 

Executive Summary

A work programme introduced in 2019 to improve customer service performance has had a positive impact on customer satisfaction levels in the 2020 Residents Opinion survey. A series of initiatives included in the work programme that have now been implemented have ensured that we have fit-for-purpose systems, and streamlined processes in place and this has also contributed to an improved service delivery in terms of call resolution and response times.

Focus is now turning to how we will monitor and measure our customer service delivery to develop qualitative and quantitative measures that enable meaningful customer service performance management and monitoring across a variety of different customer service touchpoints.

 

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Customer Service Performance.

1.        Introduction

In early 2019, a customer service delivery review was carried out and a work programme introduced which included a series of new initiatives to improve performance and ensure that interactions with us were positive experiences for our customers, and that their service expectations were being met. The Customer First work programme is designed to help achieve clarity of purpose and improve the way we engage with our customers in terms of the technology we use, the processes we follow and the functionality of our public interfaces. During this process different feedback methods have been used to gauge whether the initiatives being implemented are resulting in an improved service and are having a positive impact on customer satisfaction levels.

Two Residents Opinion surveys carried out in 2018 and 2020 have provided valuable insights in terms of council performance in relation to the communities’ expectations and perceptions. The results of these surveys were shared with elected members at the December 2018 Council meeting and the September 2020 Monitoring and Operations Committee. The 2020 Residents Opinion survey showed that overall perceptions of Council staff interaction had improved over 2018 results and that residents who had contact with Regional Council are now more likely to be satisfied with our performance across key measures than those who have not contacted us in the past year. 72% of residents who have had contact with Regional Council agree that staff did what they said they would do and gave professional and accurate advice on their requests or enquiries.

The key findings from the 2020 Residents Opinion Survey have helped identify further opportunities to improve our service delivery model to ensure that we remain agile in terms of creating a customer-centric culture across all of our activities and that we continue to make it easier for our customers and the community to access our services and information. The survey findings have also been used to inform the development of our Long Term Plan to improve our communications, customer service and engagement work.

The improvement initiatives that we are currently focussed on include:

·      Reviewing our services from a customer viewpoint to ensure our processes are streamlined and easy to access

·      Assessing frontline systems including payment processing, for availability, user friendliness, timeliness and accuracy

·      Reviewing and implementing business continuity plans in key customer areas in response to the recent Covid event

·      Ensuring there is a commitment to improving customer service across all business activity areas and provide customer service / management advice and training which includes increased support to staff to ensure a customer focused culture

Details regarding these initiatives and progress in relation to the customer service improvements that have already been implemented are provided in this report.

1.1      Alignment with Strategic Framework

 

The Way We Work

We provide great customer service.

We continually seek opportunities to innovate and improve

 

 

2.        Customer Service Performance

2.1      Progress on the customer service improvements work programme

The Customer First work programme was initially centred around five key areas that had been identified as opportunities for operational improvement. The first four action areas are now in place and we have now moved into the final stage of monitoring and measuring our performance.

The overall impact of these improvements on the standard of customer service being delivered is significant and this was evident in the results from the 2020 Residents Opinion Survey where Council staff interaction was found to have improved over the last year. Residents who had contact with Regional Council are more likely to be satisfied their Regional Councils’ performance across key measures than those who have not contacted Regional Council in the past year.

The Customer First work programme also included a series of improvement initiatives and a summary of the actions that are now complete is included below:

·      Customer experience improvements including call management, front of house and web info enquiry processes

·      Customer service delivery review

·      Implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

·      Internal Customer Contact Centre established

·      Comprehensive knowledge-base developed

·      Consents customer service review

·      Improved public interfaces across all office locations

An opportunity to test the effectiveness of these initiatives and the agility of our service delivery model was possible during the Covid-19 event where our customer service team managed the NEMA welfare response line, triaging a total of 2748 calls over an 11 week period. The improvement actions were also key to the successful delivery of the Regional Integrated Ticketing Solution which took place from 22 June to 21 August 2020 where a total of 7,520 customers contacted our call centre or visited one of our office locations.

Visitor numbers to our sites increased last year despite the Covid lockdown which saw our offices closed for a four week period. During 2019 we received a total of 12,014 visitors and this increased to 12,863 visitors during 2020. Recent data shows visitors to our sites increased by 66% in January 2021 compared to January last year.

Visitor numbers per site from January 2020 to January 2021

2.1.1    Customer Contact Centre Highlights

Our internal Customer Contact Centre (CCC) has now been operational for a 12 month period and the benefits that this service has provided in terms of improving our customer service delivery can be attributed to the decline in call wait times, the number of service request tickets that have been resolved by our contact centre and the comprehensive data that we have now collected on our customers and call categories.

Zendesk, our CRM platform has now been in place for 7 months and during that time a total of 25,345 service tickets have been generated and resolved. This includes service requests received across all customer contact channels. Having access to 12 months of customer data has enabled us to better understand our customers and triage their requests at the first point of contact. Prior to the call centre being set up 43% of calls were being transferred to another staff member for a response. The CCC are currently achieving a 97% resolution rate in terms of responding to queries without needing to forward them to the business activity owners. The remaining 3% of queries are forwarded to another staff member to provide a more technical response. Further insights gained in regards to common query categories has allowed us to build up the content that is held within the ‘knowledge-base’ to ensure the information we are providing is accurate and consistent.

Calls remain the most popular method of contact with a total of 44,911 calls received during 2020. This is an increase of 28% compared to calls received in 2019. The CCC are now managing all calls that relate to our council activities, including Baybus, Maritime and Pollution Prevention.

