Even if it was possible to relax standards, Horizons had no appetite for that. "We will not give up any ground that we've made."
Water quality had improved 15 per cent, according to the council's 2013 State of the Environment report, Mr Gordon said. "The trend is promising for the Horizons area, and we are delighted with it."
As the One Plan was being prepared there were dire predictions of farmers being driven out of business. Mr Gordon said that was scaremongering.
Then the Environment Court made it clear those water quality rules were aspirations and the council had discretion on how and when it hit the targets. Since then some farmers and farming organisations had commented on the "practical and sensible" way the council was handling enforcement.
National policy sets a bottom line for algae growth in freshwater. It does not set limits for nitrogen and phosphorous, leaving the regions to work that out.
Horizons' water rules do set limits for nitrogen and phosphorous, and the limits vary from river to river within the region. The council also seeks to limit algae growth and monitors invertebrates and the health of native fish numbers.
Horizons has had the leading and largest monitoring programme in the country for about five years, its freshwater and science manager Dr Jon Roygard said. It concentrated its monitoring on places where water quality was known to be low.
National policy has made it mandatory to keep water quality suitable for wading and boating, by limiting nitrate toxicity and bacteria numbers. It does not seek to keep water quality suitable for swimming and Maori and the Green Party have criticised that.
There are places in the Horizons region where water quality does not meet the national bottom lines - Lake Horowhenua and parts of the Manawatu River, for example. Mr Gordon said the council had been working intensively on both of those for some time.
The new standards would affect farmers wanting to intensify their land use - and especially dairy farmers and growers using irrigation in the region's more sensitive "priority catchments". They were now expected to have nutrient management plans.
Horizons is in talks with Fonterra and DairyNZ, which also require nutrient management plans, to make sure the same plan will be suitable for all. Mr Gordon expected that to be organised by the end of the year.
Market gardeners and people growing irrigated crops were also expected to present nutrient management plans. The Overseer computer programme that calculates nutrient loss is not yet reliable for those land uses, and growers were expected not to go overboard with their nitrogen use in the meantime.
The council was taking an education rather than a "big stick" approach to enforcement at present.
National freshwater policy leaves the way open for communities to lobby for higher water quality in their area. Mr Gordon said that had already been done by Foxton Beach people dismayed about quality in the Manawatu River. The council would listen if other communities had similar concerns, but was not planning to consult each individually.