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Questions have been raised at a deemed permit presentation regarding water groups, including What is a group?, What are the tasks of a group?, How long does a group last for?
Initially the group is made up of land holders in a catchment who all have a deemed permit that needs to be replaced with an RMA consent.
The group can share thoughts and views on the steps they need to undertake for preparing their consents, including discussions with the statutory bodies, and determining rationing regimes.
At that stage they can be appropriately termed a ‘water users group’ with the common interest of replacing their deemed permits.
Once consents are issued, the land holders within a catchment will need to continue working as a group to implement group-managed rostering arrangements during periods of lower flows. The consent holders gradually then move from being a water users group to a water management group (WMG) or a water allocation committee (WAC). The group decides between these two alternatives.
While it is the responsibility of the group to determine the specific rationing regime, it is becoming more common for groups to make use of consultants to assist them.
Please call me if you have any queries about this process.
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