The term ‘recreational water’ describes any body of water (still or flowing) that people come into contact with while undertaking recreational activities (bathing, water sports, domestic shellfish collection etc).
Some regional councils identify water bodies of key recreational importance in their regional plans. For the purposes of applying the guidelines, a pragmatic approach to the designation of contact recreation areas should be adopted on a region by region basis. This would involve consultation between appropriate agencies and would be based upon factors such as beach access and popularity.