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Glossary

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Project Watershed The Waikato River Catchment Services Project.
Greater Waikato Catchment Includes the Waikato, and Waipa River systems and their tributaries.
Administration The overhead to the Project including the cost of collecting the rates and administering the budget through Council processes. This is estimated to be 10 percent of project costs.
Alleviator Landowner or resource user whose property characteristics or effects of resource use (including land use) reduce the need for specific works and services.
Asset Management Plans Documents that describe how assets within a scheme will be managed, maintained and funded.
Beneficiary Landowner or resource user that receives benefit, either directly or indirectly, from specific works and services undertaken by EW.
Bio-diversity Means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes the diversity within species, between species, and of the ecosystems in which they live.
Catchment The area of land that drains into a stream or river. Often referred to as the 'watershed'.
Catchment Differential A component of the rate levied on properties located within greater Waikato catchment.
Channels Natural streams and rivers or constructed drains which convey water.
Civil Emergency A situation that causes or may cause loss of life or injury or distress or in any way endanger the public - that must be dealt with by emergency services.
Conservation fencing Fencing erected to achieve stock control or erosion control aimed at protecting water quality.
Contributor Landowner or resource user whose property characteristics or effects of resource use (including land use) contribute to the need for EW to carry out specific works and services.
Contributor Differential A component of the rate levied on landowners or resource users who are deemed to be Contributors.
Co-ordinated River Management A term used in draft versions of the Funding Policy document and some supporting documents. It has been renamed ‘routine river management’. Routine river management is defined in this glossary.
Comprehensive River Improvement A term used in draft versions of the Funding Policy document and some supporting documents. It has been renamed ‘river improvement’. River improvement is defined in this glossary.
Costs (Direct) Consist of actual works costs i.e. materials (fencing, plants) and labour to undertake that work.
Costs (Indirect) Costs of those activities (usually Environment Waikato staff time) associated with support to landowners for planning, oversight and supervision of works programmes.
Culverts A pipe designed to convey water beneath a road, stopbank or other feature.
Cumecs A measure of the volume of flow of water - cubic metres per second.
Digital Cadastral Database (DCDB) Electronic drawings of property boundaries of land parcels. This is maintained by LINZ (Land Information New Zealand) and sold to the Council by Terralink (another State Owned Enterprixe responsible for marketing LINZ information).
Depreciation A measure of the consumption of economic benefits embodied in an asset whether arising from use, the passing of time or obsolescence.
Detention Dams A dam designed to store floodwater until the flood has passed.
Differential Rating A rating system whereby different levels of rating are applied to different areas of land based on the degree of benefit received from services.
Drainage Involves the management and maintenance of artificial and modified watercourses so as to reduce surface flooding and control the level of the water table. Such management will provide production benefits to surrounding land.
Drainage areas A specific area of land covered by a community drainage scheme and subject to a special rate.
Easement Legal right of access.
Event A flood or other natural event that has the potential to cause damage or harm.
Erosion control Measures to reduce soil erosion including structures, planting, and stock and farm management practice.
Faecal coliforms Types of bacteria from animal waste found in water.
Fencing Act The legislation that defines responsibilities in regard to fencing of legal boundaries etc.
Floodgates A structure to control the flow of floodwater.
Flood Protection Measures to reduce both the incidence and duration of flooding through the construction of stop banks and associated structures, including flood gates and pumping stations. Such measures are designed to protect and enhance the productive potential of land and to minimise the impacts on people and property.
Funding Policy The method and policy by which certain things will be funded.
Groynes A structure in a river designed to protect against bank erosion and river training works designed to narrow the main channel to create higher velocity to keep the channel self cleaning of sand.
Hydrology Measurement of precipitation originating as monthly rainfall and river flows as they flow through a particular catchment.
Land Improvement Agreement An agreement with landowners undertaking soil conservation works. EW imposes certain obligations on the landowners in return for assistance.
Land parcel An area of land for which there is a separate legal title.