Baybus related queries have now become the most commonly received calls and these make up approximately 40% of our total call volume.

Summary of calls received from January 2020 to January 2021

In terms of overall service level targets, the CCC have a KPI in place to answer 80% of calls within 20 seconds. The blue line on the table above shows that the CCC are currently exceeding this target each month so the KPI will be revised for 2021.

Over the last 12 months the CCC have shown they are able to adapt to change and expand their knowledge-base to include a wider scope of council activities. This has enabled them to adjust quickly when additional call lines have been added to the contact centre portfolio or an unexpected service delivery is required such as the Covid response line. The CCC are also doing the telephone submissions for the RLTP and the LTP.

The ability to remain agile and responsive is going to be critical moving forward as we continue to increase capacity within the call centre. In each of these situations we have also understood the importance of regularly reviewing our business continuity plans to include situations that had not previously been considered. This ensures ongoing resilience and the ability to adapt our customer service delivery during times where customer demand is unknown or service touchpoint is affected.

2.1.2    Improved Knowledge-base and website search functionality

One of the key features of the Zendesk CRM system is the ‘knowledge-base’ tool which allows teams to create and share organisation content easily. Zendesk Guide is a user-friendly software that makes it simple to search within the system for frequently asked questions such as bus route information and then either provide the information during a call or attach the ‘knowledge-base’ article to an email request. Keeping the information up to date is easier to manage with new information being added to the ‘knowledge-base’ as requests are received and older information is reviewed to ensure it is still relevant on a regular basis. This functionality has shown to reduce response times by not having to wait for an answer from another staff member. This in turn reduces the level of disruption across the wider organisation as teams are no longer having to respond to low level enquiries.

Zendesk Guide is also able to be integrated with an existing website to enhance the search functionality of the site so information is easily located. This functionality which also contains Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of an ‘answer bot’ has recently been implemented on the Baybus website. The ‘answer bot’ is a pop up screen where customers can ask questions while they are navigating the web page. The ‘answer bot’ is able to provide a response to common questions and identify when to bring in a customer service agent. Feedback in terms of this improvement has been positive.

2.2      Measureable Success

Many of the initiatives that were introduced through the Customer First work programme have been successfully implemented and are now considered business as usual practices for the customer service team. Focus is now turning to how we will monitor and measure our customer service delivery to develop qualitative and quantitative measures that enable meaningful customer service performance management and monitoring across a variety of different customer service touchpoints.

2.2.1    Call Monitoring and Mystery Shopping

Through data reporting we have been able to analyse call volumes and categories to better understand our customers and the types of queries we receive however we now need to measure and understand the quality of service we provide through these customer interactions. One of the most effective ways to do this is through a mystery shopping programme which includes call monitoring and onsite assessments to check that the actual customer experience is in line with the planned experience.

We currently use an external provider to carry out mystery shopping for transport related calls and this contract will soon be extended to include all other call types that are managed by the CCC as well as the consents service delivery. The purpose of the mystery shopping reporting is to measure the quality of customer service being provided by our customer contact, transport and consents teams as these are our largest customer service touchpoints. The insights gained from the mystery shopping reports will provide valuable information that the team can then use to improve their service delivery.

We also plan to implement call recording within the CCC to gain data driven insights into the phone conversations our call centre agents are having with customers. This then provides the actionable information needed to make necessary adjustments and improve phone call behaviours to ensure every caller is receiving a positive customer experience.

2.2.2    Targeted Customer Feedback

In addition to call monitoring and mystery shopping, another effective way to measure service quality is to seek feedback from customers who have recently accessed our services. The Residents’ Opinion surveys which are carried out two-yearly provide a representative and holistic community view of Councils’ performance however we need to be evaluating customer feedback more frequently and we want to know about specific customer service examples so conducting targeted customer feedback surveys are a great way to achieve this. Similarly to the call monitoring and mystery shopping methods, obtaining targeted customer feedback allows us to regularly review our services from a customer viewpoint to ensure our processes are streamlined and easy to access and the advice we are providing is accurate and delivered in a timely manner.

2.2.3    Customer Collaborative Network

In early 2019 a cross organisational internal customer focussed collaborative network was formed to help achieve clarity of purpose and improvements in the way we engage with and meet the needs of our customers, and the way in which we monitor and measure our customer service performance.

The network’s focus is to ensure Council is genuinely and purposefully engaging with customers and different stakeholders in the community. It is made up of people from across the organisation so that we take a comprehensive and joined up approach to how we deliver services for our customers. Since its formation, the Network has been working to connect the customer improvement initiatives that were included in the Customer First work programme to their activity area to ensure the improvements being implemented are appropriate and achievable.

2.3      Next Steps

2.3.1    Ratings Project Planning

Preparation for the rates transition project is currently underway and a workstream has been set up to manage the impact this change will have on our customer service channels. Through this process it is important that we simplify our customer experience and implement a customer stewardship approach in a similar way to how the RITS implementation was delivered.  We are also reviewing our frontline systems to ensure the technology we use is fit-for-purpose for rates enquiries and that we are adequately resourced to deliver the required changes.

3.        Considerations

3.1      Risks and Mitigations

The risks associated with the rates transition project will be reported to the Risk and Assurance committee later this year.

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.

