However, Cr Michael Laws has warned against the council getting ahead of national legislation he said could change after the October election.
The majority of councillors accepted the staff recommendation for three types of protection zones at this week’s council meeting.
Consequently, the requirement for resource consents for discharges to land and water, activities that disturb river or lake beds and any stock access within the proposed "drinking water intake protection zones" will be part of the draft land and water plan taken to the public.
Under the new provisions the area within a 20m radius from the location of a bore would be protected when drinking water was taken from an aquifer.
The protection zone would extend 5m into land from the river’s edge, 1000m upstream and 100m downstream from any surface water or directly connected groundwater take.
For a drinking water supply from a lake, the protection zone would extend in a 500m radius of any surface water or directly connected groundwater take in the lake
Freshwater and land team leader Tom De Pelsemaeker said the council already had an obligation to protect water supplies under national legislation.
That legislation put responsibility on regional councils, not to protect the water that came out of the tap, but to the water that was taken to provide for that supply, Mr De Pelsemaeker said.
There were "likely amendments" to that legislation that provided for a range of buffer zones, expected to be announced soon.
Staff were proposing, as a first step, to provide a minimum level of protection.
What staff had recommended were standards "uplifted from the proposed amendments".
The one difference was the 20m radius protection zone for bores; the national guidelines said 5m.
However, present rules at the council already controlled "a lot of activities" within a 20m radius from bores.
Cr Laws said if National and Act New Zealand were to form a government after the October election, the legislation that council staff were proactively trying to address could be changed.
"We all know that Havelock North has been used as a bit of a Trojan horse for other agendas here — and the truth of the matter is there is massive uncertainty in Wellington.
"I am very concerned that our staff have come up with a set of policies that are running ahead of what the final policy might look like."
Cr Kevin Malcolm said it "must be exceptionally tough" for staff having to set a position when the government was "dilly-dallying around" and not coming up with succinct policy the staff could act on.
He said he was concerned staff had again not produced a "practical test" of the policies it recommended.
"They may be legally complying, but what do they do, A to the water quality and B are they going to be effective?" he asked.
However, Cr Gary Kelliher, who warned against unforeseen on-the-ground impacts, was the other councillor to vote against the proposal.
Policy and science general manager Anita Dawe said council staff were recommending the council put in place provisions to achieve "the second priority" of Te Mana o te Wai, the health needs of people.