Liaison Subcommittees Subcommittees comprising local representative including property owners, district councillors, major stakeholders, Department of Conservation etc who provide community input on schemes.
Land Use Capability Assessment A mapping system used in New Zealand which identifies the productive capability of land, and its erosion potential.
Main Channel Works A variety of works designed to keep the channel of the Waikato River clear of obstructions, at a regular width and stable. Works may include willow planting, fencing, placing groynes in the channel and removing obstructions from the channel.
Maintenance Repairs to conservation fencing and structures, management of plantings, repairs to stopbanks and pump stations in order to ensure the effectiveness of these protection assets.
Management Zone An area based upon; catchments and sub-catchments, existing ‘schemes’ and communities of interest. (Lake Taupo, Upper Waikato, Middle Waikato, Waipa and Lower Waikato).
Pump Stations A structure designed to pump floodwater from behind stopbanks.
QEII Covenant An agreement between a property owner and QEII Trust over the reservation of a block of land. This is formalised by way of a covenant on title.
Regional Rate The rate applied to all ratepayers in the Region to fund the general activities of councils.
Riparian Zone That zone in the immediate vicinity of a river or stream including the riverbanks.
Riparian Management Management of a strip of land, usually of varying width, adjacent to a waterway and which contributes, or may contribute, to the maintenance and enhancement of the natural functioning, quality and character of the waterway and its margin.
River Management Involves works and services in relation to rivers to achieve stability, management of flows and integration of a range of activities. There are two major categories of river management - routine river maintenance and river improvement. These are defined below.
Routine river maintenance A type of river management involving provision for an annual and ongoing programme of low level river management activity including annual river inspections, removal of obstructions, vegetative management and minor erosion control works. Much of the work will be undertaken by property owners.
River Improvement A type of river management providing for more substantial capital works (usually over a timeframe of 2 - 5 years) including willow clearing over a significant length of channel, channel enlargements or major erosion control structures
Scheme A specific area of works or services related to flood protection and soil conservation. Established from 1960s onwards. Including: Lower Waikato Waipa Control Scheme, Karapiro/Arapuni Catchment Control Scheme, Waitomo CCS, Paeroa range CCS, Reporoa CCS and Lake Taupo CCS.
Soil Conservation The management of land to minimise soil erosion to maintain soil and water resources, and provide sustainable benefits in the long term
Soil type A description of a particular soil found in a particular locality.
Stabilisation Measures to reduce or control instability of land or to control natural systems such as rivers.
Static Unique
Feature Identifier (SUFI)		 A unique identity code for a land parcel in the DCDB (Digital Cadastral Database).
Suspended Solids Organic soil and other mineral material carried by water in suspension.
Tributaries A smaller of two joined streams or rivers.
Turbidity Cloudiness of water dependent on the amount of suspended solids.
Utilities Services such as roads, electricity, gas and telecommunications.
Valuation Database A database of property information (value, area, owner) used for rating purposes. Originally managed by Valuation New Zealand. Since 1 June 1999 the responsibility for this information has been devolved to the territorial local authorities. A valuation property is not always the same as a DCDB property. Adjacent pieces of land with the same owner will be bundled together for the valuation records. Property details are identified by a valuation identifier.
Valuation Identifier There is not a one-to-one match with SUFIs. The valuation database also includes land use codes. These advise what the valuer thought the land might be useful for, or is zoned for, when the property record was first created. It does not indicate what the land is actually used for.
Waterway A river or stream generally more than one metre wide including perennially flowing streams and gullies as well as water channels that may only carry water from time to time. For the purposes of Project Watershed all rivers and streams identified initially were observable on 1:50000 topographical maps. No minimum size criteria was set for inclusion in the Project.
Weirs A structure placed in a river to control water levels - like a small dam.
Works and Services Rate A separate rate applied to a specific area for a specific purpose, as distinct from the general rate.
Zone Differential A component of the rate levied on properties located within a particular management zone.
1-10, 1-20, 1-100 A measure of the likelihood of an event occurring, expressed as the average recurrence interval between events.