3.3      Implications for Māori

The Bay of Plenty region has New Zealand’s largest number of iwi entities and the second largest Māori population, providing the region and its communities with a rich and vibrant cultural dynamic. It is therefore important that we consider the needs of our Māori community in terms of their expectations as a customer who accesses services and information from our organisation. Often this includes differences in protocol and language so we are increasing and improving the bilingual signage in our public interface areas and changing the way we greet people to provide a better customer experience for Māori.

3.4      Community Engagement

 

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

3.5      Financial Implications

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

 

4.        Next Steps

Continue with customer service improvements as reported in recent Monitoring and Operations Committee reports. This work includes further development of the CRM system and increasing the services provided to customers by the Customer Contact Centre.

 

  


 

 

 

Report To:

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Meeting Date:

9 March 2021

Report Writer:

Pim De Monchy, Coastal Catchments Manager

Report Authoriser:

Chris Ingle, General Manager, Integrated Catchments

Purpose:

Update the Committee on Kaimai Mamaku projects and operations

 

 

Update on Kaimai Mamaku projects

 

Executive Summary

Last year, Council committed $1.5M over five years to increase animal pest control and biodiversity work in the Kaimai Mamaku ranges. This report provides an update on that work, and a brief update on the Department of Conservation’s Jobs for Nature funding.

 

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1        Receives the report, Update on Kaimai Mamaku projects.

1.        Introduction

1.1      Council co-funded work

Last year, Council committed $1.5M over five years to increase animal pest control and biodiversity work in the Kaimai Mamaku ranges.

To date that work has included:

1.   An Environmental Programme funding agreement between the Manaaki Kaimai Mamaku Trust, Department of Conservation, Waikato Regional Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council to double agency-funded animal pest control operations, comprising:

a.  A tripling of goat control work to reduce browsing pressure on the understorey and minimise the risk of feral range expansion, particularly in the area between Katikati and Te Aroha, and near Mangorewa Gorge; Implementation of the Kokako Recovery Group’s recommendations for Opuiaki Ecological Area in collaboration with local hapū, including regular intensive possum, stoat and rat control, and an expansion of the bait station network;

b.  Support for the control of pests at Mokaihaha Ecological Area, including annual ground-based work and a triennial aerial operation;

c.  A commitment to work with hapū, Care Groups and landowners to increase the pest control efforts between Ōtānewainuku and Ōtawa.

2.   Better financial and non-financial support for volunteer Care Groups working in the ranges

3.   The contracting of a Programme Manager in collaboration with the Department of Conservation to work with hapū, Care Groups and communities at ‘hubs’ around the ranges to increase awareness and involvement, and to support operational planning and delivery

Further information on the implementation of the Environmental Programme can be found in the attached report from Brad Angus, Senior Ranger at the Department of Conservation.

1.2      Department of Conservation Jobs for Nature work

The Department of Conservation has committed $19M to the Kaimai Mamaku kaupapa through the Jobs for Nature Programme. This funding will mostly be administered through the Manaaki Kaimai Mamaku Trust which has reviewed and amended its deed and is in the process of increasing the number of both tangata whenua and community trustees. Three Quick Start Projects have been approved for funding so far, including Kauri Dieback work, Mokaihaha and Whakamarama. The details are:

1.2.1    Kauri Protection – Tauranga Moana Quick Start Investment Proposal

This is a quick start Investment Proposal, required for setting up the Kauri Protection mahi. The initial area of work is all within the Kauri forests within the Tauranga Moana rohe. The term of this work is initially 6 months, after which a review will occur.

The Project Lead, Riki Nelson (Ngati Te Wai) has been involved in the Kauri Protection Kaupapa over the past three years, with demonstrated capability and capacity. There are strong working relationships between Riki and Government agencies who have a role in Kauri Protection (Te Papa Atawhai, MPI, BOPRC).

There is a reasonably strong Kauri Protection Programme already in place that will be built on with the investment from this project. Te Papa Atawhai have many permanent staff with relevant skills/experience that will be available to support the planning and implementation of this Kaupapa.

Because this Investment Proposal builds on an existing programme, it provides an excellent opportunity for the J4N project to deliver early, low-risk, meaningful outcomes.

Objectives

1.  To develop hapu/iwi led Kauri Protection in the Tauranga Moana rohe.

2.  There are three strands to this Kaupapa:

·      Strategy/Project Plan Development;

·      Kauri Ambassador Programme implementation;

·      Physical on-the-ground work (e.g. track maintenance, wash station maintenance, soil sampling);

Testing this type of approach and acquiring learning from implementing this process can then be applied to the rest of the Kauri Forest of the Kaimai-Mamaku, over the whole project duration.

Approach

Riki Nelson will work closely with Te Papa Atawhai staff, other iwi/hapu reps , MPI and BOPRC staff to design and plan the methodology, logistics and resourcing to meet the desired environmental, cultural and social outcomes. Riki will look at strategy that has been developed across the rest of the Kauri Zone (Northland, Coromandel, Waikato, Hauraki, and Auckland) as part of building the strategy.

Riki will be supported by Tim Day (Kaimai Mamaku Programme Manager) as required. Tim will use his networks to bring in others to support. The ambassador Programme will be delivered by 2 to 4 trained kaimahi – these kaimahi will be supported by Te Papa Atawhai’s Interpretation Ranger.

Riki will seek feedback on the draft strategy from project partners and will report back to the project partners on progress of the mahi regularly.

