A Ministry for the Environment spokeswoman said the Government was still consulting on its Clean Water package.
“Submissions closed on April 28 and the responses are being considered before drafting the regulations.
“It is the Government’s intention to promulgate these regulations by August,” she said.
Those rules were likely to include instant fines of up to $2000 for each “observed event of stock in a water body”, according to draft regulations.
In February last year the Government released the Next Steps Fresh Water document which set out a timeline for the exclusion of livestock from waterways.
Dairy cattle on milking platforms and pigs were to be excluded from July 1 this year and dairy support, beef cattle and deer from July 1, 2022. For beef cattle and deer on steeper country the rules would be phased in from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2030.
A draft regulatory impact statement recommended using regulation to encourage the exclusion of stock from waterways, as opposed to the status quo or incentives.
“Regulation would provide reassurance to the public and our international markets that action is being taken to protect freshwater quality and ecosystem health,” it said.
The regulations intentionally targeted dairy and beef cattle, deer and pigs, which the document said had an affinity for water and the potential to deposit excreta.
Sheep and goats were excluded because they were smaller, preferred not to enter water and could be useful controlling weeds by grazing riparian margins.
It also favoured a slope-based approach to differentiate between intensive systems on flat and rolling land up to 15 degrees and more extensive farming systems on steeper country.
“On steeper land it is proposed these stock types (cattle and deer) are only excluded where break feeding, due to the very high costs involved.”
The exclusion rules would apply to wetlands, lakes and large, permanently flowing rivers and streams over 1m wide on rolling and steep land and all permanently flowing rivers and streams regardless of size on the plains.
The draft said the cost and time taken to enforce breaches under the Resource Management Act delayed enforcement but changes the act allowed instant fines by setting out a legislative framework.
“This enforcement provision will ensure that the stock exclusion regulation will achieve its public policy objectives as it will provide incentives to farmers to comply with the regulation and a way for councils to encourage farmers that are not complying.”
The type of fencing to exclude stock was optional but would allow GPS fencing and natural barriers such as cliffs, the only proviso being that they were stock-proof.
It also did not stipulate riparian setback width from waterways because there was no optimum design and the planting and maintenance costs.
The document estimated a cost of $14,700 for 1km of two rows of native plants.
It was acknowledged it could be impractical to exclude stock in some instances, such as where paddocks were dissected by multiple waterways and stock density was low, such as on the West Coast.
Farmers could also use mitigation other than fencing to achieve water quality aims, such as creating artificial wetlands.
