The new rules for rural run-off are being appealed to the Environment Court but the council is continuing to move towards implementation.
Under Water Plan 6A (water quality), landowners will be required to meet higher standards in the quality of their run-off during the next few years.
Council chief executive Peter Bodeker said the team incorporated staff members from across council departments to ensure staff were able to be consistent in delivering information to landowners.
''This has the potential to have a wide impact on a lot of ratepayers.''
While compliance action would not start for at least five years, it was important landowners understood the changes, he said.
''They need to get into the mindset with that in mind sooner rather than later.''
While the appeal process meant there could be some changes to the plan, landowners needed to know the impact as soon as possible, he said.
It was important the impact of the changes on farm types and geographic areas was fully understood and the council would be working closely with industry organisations as well.
For some, such as sheep and beef farmers in heavier soils, the impact might be small and the main issue sedimentation, but for dairy farmers on lighter soils, nutrients were the problem.
''We need to tailor the message to what is likely to be the biggest challenge for them to comply with.''
Early meetings of the group had established aspects of the 6A changes needed to be considered alongside the council's water allocation 1C changes.
So the project group had been expanded to cover all water plan changes.
It would cover issues such as where and how farmers were to measure run-off, storage, different approaches for different land uses, data management, and on-farm evaluation.
As part of the implementation, 11 information sessions were to have been held around the region this week but had been cancelled due to last week's storm, he said.
''We'll reschedule those for late spring, early summer.''
The group would also link with other sectors researching environmental impacts.
