Our recommendations

We recommend that:

1. the Ministry for the Environment review the part of the Resource Management (Measurement and Reporting of Water Takes) Regulations 2010 that allows for manual data collection and annual data provision, and work with councils that have oversight of water metering, to ensure that people and organisations holding water permits regularly submit accurate data using automated processes;
2. councils continue to work with people and organisations holding water permits and intermediary data service providers to improve the timeliness and completeness of water-use data received;
3. the Ministry for the Environment, councils that manage freshwater resources, and other interested groups work together to use water-use data to encourage compliance with water permits and the limits they impose, to enable effective and efficient use of freshwater resources; and
4. the Ministry for the Environment evaluate the benefits of water metering to understand how it has changed the way people and organisations holding water permits have used what they have been allocated.