Staffing Plan for the Investment Proposal

Project Lead 1 FTE

Kaimahi 3 FTE

Technical experts identified and contracted for assistance

Investment

$154,000 (excl GST)

1.2.2    Mokaihaha Hub Quick Start Investment Proposal

This proposal seeks the funding required for hub-based planning and development of a framework for restoration mahi in the Mokaihaha/Southern Mamaku Restoration Hub. The framework and plan to be developed in this mahi will help deliver the Kaimai-Mamaku wide kaupapa: To restore the Mauri of the Kaimai-Mamaku ngahere.

Ngati Tura Ngāti Te Ngākau Incorporated Society is the entity applying for funding. This organisation has been in operation for 8 years and has strong governance and an excellent track record of working with many other groups on environmental matters across the rohe, over many years. Ngati Tura Ngāti Te Ngākau have a deep and meaningful relationship with the whenua and have been an active member of the Mokaihaha Kōkako Trust.

Tarukenga marae is the whatitoka (spiritual doorway) to Raukawa Iwi. Tura holds the principles of kaitiakitanga as a collective of Ngati Whakaue nui tonu. Tura Ngāti Te Ngākau have close relationships with district & regional councils, DOC, a network of environmental groups, Maori organisations, commercial businesses and community groups and NGO’S.

Collaboration with environmental groups include:

·      Mamaku community (“Improve mauri of water through water quality outcomes”);

·      Paradise Valley, Umuroa, Waititi, Ngongotaha catchments: south-eastern boundary of Mokaihaha, surface water mitigation, private landowners, detention bunds, native replanting, monthly support & guidance and providing te ao Māori perspective;

·      Representation and active participation in the Mokaihaha Kōkako Trust.

The term of this work is initially 4 months, with the expectation of the fully designed restoration plan being funded after that.

Objectives

The strategic objective of Ngati Tura Ngāti Te Ngakau is the protection of the whenua for future generations. This proposal aims to develop a framework to interlink the goals and objectives of the wider Kaimai-Mamaku project with the goals and objectives of the Trust, so they align to achieve mutual outcomes:

·    Advance and expand pest management and monitoring (including Mātauranga Māori monitoring) in their rohe, building on 8 years of active participation alongside Mokaihaha Kōkako Trust and the baseline monitoring that has already been undertaken, plus working alongside new groups.

·    Train and upskill their people:

o Pilot a training to employment programme that embeds the kaitiaki aspirations of the iwi/hapū;

o Provide a tested and proven framework for training to be transported across the Kaimai-Mamaku, that reaches an 80% success rate (retention of trainees who move into paid employment);

o Provide opportunity to those who whakapapa to the tribal region;

o Ensure a sustainable pathway into employment;

o Ensure training encompasses both Māori and non-Māori world views, and develops transferable skills across pest management, Mātauranga Māori, and the biological and spiritual elements of the rohe.

·    Develop a 4-year workplan that delivers shared outcomes for the Kaimai-Mamaku project and the Trust and provides the basis for further project funding.

Staffing Plan for the Investment Proposal

Project Manager/Kaiārahi 1 FTE

Finance 0.5 FTE

Administrator/Training Programme support 1FTE

Technical experts identified and contracted for assistance:

Kaimahi x 4

Investment

$160,000 (excl GST)

1.2.3    Whakamarama Hub Quick Start Investment Proposal

This is a quick start Investment Proposal for the Whakamarama Restoration Hub. Work will start in parallel to the Business Case and Full Project Plan establishment phase. The term of this work is initially 6 months, when a review will occur, with the expectation of the fully designed programme being funded.

The initial area of work is all within the Pirirākau Hapū rohe, but in time may extend or link up with the western side of the main range, working in with Ngāti Hinerangi and Ngāti Hauā. There are existing relationships between Pirirākau and the Whakamarama Community Inc, who current undertake a small area of animal pest control within lands administered by both the WBOPDC and Te Papa Atawhai.

Objectives

·      To start hapū led animal pest control in the Whakamarama rohe;

·      To investigate and plan the animal pest control work required to achieve the desired environmental, cultural and social outcomes;

·      To plan and achieve baseline monitoring of the area prior to animal pest control occurring;

·      To establish pest animal control infrastructure ready for winter pest control in 2021 (infrastructure will be funded from the next round of future investment beyond this quick-start proposal);

·      To test this type of approach and acquire learning from implementing this process that the other MKM restoration hubs could learn from.

Approach

Tim Day (Contracted Pest Control Expert) will work directly with Carlton Bidois (Pirirākau hapū Project Leader) to design and plan the methodology, logistics and resourcing to meet the desired environmental, cultural and social outcomes.

The monitoring programme will be set up with a two-lens monitoring programme. Monitoring expertise will be brought in to support the development of the monitoring programme as and when required.

Tim will use his networks to bring in others to support the project. Baseline monitoring will be undertaken prior to 2021 pest animal control commencing. Animal pest control infrastructure set up will be established once the pest animal control planning is complete. Engagement with Pirirākau Hapū and neighbouring iwi will occur throughout the process. Engagement with the Whakamarama Community will occur throughout the process.

Staffing Plan

Hapū Project Lead/Kaiārahi 1 FTE

Kaimahi 2 FTE

Support/coordinator 1FTE

Technical experts identified and contracted for assistance

Investment

$170,000 (excl GST)

1.3      Alignment with Strategic Framework

 

A Healthy Environment

We work cohesively with volunteers and others, to sustainably manage and improve our natural resources.

