Groups want tougher line on waterways

WELLINGTON: Nine major groups have called upon the Government to set tougher standards to clean up the country’s waterways.

In a joint statement, the groups, including Forest & Bird, Greenpeace, Fish and Game, and the Environmental Defence Society, set out four policies they argued were fundamental to reversing degradation of lakes and rivers.

They urged the Government to hold hydro schemes, forestry, agriculture and stormwater management to account and make sure that future policies are made consistent with its proposed new freshwater reforms.

They also supported the stronger pollution limits in the proposed freshwater policy, which were recommended by scientists and based on achieving ecosystem health.

Specifically, they backed a bottom line for dissolved inorganic nitrogen set at 1mg/L, along with an index to measure the condition and extent of wetlands.

The groups wanted the Government to take a different approach on setting pollution limits — ensuring that operations couldn’t ‘‘lock in’’ their current levels of pollution — and they also opposed making farm plans regulatory instruments.

‘‘Farm plans are a useful tool to support decisionmaking for farmers and land managers.

‘‘However, clear and effective rules must be prioritised as the best way to achieve the Government’s stated goal of measurable improvements within five years,’’ they said.

The other groups were Choose Clean Water, Water New Zealand, The Public Health Association, Recreation Aotearoa and Whitewater NZ.

The Government’s reforms being put to the public, include environmental standards that would effectively put the brakes on further intensification of dairy farms and more stringent rules around fencing and nitrogen loss. — The New Zealand Herald