Teaching us to value our water
Name: Chris Arbuckle
Job: Environmental consultant — freshwater management
QWhat jobs did you do before this one? I was employed by the Ministry for Primary Industries as a senior policy adviser, working on water management regulation, including drafting policies such as the NPSFreshwater Management. Prior to that I was a senior manager at Otago Regional Council and Environment Southland, managing environmental science and information teams. Before that, a research manager at the University of Otago. My first job was in the NZ Forest Service, as an environmental forest worker.
QWhy did you choose this job? My career has always been focused on freshwater. Working for myself has also enabled me to choose work that teaches me new knowledge and to apply what I know directly at the ‘‘farm gate’’. I tend to work on more challenging aspects of environmental management. But primarily, I have been able to do stuff that I know measurably improves water quality in our region and elsewhere.
QHow did you get into it and when? From a young age I had a fascination with water and what lived in it. I started studying freshwater ecology while working at the University of Otago in the early 1990s and I was fortunate to work with two worldrenowned freshwater ecologists, Prof Colin Townsend
and Prof Alex Huryn. Through their mentoring I gained postgraduate qualifications and worked as a research manager for 11 years at the University of Otago department of zoology, contributing to numerous freshwater research projects, studying all facets of the rivers of Otago, elsewhere in New Zealand and overseas.
QWhat qualifications and training did you need? I gained technical qualifications at Otago Polytechnic, then a postgraduate diploma and a master’s in science that examined landuse effects on freshwater ecosystems. For the work I do, it helps to have postgraduate qualifications and a research background, but ahead of any qualification you need a passion and a practical love of environment to be truly useful.
QWhat personal skills do you need? Like all jobs, your best skill is a sense of humour. You need to be able to work with a lot of different people and organisations, decipher bureaucratic waffle, and have a critical mind that always questions what yourself or others are thinking.
QAny physical requirements? It helps to be physically fit for field work. I’m a keen mountain biker and still use my bike for environmental survey work (and to blow off stress).
QWhat do you do on a daily basis? My daily work is a mix of report writing, project management, talking to clients, fieldwork and thinking about the next water issue that raises its head. The best part of my day is being able to mentor people, such as farmers, schoolchildren, and to help encourage people to cherish water.
QWhat is the most challenging aspect? People, people and people. Most of my work is about changing the behaviour of people through practical actions and learning to look after water in the community, working with the rural sector or with individuals. Most people need to take simple steps to stop water pollution or to use water more wisely. Most of these initiatives are not encouraged through blunt instruments like rules. I aspire to help people to value the environment, take ownership and build a realisation that THEY hold solutions in their own hands.
QAre there any particular health and safety issues? Lots, if you are unwise. My work requires me to work alone, in remote places, on water and in water. You need to be selfreliant and skilled at getting yourself around mountains, rivers and lakes safely. You must be watchful, trained and follow procedures, and don’t ignore your gut feeling.
QWhat is the most interesting assignment you’ve had? I have done a lot of interesting things, but one that comes to mind was in the 1990s when I was part of a research team in the US working on the Green River in Colorado. We were using an electric fishing boat to stun, catch and count the fish in the river, including searching for a very rare fish, the Colorado pikeminnow (squawfish), which I happened to catch. One of the creatures that we also ‘‘shocked’’ were beavers in riverside lodges. This did not harm them but did make them let out a loud highpitched squeak, hurtle from the water and give you a very angry stare.
QHow has the job changed since you started? The work I do now is more focused on community and helping people ‘‘collaborate’’ to solve issues about water management. While I do ‘‘freshwater science’’, I am beginning to understand the role of social science in environmental management. That’s more exciting. The challenge to ‘‘manage’’ water is no less interesting than it was 30 years ago when I started.
QWhat’s something people generally don’t know about the job? My job is mostly about ensuring we use reason along with science, sometimes in the face of ignorance. However, in NZ, the term ‘‘evidenced decision making’’ is a common mantra that often leads to no decision at all; as with all areas of technically related work there are a lot of ‘‘experts’’ to question the science and create new ‘‘facts’’ (much like Donald Trump does on a daily basis, perception is reality!). It’s part of my job to ensure we don’t ignore the role emotion has in the decisions we make about our environment. Emotion is the one trait that keeps us human and it supports us to make the truly hard decisions in life.
QWhat are the highs of the job? Doing stuff and sharing what I love. Recently, I was out on Lake Wanaka with Mount Aspiring College pupils who are designing water temperature loggers and seeing that environmental monitoring is challenging. And then at Wanaka Primary School, with pupils learning about the freshwater creatures in our lake. Helping youth to learn about freshwater is very rewarding, but also builds our future decisionmakers.
QWhat are the lows of the job? Witnessing rivers and lakes I love decline; a personal low is watching our major environmental issues go unheeded and the hard decisions we should be making to ensure New Zealand retains some freshwater continually undermined by a threeyearly local council and central government political cycle. A cycle that fails to implement change, loses time, feeds apathy, demotivates reason, continually reinvents science, champions impracticable policies and continually feigns success via the publishing of rules and regulations via the RMA that provide little aspiration or wisdom to advance freshwater management in New Zealand.
QWhy is your job important for society? My job focuses on one of the elements that is essential for life: water. Water is at the heart of humanity. There’s a reason it is called ‘‘Blue Gold’’; we can live without gold, but not water. The catch 22 is it is humanity that is polluting water and changing its natural cycle, and we do this at our own peril. Humanity needs to treat water with more care.
QDo you think you might be replaced by a robot in the future? Some people would hope so, but no, most of what drives my recent work is to identify the emotion of water. That’s too complex for a robot.
QWhat’s the strangest thing you’ve had to do? I had to stomach pump trout and eel tummies so we could sort through their gut contents to figure out what they ate.
QWhat is the salary?
Six figures for senior roles.
QWhere will you be 10 years from now?
Retired (yeah right).