1.3.1    Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

 

þ Cultural

 

¨ Social

 

¨ Economic

 

2.        Considerations

2.1      Risks and Mitigations

A key risk is ensuring co-ordination between the programme funded by the Regional Council described under 1.1 above, and the larger funding programme funded through the Department of Conservation’s Jobs for Nature programme described under section 1.2 above. This co-ordination occurs via the Manaaki Kaimai Mamaku Trust, senior staff meetings, and the joint programme manager role.

2.2      Climate Change

The control of introduced browsing animal species such as wild goats is positive for climate change mitigation because it enables regrowth of native forest understory plants which store carbon. This will also help with ecological health of the forest ecosystem and over time may also reduce the amount of sediment in streams flowing into the Tauranga Harbour after heavy rain events.

2.3      Implications for Māori

Hapū and iwi are intimately connected with and integral to the planning, governance and implementation of this work. This work has direct and potentially significant benefits for local hapū and iwi.

2.4      Community Engagement

No specific community engagement is required, other than that already designed into each project plan.

2.5      Financial Implications

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

2.5.1    Current Budget Implications

 

Budget

Actual YTD

Forecast

Variance

Kaimai Mamaku work

$277,000

$160,000

$277,000

$0

2.5.2    Future Budget Implications

The project started during the 2019/20 financial year and was planned for five years. The draft Long Term Plan 2021-31 includes the final two years of the project and is funded by general rates.

 

2020/21 (Current)

2021/22

(LTP Year 1)

2022/23

(LTP Year 2)

Kaimai Mamaku work

$277,000

$322,000

$357,000

3.        Next Steps

Staff will continue to support Cr Bruning in his role as Chair of the Manaaki Kaimai Mamaku Trust, and will collaborate with other agencies, hapū, Care Groups, communities and contractors to achieve the best possible outcome with the funds and resources available, through the implementation of the Environmental Programme. 

 

Attachments

Attachment 1 - 2021 02 09 Item 2 - Towards Thriving Kaimai-Mamaku Forest EP Report Dec_Jan 2021 -Brad Angus   


Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                                9 March 2021

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Report To:

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Meeting Date:

9 March 2021

Report Writer:

Bruce Crabbe, Rivers and Drainage Operations Manager

Report Authoriser:

Chris Ingle, General Manager, Integrated Catchments

Purpose:

Report on Rivers and Drainage Operations activities, as outlined in the Environmental Code of Practice 2019.

 

 

Environmental Code of Practice for Rivers & Drainage Maintenance Activities - 2020 Annual Review

 

Executive Summary

Rivers and drainage scheme routine operational works are generally authorised by permitted activity under the Regional Natural Resources Plan[1], subject to a range of conditions including that works are carried out in accordance with the Environmental Code of Practice for Rivers and Drainage Maintenance Activities.

One of the requirements of the Code of Practice is to report annually to council. This report covers rivers and drainage maintenance activities for the 2019-2020 financial year.

Overall 1,212 separate rivers and drainage maintenance activities were carried out during the 2019-2020 financial year, and eight complaints were received and investigated (see attachment 3).

37 Hapū and Iwi Management Plans are currently in existence and these guide and inform operations activities and consultation.

 

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1.       Receives the report, Environmental Code of Practice for Rivers & Drainage Maintenance Activities - 2020 Annual Review.

1.        Introduction

The Environmental Code of Practice for Rivers and Drainage Maintenance Activities 2019 (ECoP) covers maintenance activities undertaken by the Rivers and Drainage Operations Section of Bay of Plenty Regional Council, on the major river schemes and drainage control schemes in the Bay of Plenty region.

The purpose of the ECoP is to set out operational procedures that will apply to all maintenance activities on major rivers and drainage schemes.

Section 6.2.6 of the ECoP requires an annual report, covering the following:

a.   Number of complaints and corrective action(s) taken

b.   Summary of recommended changes to procedures resulting from comments made in checklists

c.   Analysis of types of work carried out, and any areas where complaints or problems continue to occur

d.   Recommendation whether an independent audit is required

e.   Listing of authorised Iwi Management Plans.

This review is not a formal audit. An audit is to be undertaken once in every five year period, of at least 3% and up to 10% of any works carried out in a single year.

This annual review covers the period from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020.

1.1      Legislative Framework

Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941

Land Drainage Act 1908 and the Rangitāiki Land Drainage Act 1956

Resource Management Act 1991.

1.2      Alignment with Strategic Framework

 

Safe and Resilient Communities

We support community safety through flood protection and navigation safety.

1.2.1    Community Well-beings Assessment

Dominant Well-Beings Affected

þ Environmental

Low - Positive

þ Cultural

Medium - Positive

þ Social

High - Positive

þ Economic

High - Positive

The Rivers & Drainage Operations activities provide and maintain important, long-term infrastructure which supports our community by protecting people, property and livelihoods from flooding and land drainage issues.

2.        2020 Review

2.1      Rivers and Drainage Operations Activities

Rivers and Drainage Operations undertake a range of activities, as listed in Part 4 of the ECoP.

Activities include, but are not limited to: vegetative protection works, hard engineering protection works, river channel maintenance works, drainage management and flood protection works.

Major floodgate, pump station and stopbank construction projects do not have Environmental Guidelines prepared for them as they are generally covered by project-specific resource consents. Maintenance of stopbanks and floodgates is set out in the Rivers and Drainage Asset Management Plan.

2.2      Review of procedures

2.2.1    Complaints

Minor concerns and enquiries are not recorded, and generally can be addressed verbally, as they are received. This informal approach works very well for the majority of landowner issues. A complaint is considered major, or formal, where some investigation and written acknowledgement is required.

