Freshwater advocates advance solutions
We are at a crisis. We need hard truths. It requires a cohesive plan between all parties. Marnie Prickett
Farmers and freshwater lobbyists need to work together to make water healthier for everyone says Choose Clean Water spokeswoman, Marnie Prickett.
She said she welcomed farmer leaders who said they were committed to swimmable rivers, but Prickett was concerned there was no time plan.
She said while the commitment moved in the right direction, she wanted to see more than words, and a real commitment to cleaning up waterways.
‘‘The same issues were around at least 20 years ago, and contrary to some farmer claims, the science exists to fix freshwater.
‘‘We are at a crisis. We need hard truths. It requires a cohesive plan between all parties and we will meet with them all to discuss how we can go about restoring waterways.’’
Prickett said farm leaders had talked about the topic for years, but they said it wasn’t their problem.
‘‘They have interpreted people’s concerns as an attack on farmers while we are saying we are all in this together. Let’s hope we can get together.’’
She said farmers were looking at science by lobby groups which had skewed information.
‘‘Look at peer-reviewed literature rather than the work of lobby groups. We need to go forward, our streams and rivers are in such bad shape.’’
Prickett said urban streams and rivers were in bad shape too because of poor infrastructure.
‘‘We have a lot of infrastructure that is old and can’t cope. It is 19th century thinking, and it is hard to change.’’
A recent Ministry for the Environment report showed urban waterways had water quality degraded by stormwater and wastewater. About a quarter of wastewater assets were more than 50 years old.
She said Choose Clean Water, Fish & Game, Tourism New Zealand, the Federated Mountain Clubs as well as Forest and Bird, Greenpeace and the Public Health Association were all part of a group looking at political party policies.
‘‘We’ll look at all political parties and give them a score out of seven depending on their policies. We are only looking at their freshwater pollicy.’’
Prickett said they would look at human health as well as fertiliser levels in the water.
‘‘At Choose Clean Water, we believe you can’t pull the rug out from under farmers.’’
‘‘There needs to be fewer dairy cows. to improve water quality. It is not just us saying that. Legitimate independent associations and people are saying that. The OECD and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment are saying that too.’’
She said the water could be cleaned by having polluters pay which might influence dairy farmers and cities and towns.
‘‘We are planning for the future. All regional councils could report on water quality to the Ministry for the Environment. At the moment District Health Boards do that with the Ministry of Health each quarter already. Regional councils could do that too.’’
‘‘We need rules and regulations then things get done. It is no use saying we can’t have them. We already have them for seat belts and speed.’’
Prickett said farmers were nervous about water quality and were concerned cleaning up freshwater would affect farming.
‘‘But we have see an attitudinal change in the past two years. People used to be surprised and hurt we were talking about dirty waterways.
‘‘Now they aren’t so upset. We have all been talking about water quality for years. How long do we have to talk about it before we take some action?’’