Water take compliance monitoring
Marlborough District Council (MDC) is dedicated to safeguarding and improving all waterways in our area by monitoring activities and imposing restrictions when needed.
Water extraction is allowed as a permitted activity under the proposed Marlborough Environment Plan (PMEP). However, most of the water taken and used in Marlborough is governed by resource consents. The management of these water takes is monitored by Council’s monitoring team.
Compliance overview
During the 2024-25 monitoring period 1265 water permits were monitored.
Permitted activity
Water extraction as an allowed activity should be restricted in line with the regulations outlined in the PMEP.
Water extraction rules can be found under the PMEP (operative in part), Volume 2, General rules.
Resource consents
Surface water take permits typically have a consent condition that mandates stopping the abstraction when river flow drops below a certain threshold to avoid negative impacts.