Formal complaints are recorded in the Complaints Register. The register includes details of when the complaint was received, complainant’s details, investigation, remedial actions and information provided back to the complainant.

A total of eight complaints were received in the 2019/2020 financial year. Details of complaints received were varied (refer Attachment 3).

Some complaints were referred to other teams within the organisation to be investigated and resolved.

All complaints have been responded to directly, and where appropriate follow up actions and procedures have been put in place to prevent similar events occurring.

2.3      Consultation

Landowners and occupiers are consulted or notified (where appropriate) when works are proposed on their property or along their boundaries. Consultation is undertaken by phone (or in person if appropriate) by the Works Coordinator/Foreman responsible for the job.

Works Notifications are sent via email on a weekly basis to key agencies and stakeholders, outlining the river, location, river distance and type of works involved. Notification sites are also uploaded to ArcGIS, and an embedded link in the weekly notification email shows where the planned works are located on an aerial photo/map. The weekly notification email format has been enhanced to include more detail on the type of work being carried out and its RMA authorisation.  

Routine consultation with landowners is an informal process, and is not recorded.

2.4      Recommended changes

Overall, 1,212 separate rivers and drainage maintenance activities were carried out during the 2019-2020 financial year, and eight complaints were received and investigated (see attachment 3).

The current version of the ECoP has been in place since 2019, and this is its first annual review. There are a low proportion of complaints (8) as a proportion of total jobs (1,212).

It is recommended that more efficient internal reporting on completed works commence to assist with future reporting.

2.5      Analysis of works

A summary of the types of rivers and drainage works completed during 2019/2020 follows. A detailed list of completed work by scheme can be found in Attachment 2.

 

Types of Works

Works Completed

(All Schemes)

Works Completed

(Flood Repair Project)

1.

Vegetative protection works

174

25

2.

Hard engineering protection works

35

80

3.

River channel maintenance works

139

-

4.

Drainage management

450

-

5.

Flood protection works

309

-

2.6      Independent Audit

An Independent Audit is not recommended at this time. The ECoP has only recently been renewed (FY2018/19). Independent audit is recommended every fifth year.

2.7      Hapū/Iwi Resource Management Plans   

Hapū/Iwi Resource Management Plans are documents developed and approved by hapū and/or iwi. These plans describe resource management issues of importance as tāngata whenua.

The plans may also contain information relating to specific cultural values, historical accounts, descriptions of areas of interest (hapū/iwi boundaries/rohe) and consultation/engagement protocols for resource consents and/or plan changes.

A list of these Plans is included in Attachment 1.                                                                      

3.        Considerations

3.1      Climate Change

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

3.2      Implications for Māori

Council acknowledges that the relationships it has with Māori are central to the fulfilment of its statutory responsibilities and will continue to utilise a range of different mechanisms to engage with the wider Māori community and ensure Māori views are appropriately represented in the decision-making process.

At an operational level efforts to engage with Māori are ongoing through various forums including the established Co-governance Groups (e.g. Rangitāiki River Forum and Te Maru o Kaituna) as well as at more local level through Hapū river committees including Ngāti Ira, Ngāi Tamahaua and Tapuika. All operational works in the Tūhoe rohe remain on hold currently while Te Uru Taumatua engages with its Hapū groups.

3.3      Community Engagement

 

Adobe Systems

INFORM

Whakamōhio

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

3.4      Financial Implications

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

4.        Next Steps

Deliver works and services in keeping with the Environmental Code of Practice 2019.

 

Attachments

Attachment 1 - Hapu/Iwi Resource Management Plans

Attachment 2 - Table of completed Rivers & Drainage Operations Works

Attachment 3 - Rivers and Drainage Operations Complaints Register - 2019-2020  

 


Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                9 March 2021

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Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                                9 March 2021

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Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                                9 March 2021

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Report To:

Monitoring and Operations Committee

Meeting Date:

9 March 2021

Report Writer:

Rob Donald, Science Manager

Report Authoriser:

Namouta Poutasi, General Manager, Strategy & Science

Purpose:

To make Councillors aware of the findings made in two new Environmental Publications; Sea Lettuce Monitoring in Tauranga Harbour, and Whitebait Spawning Zones in the Bay of Plenty.

 

 

New Environmental Publications - Sea Lettuce Monitoring in Tauranga Harbour and Whitebait Spawning Zones in the Bay of Plenty

 

Executive Summary

Two new Environmental Publications have recently been completed and are presented for information. The first publication gives up to date information on sea lettuce monitoring and research that has been carried out in Tauranga Harbour. The second publication documents research that has recently been carried out on whitebait spawning zones in the Bay of Plenty.

The information presented in each publication will be important in implementation of the NPS for Freshwater Management as it has a particular emphasis on protecting mahinga kai.

 

Recommendations

That the Monitoring and Operations Committee:

1.       Receives the report, New Environmental Publications - Sea Lettuce Monitoring in Tauranga Harbour and Whitebait Spawning Zones in the Bay of Plenty.

1.        Introduction

The purpose of this report is to make Councillors aware of the findings made in two new Environmental Publications; Sea Lettuce Monitoring in Tauranga Harbour[2], and Whitebait Spawning Zones in the Bay of Plenty[3]. The full publications are attached and the executive summaries for each are reproduced in the following sections.

1.1      Alignment with Strategic Framework

 

A Healthy Environment

Our environmental monitoring is transparently communicated to our communities.

Freshwater for Life

We recognise and provide for Te Mana o Te Wai (intrinsic value of water).

