Lake Taupo
Lake Taupo is under threat from increasing nitrogen leaching from land uses in the catchment. In order to maintain the lake's water quality, we need to reduce the amount of nitrogen reaching the lake from farmland and urban areas by 20 percent.
As Environment Waikato is responsible for the lake's water quality, we have been working together with Taupo District Council and central government to identify appropriate solutions for both the lake and the community.
In 2003, Environment Waikato released Protecting Lake Taupo - the overall strategy guiding action to protect the lake. Subsequently, new Waikato Regional Plan rules were developed to cap the amount of nitrogen leaching from the land, with a public fund (administered by the Lake Taupo Protection trust) established to assist in achieving the required reduction of nitrogen by 20 per cent.
These changes mean that all landowners in the catchment now need to consider whether they comply with the new permitted activity rules in the Regional Plan, or whether they need to apply for resource consent for their land use activities.
The following resources have been developed to help landowners in the catchment with establishing whether they require consents in order to continue farming:
In this topic you'll find:
For further information contact Derek Ryan, Jon Palmer, or Gemma Platts on (07) 378 6539.
The Lake Taupo catchment
The new rules apply to all properties in the Lake Taupo catchment, whether they be residential, pastoral and or forestry sites. The catchment is identified on the map below.
