Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Pelorus River water quality push
A Rai Valley farmer is urging other landowners to join a water survey programme to help restore the Te Hoiere/Pelorus river catchment.
New $1 million funding from the Ministry for the Environment, along with $100,000 from the Marlborough District Council is aimed at ‘‘quick wins’’ to improve water quality in the river.
The latest funding will be used for a three-month survey of all streams and waterways in the catchment, noting features such as bank erosion, fencing, riparian buffers, critical source areas, in-stream conditions, weeds and fish barriers.
Rai Valley farmer Hamish Morrison said the testing was an opportunity to understand what impact, if any, his family’s farm was having on water quality.
He encouraged other landowners and managers in qualifying catchments to be part of the programme by allowing access for monitoring.
‘‘With new freshwater rules, the more information you have the better. If there’s a nitrogen problem, we’ll look at fertiliser application. A phosphorus problem, we’ll look at effluent irrigation and storage,’’ Morrison said.
The work is part of the wider Te Hoiere/Pelorus restoration project, a community collaboration led by Nga¯ti Kuia, the
Marlborough District Council and Department of Conservation.
Te Hoiere/Pelorus River is the largest river flowing into the Marlborough Sounds. Monitoring has shown its health has deteriorated from sedimentation, nitrogen runoff and E. coli.
The catchment is a significant area for Nga¯ ti Kuia, home to 21 species that can’t be found elsewhere, a popular recreation area for camping, swimming and kayaking, and an economic engine for local primary industries.
The new funding joins earlier investments from the Ministry for the Environment to begin extensive water quality testing and create a catchment enhancement plan.
Both projects are under way with over 450 water samples collected for analysis since July 2020, and results are expected in late 2021.
Marlborough mayor John Leggett said the timing for the new funding was welcomed, as the council approach was to tackle problems before the state of the catchment was beyond repair.
‘‘This scale of restoration is rarely seen in New Zealand and only achievable by working together,’’ he said. ‘‘The community has started forming subcatchment groups and talking about priorities for the restoration and future management of their catchments. This new investment by the Crown will enable these community groups and the council to build on existing work and better understand the work ahead.’’
Council environmental science and monitoring manager Alan Johnson said early surveying of the catchment had shown promise for quick wins.
‘‘We know that water quality is impacted in some areas mainly because of high E. coli and nitrogen concentrations. While many in the farming community are making great efforts to protect waterways, we now have funding available to build on this work and help landowners with further solutions, such as fencing,’’ Mr Johnson said.
If landowners chose to participate in the voluntary surveying, paid for by the council and Crown, the information would be provided back to the landowner to help them get a head start on their freshwater farm plans, a future obligation under the Crown’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.