The Way We Work

We use robust information, science and technology.

2.        Sea Lettuce in Tauranga Harbour

2.1      What is the issue?

Sea lettuce (Ulva spp) is a naturally occurring green algae, which under the right conditions can develop large problematic blooms. Blooms of sea lettuce in Te Awanui (Tauranga Harbour) have been reported anecdotally back as early as the 1940s (Park, 2011), and has continued to be a nuisance species to this day. Previous work investigating the potential environmental drivers of sea lettuce blooms has been well discussed in Park (2011) and Park (2007).

2.2      What did we do?

A range of additional monitoring and research programmes have been conducted since the last sea lettuce report to try and elucidate the complex drivers of the cause of the sea lettuce blooms and potential nutrient sources. The aim of this report is to provide an up to date summary of the knowledge of sea lettuce abundance and blooms, and the current understanding of the drivers of sea lettuce blooms in Tauranga Harbour.

2.3      What did we find?

Bimonthly monitoring has shown sea lettuce blooms have significantly reduced in intensity compared to the blooms recorded in the early 1990s. Larger blooms of sea lettuce have historically shown correlations to the Southern Ocean Oscillation, where in El Nino years we have observed the largest blooms of sea lettuce (Park, 2011). Upwelling from the coastal zone has been hypothesised to provide cool, nutrient rich water into the harbour under strong westerly wind conditions (which occur with greater frequency and intensity in El Nino years). A combination of cooler waters and potential additional nutrients inputs may support sea lettuce growth even when terrestrial nutrient inputs are reduced.

Sea lettuce tissue nutrients show distinct seasonal patterns, as do the bloom intensities. Sea lettuce blooms are greater during spring and summer, and the tissue nutrients are enhanced over winter to early spring, reducing into summer. Increased spatial monitoring has shown the prevalence of intertidal sea lettuce blooms to occur in the southern harbour, in particular across Waikareao Estuary, Waimapu Estuary and Rangataua Bay. This is likely driven by the higher inputs of nutrients from the southern harbour rivers, in particular the Kopurereroa stream which has concentrations of nitrogen much higher than surrounding rivers. The high nutrients in the river are not well reflected in the estuary itself, indicating some uptake of bioavailable nutrients is rapidly occurring, or/and sediment nutrient recycling is also playing a role. Prevalence of the red algae (Gracilaria chilensis) is more common in the northern harbour.

A programme was developed to investigate the incoming and outgoing water quality of southern Tauranga Harbour over five consecutive summers, across a range of climatic conditions (La Nina vs El Nino years). The results showed the role of dominant westerly wind conditions in driving increased nutrient conditions in certain years. Ammonium concentrations were greater in incoming tides during one of the captured El Nino sampling years, and water temperatures were significantly reduced in El Nino compared to La Nina years. There is the potential for upwelling to contribute to the nutrient requirements of sea lettuce, however given the relatively low concentrations recorded during our sampling it is unlikely to drive the large scale blooms seen historically, unless nutrient inputs from land based sources are unusually low. Additional isotope analysis work conducted over the 2018/19 summer identified decreases in 𝛿15N of sea lettuce tissue across a number of sites following a prolonged westerly wind event, indicating a potential oceanic nutrient source. This indicates that the sea lettuce may utilise some upwelled oceanic nutrients at times.

The most recent research from the University of Waikato has examined groundwater inputs to Tauranga Harbour, and the variability of harbour residence times under varying climatic conditions. Groundwater rich in bioavailable nutrients may provide high nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the harbour at times (Stewart et al., 2018). In particular, these inputs dominate all other terrestrial/riverine/oceanic inputs at certain times (such as El Nino years) and likely drive increased primary productivity (Stewart, 2020). This may explain the greater sea lettuce blooms previously observed in El Nino years.

2.4      What we need to do?

The increased knowledge of nutrient sources into the harbour and increased spatial coverage of sea lettuce abundances will provide key inputs to future nutrient modelling for the harbour. The implementation of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater (NPSF) requires councils to set freshwater limits to protect identified ecological and cultural values by 2025. The modelling work is a high priority and will provide better understanding of sources and sinks of nutrients in Tauranga Harbour, and provide information to inform policy setting to ensure large blooms of nuisance macroalgae continue to be reduced.

3.        Whitebait Spawning Zones

3.1      What is the issue?

Whitebait, and whitebaiting are important to many people in New Zealand, from both a cultural and recreational perspective. Inanga (Galaxias maculatus) make up the vast majority of whitebait, yet there is growing concern about the long-term sustainability of this species.

Lowland waterways are often in agriculturally-productive areas, where natural wetlands have been drained and many larger rivers have been modified (to protect people and property from flooding) with stopbanks and riverbanks reinforced with rip rap. These activities have affected inanga spawning habitat. Another threat to spawning habitat is loss of riparian vegetation by mowing or spraying banks, or by stock grazing.

3.2      What did we do?

We identified potential inanga spawning zones, based on where the salt wedge extended to at high tide. We also examined the condition of the potential spawning habitat in these zones. This was done by:

·      Field surveys in 2017-2018 to identify where spawning is likely to occur. We measured how far the tide moved upstream, and assessed the spawning suitability along these potential spawning zones.

·      Computer modelling to map potential salt wedge zones in other rivers where inanga may spawn, based on estimates of saltwater wedge intrusion at high spring tides. We used our field measurements to check the accuracy of the computer model.

