NZ Hydro Parcels (Oct 11)

Subset of parcels with a featurecode of "hydro". These parcels are deemed to be crown owned without appellation or title.

They are where the water used to be often in the case of rivers. Not all water is surveyed and classified water, so do not expect this layer to match with the topographic layers. Some lakes still in Maori ownership (such as Tarawera) have never been surveyed, so there is no lake edge in the cadastral parcels, they have a normal Maori appellation.

The sea hydro parcels define the notional 12 nautical mile limit for legal purposes, regional council boundaries etc.

Even where a parcel is drawn as 'hydro" the adjacent titles may claim ownership to the centreline of small streams under "ad filium medium" clauses. This contradicts other legislation providing for access up all navigable waterways over 3 metres in width (sometime in a flood)

The main use of this layer is as a "sparse polygon" layer to colour a map in conjunction with parcelbdy lines.

Source LINZ BDE Nov 2008