The Next Steps for Fresh Water paper followed the release in November of the fourth report of the Land and Water Forum.
IrrigationNZ was hoping for more immediate action from central government, particularly around water infrastructure and transfer, chief executive Andrew Curtis said.
In the third and fourth reports, the benefits of water infrastructure and transfer were clearly recognised and the immediate need was backed up by recent South Island droughts.
Fresh water needed to be protected and to be properly and carefully managed to bolster the country's agriculture-led economy.
"If Government is truly serious about sustainably managing our water resource, then alongside the implementation of environmental limits, changes to the water transfer system that allow for more dynamic use of the allocable volume are key.
"Also, for the development of modern multipurpose infrastructure, the initial regional scoping stage needs to be viewed as a public good - allowing communities to objectively work through their options,'' Mr Curtis said.
Various economic growth studies were being undertaken in the regions. All identified the potential of water, but a lack of resourcing resulted in the subsequent regional scoping stage being stalled or underdone.
"If we're serious about economic development in the provinces, this scoping phase needs greater resourcing and in a timely manner. Once a potential project is identified, this is when the public-private approach should kick in,'' he said.
There were a "number of positives'' in the document, including stock exclusion regulations which were "long overdue'', he said.
Federated Farmers president William Rolleston said the organisation was pleased the discussion paper recognised both rural and urban water users had a role to play, but it went beyond the recommendations in the Land and Water Forum in terms of stock exclusion, such as the broader definition of what constituted a waterway.
While outlining recommendations in terms of iwi rights and interests, it left a lot of unanswered questions about what that would actually mean for water users.
That was something everyone needed to understand, not just farmers, Dr Rolleston said.
Between 400 and 500 people were expected to attend IrrigationNZ's biennial conference in Oamaru in April.
Registrations were up on numbers booked for the last conference in Hawkes Bay two years ago and Mr Curtis believed a tougher rural outlook was behind the trend.
Keynote speakers included author Julian Cribb, scientist Dr Christopher Neale, irrigation researcher Stuart Styles and agricultural engineer Robert Milla.
Workshop sessions would be held on topics as diverse as developing irrigation on hills, the case or not for piping of irrigation schemes, making sense of Overseer, and attracting and retaining staff.
