Plans should float on realism
With the concerns around how the Healthy Rivers Plan Change will affect rural communities in the Waikato and Waipa River catchments it is timely to highlight there will also be a plan change developed for the Waihou and Piako River catchments in the future.
This will be a concern for all of our rural communities in the catchments as the modelling shows financial and social costs from the Waikato and Waipa River Plan Change 1, while yet to be finalised, appear to be negative.
There could be loss of businesses, jobs and additional costs loaded onto already stressed ratepayers.
While we all want improved river water quality, I question whether it is worth all these costs, social and otherwise, to improve what is already good water quality, with data showing there has been an improving trend in the last couple of decades.
Sea-Change has been examining ways to improve the Hauraki Gulf’s environmental health.
Their research has shown that sediment is the number one contaminant, which is hardly surprising given the Kaimai Ranges comprises a large part of the catchment.
People’s expectations that all rivers should look crystal clear and sky blue are unrealistic; when a river system runs through bush and peat it will look discoloured when it enters the ocean.
The Waikato and Waipa communities want their rivers to be swimmable.
For the Waihou and Piako catchments there will need to be a process that identifies what our community values for our rivers are, as well as recognising their impact on the Hauraki Gulf.
What has been detrimental to the Gulf’s health has been the decimation of the native mussel beds around the Firth of Thames that used to naturally filter sediment and nutrients before they entered the ocean.
It is a combination of these values and good science that needs to be the basis of developing any policy and rules for the Waihou and Piako catchments, whether by a Collaborative Stakeholder Group (CSG) or any other process.
One of my greatest fears is that the process will be dominated by Hauraki Gulf outcomes and therefore dominated by the Auckland Council. That council has an urban-centric view of the Gulf that may be at odds with farmers and communities on the Hauraki Plains and their environs.
Moves on any Waihou and Piako plan change may be some years off yet but we need to keep a watch on this important topic.
* Andrew McGiven is the VicePresident Federated Farmers Waikato Province.
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Email julie.kaio@fairfaxmedia.co.nz.