Canterbury region

Groundwater Zone: Banks Peninsula

The Banks Peninsula water management zone is made up of a volcanic and coastal landscape. Almost surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Peninsula’s extinct volcanic cones have created a steep landscape and many bays and deep valleys. The Peninsula contains over 100 streams where the catchments are all short (less than 10 km long) and very steep, with lowland stream reaches generally measuring only a few kilometres long. In pre-European times, upper headwaters flowed through densely clad totara and New Zealand cedar montane forests, and lowland streams would have run through tall tōtara, mātai, rimu and kahikatea podocarp (native pine) forests. The one main freshwater body in the Zone is Te Roto o Wairewa (Lake Forsyth), located in the western part of the Zone. Apart from the streams that flow into the lake, most flow directly into the harbours and sea, flushing naturally in high rainfall events. It is difficult for wetlands to form with the Peninsula’s steep-sided valleys and limited flat land.

Banks Peninsula streams are normally short and steep, often with native forest in their headwaters. There are no large-scale irrigation schemes with the majority of water takes being permitted under the RMA (stock water and domestic supply) or permitted activity rules. One significant pressure is from the town of Akaroa which has a large increase in population in the summer months when the surface water supplies diminish.

Water Use

Groundwater in this zone

Regional councils collect information about how much water is available and manage resource consents for those wishing to take water from groundwater supplies. Use the buttons below to view regional information on: how much water is available, where it comes from and how its used.

Groundwater available: {{waterSource.availableToAllocate}} Irrigation
{{waterUsage.irrigationLabel}} Industrial
{{waterUsage.industrialLabel}} Stock
{{waterUsage.stockLabel}} Hydroelectrical
{{waterUsage.hydroLabel}} Town supply
{{waterUsage.drinkingLabel}}

Groundwater in this zone

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Groundwater in this zone

Accurately estimating the total amount of water available in a groundwater management zone is not currently possible. Regional Councils are working with the Ministry for the Environment on the best way to calculate this figure. We will include these figures on LAWA when they become available. In the meantime, for more information about a particular groundwater management zone, contact your regional council.

Water consents: How much water is consented and used?

Groundwater available to consent

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Consented water in this groundwater zone

Use the tables below to look at how much water is available compared with how much is actually consented within this water management zone. Click the plus to expand subzones where available

Comparing consents and use
Amount available to consent	In this groundwater management zone: {{item.data.totalAvailableAmount}} {{item.data.totalAvailableUnits}} available to consent
Amount consented measured and non measured
Amount used (measured)
	Amount	Units	Consented or used as a percentage of available
Total available to consent	{{item.data.totalAvailableAmount}}			{{item.data.totalAvailableAmount}}	{{item.data.totalAvailableUnits}}
Total consented	{{item.data.totalConsented.amount}}			{{item.data.totalConsented.amount}}	{{item.data.totalAvailableUnits}}	{{item.data.totalConsented.percentText}}
Total consented and measured	{{item.data.totalMeasured.amount}}			{{item.data.totalMeasured.amount}}	{{item.data.totalAvailableUnits}}	{{item.data.totalMeasured.percentText}}
Total measured amount used	{{item.data.totalAmountUsed.amount}}	{{item.data.totalAvailableUnits}}	{{item.data.totalAmountUsed.percentText}}
Total measured volume used	{{item.data.totalAnnualVolumeUsed}}	{{item.data.totalAnnualVolumeUnits}}

The table above shows the amount of water that is available for use compared to the amount that has been consented. The ‘Total Consented’ and ‘Total Consented and Measured’ fields are based on percentages of the ‘Total available to Consent’ field. If this field is not populated no data will be displayed. Some consents require actual use to be monitored and this is presented as 'Total measured volume Used' where available.

Water consents: How is consented water used?

Consents by use in this groundwater zone

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Consented water in this zone

Overall annual volume for {{waterAvailable.year}}

Relative breakdown

Activity	Percentage of total consented	Total volume	Number of consents
{{item.displayText}}	-	-	No data available		{{item.breakdownPercentage}}%	{{item.totalVolume}} m³	{{item.numberOfConsents}}
Total	{{waterUsage.total.percentageConsented}}%	{{waterUsage.total.totalVolume}} m³	{{waterUsage.total.numberOfConsents}}

The above table shows the proportion of water consented for irrigation, industrial, stock, town supply and other. It excludes hydro electricity. In this region/management zone {{hydroUsage.totalVolume}} m³/year is consented for hydro-electricity and makes up {{hydroUsage.percentageConsented}}% of the total water volume consented for this region/management zone

Sites

Monitored sites in this Zone

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