Wairau/Awatere Resource Management Plan 29 July 2014 (a) Measures, including fences, bridges or culverts, to prevent stock entering onto, or passing across, the bed of any river, stream, creek, lake, wetland or significant ephemeral stream, and any drain; (b) Provision of an appropriate, non-grazed, buffer along the margins of any water body, including a river, stream, creek, lake, wetland or significant ephemeral stream, and any drain, to intercept the runoff of contaminants from grazed pasture, with reference to Appendices A, J and Q; (c) Provision for storage of dairy effluent, with all storage ponds sufficiently sized to enable deferral of application to land until soil conditions are such that surface runoff and/ or drainage do not occur; (d) Demonstration of appropriate separation distances between effluent storage ponds and any surface waterbodies to ensure contamination of water does not occur (including during flood events); (e) A nutrient management plan that includes nutrient inputs from dairy effluent, animal discharges, fertiliser, and any other nutrient input. The quality and quantity of the District’s water resources are essential to the prosperity and pleasantness of the lower Wairau, in terms of their life supporting capacity and availability for domestic and productive use. Water quality is also integral to the landscape character, recreation potential and amenity values of the area. Objective 4 The control of water levels in a network of natural watercourses and drains so as to remove surplus water and enable sustainable management of the soils of the lower Wairau flood plain. Policy 4.1 To maintain and upgrade a network of drains, drainage channels and small rivers within a drainage district on the floodplain. Policy 4.2 To keep these drains and watercourses in a hydraulically efficient state by removal of weed and sediment. Policy 4.3 To prevent backflows of major river floodwater into the network by means of floodgated culverts. Policy 4.4 To use pumps and gates to aid in the removal of water from the network, or improve its efficient operation. Policy 4.5 To enhance functioning of the network as ecological and habitat corridors. The sustainable use of parts of the lower Wairau floodplain for agriculture is dependent on the ongoing maintenance of the existing drainage system which keeps the groundwater table high in the summer and low in the winter. The network of waterways also provides opportunities for the development of ecological corridors for fauna and flora. 12 - 8