Time to get our lakes, rivers, clean once more: 2040 Oh to swim in our rivers again
Hokonui Runanga elder Rewi Anglem wants his grandchildren to inherit the Mataura River as he did when he was young, a wadeable, swimmable, even drinkable river.
Looking down on the river from the Mataura Bridge, its state was far from swimmable - he wouldn’t let his grandchildren near it, he said.
Yesterday, the Government announced a new target to have 90 per cent of New Zealand’s lakes and rivers reach swimmable water quality standards by 2040.
Environment Minister Nick Smith said the target will be based on meeting the water quality standard at least 80 per cent of the time in line with European and United States definition.
Currently, 72 per cent by length meet that definition and the target is to increase that to 90 per cent by 2040.
In a key move, the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management will be changed to replace ‘‘wadeable’’ with ‘‘swimmable’’.
In Southland, 68 per cent of rivers, about 3135 kilometres in length, have excellent, good or fair water quality for swimming.
About 96 per cent of our lakes have excellent, good or fair water quality for swimming.
The Ministry for the Environment website showed the Mataura River from around Gore south to Toetoes estuary as poor quality for swimming.
Anglem said anything better than a wadeable standard would be a step forward for the Mataura River.
The rivers throughout Southland were all in poor condition, he said.
‘‘I’d like to see my grandchildren swim in the same rivers.’’
Environment Southland chairman Nicol Horrell, who was at the announcement, said the council would need to look through fine print, but overall it was reasonably positive.
The goal of having 90 per cent of rivers swimmable by 2040 was an ‘‘aspirational goal’’, Horrell said.
For Southland to meet the standards, it would require a joint effort from the community, he said.
There would be a chance to make submissions shortly on any issues of concern but the council would be expected to have a plan in place to achieve by March next year, Horrell said.
‘‘We know there are other benefits of improving water quality.’’
The target covers the length of rivers more than 0.4m deep and the perimeters of lakes greater than 1.5km, which total 54,000km.
Some regional targets will need to be greater than the 90 per cent and others, where it is more difficult to achieve, will be less, Smith said.
Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said to ensure the changes were practical for farmers exclusions would be staged, starting this year through to 2030,
The Mataura River catchment is Southland’s second largest. Extending from the southern tip of Lake Wakatipu to the Toetoes Estuary, east of Invercargill.
The Waikaia River is the main tributary, contributing half the flow of the catchment above its confluence with the Mataura, east of Riversdale. The river is 190km long. In 2006, the Mataura River mataitai reserve was created, New Zealand’s first freshwater reserve. It protects a 10km stretch of the Mataura River, starting upstream of the Mataura tannery, through the town to 6.5km downstream of the bridge. ‘‘depending on the stock type and land slope’’.
There were long-term benefits for the primary industries and wider economy.
The ‘‘Our Land and Water’’ National Science Challenge was investing $96.9m into this over 10 years.
In comparison, 81 per cent of rivers, about 4640km in length, in the Otago region, had excellent, good or fair water quality for swimming, and 96 per cent of lakes were swimmable.