·      Aerial photo analysis to quantify the extent that lowland waterways have been altered by human activities, including the area of wetlands that have been lost due to drainage and the number of waterways that have tide gates or pump stations.

3.3      What did we find?

We found that while many waterways had only short salt wedge zones (< 500 m long), deeper and larger rivers had potential spawning zones up to 5 km in length.

There were 40.4 km of stopbanked waterways where potential spawning zones exist. Channelised rivers had the longest combined length of potential spawning areas (100.9 km), followed by natural waterways (59.9 km). Spawning suitability was lowest in canals, followed by stopbanked rivers.

Aerial imagery showed large changes to river morphology since the 1940s in the lower reaches of some rivers. Many original meanders had been cut and isolated from these rivers, which have been straightened.

Most of the catchments surveyed had lost >95% of their wetlands. Five catchments (Wainui, Uretara, Aongatete, Nukuhou and Waiōtahe) had no historic wetlands left. Pump stations drained a large area of land (just under 20,000 ha) and had almost 300 km of waterway length above them. This resulted in loss of whitebait habitat due to historic drainage activities to convert these areas into productive farmland.

3.4      What we need to do?

Loss of lowland spawning areas is of concern for whitebait, particularly as successful spawning is important for the continued survival of this species.

It is essential to protect spawning sites to ensure the continued survival of inanga, so this study helped identify potential spawning zones throughout the region.

We need to consider the inanga life cycle to ensure successful spawning. For example, their eggs remain in bankside vegetation in areas influenced by the salt wedge for approximately one month after laying until inundated by the following high tide. Eggs are vulnerable to activities such as stock grazing, mowing, or weed-spraying over a fairly long period. If these activities occur before spawning, then good quality spawning habitat would be lost. If these occur soon after spawning, but before the next tide has washed the larvae into the rivers, then there could be significant egg mortality.

Other actions include creating specific inanga spawning ponds adjacent to large rivers can also be beneficial to inanga, as long as these are protected from fishing pressure. This is already been done in the Tarawera and Whakatāne Rivers by the Regional Council.

3.5      More focussed management

We also need more focussed management to better protect potential spawning sites within these zones. This could include:

·      Temporarily fencing potential spawning sites from stock access.

·      Controlling bankside vegetation disturbance from December to June in spawning areas.

·      Requiring that any rip rap used in salt wedge zones be “inanga friendly”.

·      Requiring barriers to migration at lowland sites to be moved.

It is only by improving our activities within whitebait spawning zones can we better protect these immensely important habitats for this iconic species.

4.        Considerations

4.1      Climate Change

Climate change is forecast to increase storm intensity and water temperatures and these changes will have a mixed impact on sea lettuce blooms in Tauranga Harbour. For example, higher temperatures in summer lower sea lettuce growth while more intense storms are likely to increase nutrient runoff which can be expected to increase growth. These and other changes are likely to influence the seasonal timing and intensity of sea lettuce blooms but more research is needed to fully understand the overall implications of this.

The potential effects of climate change on the location of whitebait spawning zones in the Bay of Plenty can be predicted using modelled levels of sea level rise. As sea level rises the position of the salt wedge will move further upstream compared to the current day position. This would be a slow process but nonetheless should be considered when developing policy to protect whitebait spawning zones. 

4.2      Implications for Māori

Tauranga Harbour is of significant value to Māori as a physical and spiritual symbol of identity for all Tauranga Moana iwi. It provides a food bowl/source of kaimoana, such as flounder, kahawai, mussels and cockles. Sea lettuce blooms are known to have a range of detrimental effects that are likely to impact negatively on these resources including noxious odours, reduction in oxygen levels, displacement of seagrass and reduced benthic biodiversity.

Whitebait spawning zones are present in the rohe of most, if not all, iwi in the Bay of Plenty region. The whitebait species represent a significant cultural resource (mahinga kai) and it is therefore vital that spawning habitat be identified, protected and where possible enhanced.

The information presented in each of these publications will be important in implementation of the NPS for Freshwater Management as it has a particular emphasis on protecting mahinga kai.

4.3      Financial Implications

This work fits within the allocated budget for the Science Activity under the Long Term Plan.

5.        Next Steps

The publications will be made publicly available at the conclusion of this meeting. It is intended that the monitoring and research work will continue to support the implementation of the NPS for Freshwater Management.

 

Attachments

Supporting Document 1 - BOPRC Environmental Publication 2021/01. Sea lettuce research and monitoring in Tauranga Harbour 2020.

Supporting Document 2 - BOPRC Environmental Publication 2021/02 - The location and habitat conditions of whitebait spawning zones in the Bay of Plenty.  

 


Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                9 March 2021

 

Item 9.9

Supporting Document 1

BOPRC Environmental Publication 2021/01. Sea lettuce research and monitoring in Tauranga Harbour 2020.


Monitoring and Operations Committee                                                                9 March 2021

 

Item 9.9

Supporting Document 2

BOPRC Environmental Publication 2021/02 - The location and habitat conditions of whitebait spawning zones in the Bay of Plenty.

 

 



[1] Generally NH Rule 1 for River Schemes and NH Rule 3 for Land Drainage Canals.

[2] Sea lettuce research and monitoring in Tauranga Harbour 2020. Bay of Plenty Regional Council Environmental Publication 2021/01. Prepared by Josie Crawshaw.

 

[3] The location and habitat conditions of whitebait spawning zones in the Bay of Plenty. Bay of Plenty Regional Council Environmental Publication 2021/02. Prepared by Alastair Suren.