Ensuring dams are safe and compliant is vital for farm business resilience and the safety of the wider catchment, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment says.
Farming groups have chafed at updated regulations that will see more dams subject to monitoring and compliance.
Dam owners have until August 13 to submit an engineer’s certificate to their local council.
These are appraised by recognised engineers and put into one of three classifications – low, medium or high impact.
Low-impact dams require no further work but a new certificate is needed every five years.
The other two classifications require dam safety assurance plans to be written, which include emergency action plans, plans for how owners inspect the dam and how they will remediate defects and deficiencies in the dam.
Tim Farrant, MBIE building engineering manager, said about 1100 dams are subject to the regulations and progress on submitting certificates is good, with almost half underway already.
He said the regulations play a vital role in ensuring the safety of the wider community and dams are classified according to the impact they could have downstream.
“If you had a large dam that was upstream of a major township or something like that, then that would be a trigger for it being medium or high classification, depending on what the risk to those downstream properties would be.
“If it was a rural dam that was in an environment close to a large river, then that it would be a low impact because it would have a low potential consequence downstream.
“So it’s all about what is downstream of those environments. If you’re in a very remote rural area, odds are that it’s going to be low impact. If it’s upstream of a major township, you’re probably looking at a higher risk.”
MBIE estimates put the cost of certification at $3000-7000.
Simon Thomas, head of building system delivery and assurance, said the MBIE will be taking a measured approach to enforcement if dam owners don’t submit certification by August 13.
It will “continue to provide an educational and advice-based approach. But equally, if over time there are people who are blatantly not complying with the regulations, we’re expecting to take any action as required.”
Thomas said it’s important to remember the regulations play a vital role in protecting people and infrastructure.
“The dam safety regulations haven’t been put in place for the benefit of the regulator and in this case, we do see real benefit to farmers.
“For a number of people these dams serve a really important purpose for the operation of their business – water supply for farms, whatever it might be.
“So like any other major asset, one of the aims of this regulation is to support the ongoing maintenance and longevity of those assets for the benefit of dam owners as much as anybody else.”
This story has been amended to clarify the cost of assessment and that engineers will carry out dam appraisals.
