This Plan was approved by the Taranaki Regional Council on 26 September 2001 and became operative on 8 October 2001.

The Regional Fresh Water Plan (the Plan) has been prepared by the Taranaki Regional Council in accordance with the requirements of the Resource Management Act 1991 (the Act).

The purpose of the Plan is to assist the Taranaki Regional Council to carry out its functions under the Act to promote the sustainable management of the fresh water resources of the Taranaki region.

The Plan identifies how the fresh water resources of the region (both surface water and groundwater) are to be managed. It does this by identifying important issues from state of the environment monitoring relating to the use, development and protection of the fresh water resources of Taranaki. Objectives, policies and methods are set out for addressing these issues. Ongoing state of the environment monitoring will enable the Taranaki Regional Council to assess the effectiveness of the Plan and review policy direction where necessary. In particular the Plan contains regional rules which categorise activities into different classes (permitted, controlled, discretionary or prohibited), with different standards, terms or conditions which apply to them, depending on the effects on the environment of that activity. Activities have been classified in this way to facilitate the processing of resource consents and to provide certainty for the community.