River clean up gets unprecedented funding
The Waikato River Authority has increased funding for the restoration and wellbeing of the Waikato and Waipa river catchments this year.
It was also the first time the authority had increased its total funding after receiving applications.
Authority chief executive, Bob Penter, said a board decision to increase the funding allocation level from $6 million to $7.3m speaks volumes for the quality and number of projects.
‘‘The authority had set aside $6m for the current funding round.’’
However, the quality of applications deserving of funding this year had greatly exceeded that amount.
‘‘The board decided that this year it could lift the available funding as result of a lower funding amount awarded last year,’’ he said.
A total of 47 projects would receive $7.3m in the seventh funding round.
There were several large-scale projects that received funding this year.
That included a multi-agency project led by the Department of Conservation to protect and restore the wetlands around Lake Whangape - which received $960,000, and a project to improve water quality, biodiversity and fisheries along 16km of the Puniu River being led by Puniu RiverCare – a marae based social enterprise in the Waipa catchment, which received $777,000.
Both projects received funding from the Ministry for the Environment Freshwater Improvement Fund, collectively bringing more than $1.8m into river and wetland restoration in the Waikato catchment.
Another to receive funding was the restoration of the upper Kukutaruhe Stream and gully in the Hamilton suburb of Fairfield. The gully system would be one of the largest areas of restored biodiversity within city boundaries.
The project site was closely connected to Fairfield College, the Donny Park Reserve and Aratiatia Marae making it strongly linked to environmental education of students and the community.
Penter said increasing public awareness around freshwater quality issues was being matched in the Waikato and Waipa catchments by a strong commitment to bring about change and improvement.