Last week, Environment Minister Amy Adams and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy announced they would be seeking feedback on a discussion document and a draft amended National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.
Among the proposals up for discussion are ''bottom lines'' for ecosystem and human health which will apply across the country, with restricted grounds for exceptions.
Councils would still have to maintain or improve water quality but national bottom lines would provide a safety net, Ms Adams said.
More than 60 freshwater scientists from public, private and academic sectors across New Zealand have come up with the proposed numeric values for the national bottom lines.
''We expect people to debate these bottom lines - that's the nature of science,'' Mr Guy saidFederated Farmers environment spokesman Ian Mackenzie welcomed the proposals.
''What is being proposed directly comes out of the recommendations of the Land and Water Forum and represents a significant change in how communities will plan for water into the future,'' Mr Mackenzie said.
It was the outcome of a collaborative process and would be a framework for measuring water quantity and quality.
It also gave communities the power to set their own ''aspirations for water''.
Urban and rural communities alike would face some tough decisions, he said.
Irrigation New Zealand chief executive Andrew Curtis said it was a sensible and well-informed first statement and he looked forward to further developments.
Communities could now come together to make informed decisions about the values placed on local waterways.
''The framework delivers a more consistent approach to the setting of freshwater objectives and limits throughout New Zealand.''
However, it would be difficult to set national bottom lines for many attributes because they were diverse and complex across the landscape and water bodies, Mr Curtis said.
DairyNZ Policy and advocacy general manager Kimberly Crewther said the proposed objectives were a step forward because they would provide a scientific and nationally consistent basis for assessing water quality.
Environmental Defence Society (EDS) chairman Gary Taylor said it was a ''critically important keystone'' to the freshwater reform process. EDS initiated the Land and Water Forum process in 2008 but underestimated the time it would take to get it to this stage, he said.
The framework appeared consistent with the recommendations of the Land and Water Forum, which was welcome, but ''the actual standards and bottom-lines proposed are incomplete and those that are there will need strengthening''. Fish and Game NZ resource management co-ordinator Neil Deans is cautiously positive, although some details appeared to depart from the Land and Water Forum recommendations.
''In particular, the current absence of any standards for key life indicators - such as for aquatic insects - is a concern which has been repeatedly raised.
''We would welcome their inclusion.''
It was also concerned ''the exceptions regime'' provided a ''get out of jail free'' card to regional councils allowing them to ignore national objectives, Mr Deans said.
The Government is running a series of workshops about its proposals until December and submissions close in February.