Questions on river estuary await answers
With spring upon us, I’m looking forward to resuming my evening walks down by the New River Estuary. For some, the estuary brings back fond memories of family gatherings, of summers spent swimming, fishing or collecting shellfish. For others, it provides an opportunity to photograph our region’s beautiful birdlife. It’s hard to imagine such an ecological treasure being under threat.
Yet as far back 2013, The Southland Times was reporting large areas of the New River Estuary were close to environmental collapse. One story titled ‘‘Rush on to Save Estuaries’’ described the loss of vast swathes of seagrass, choked by sediment washed down the rivers, increasing levels of noxious hydrogen sulphide and growing areas of lifeless eutrophication. It said work to address this would restart in February 2013, with scientists and local government hoping to identify the cause of the decline and prevent it getting worse.
It’s hard to get a clear picture of what’s happened since then, with the most recent Estuary Monitoring Reports on Environment Southland’s website being from 2013. While individual monitoring site data is available, it’s less than reassuring, with both of New River’s shellfish monitoring sites (Whalers Bay, Mokomoko Inlet) scoring a red/fail for bacterial risk. Similarly the Ministry for the Environment’s swimming maps suggest the majority of rivers entering the estuary are exceeding E coli bacterial thresholds a high proportion of the time.
A lack of monitoring reports doesn’t necessarily mean nothing’s been happening. Environment Southland has been busy developing the Southland Water and Land Plan and a number of farmer-led catchment groups have also emerged, to share good management practices and help farmers prepare for changes in regulations.
There’s also been a growing awareness of the role urban discharges play, with submissions on the Invercargill Council’s storm water consent and long term plan highlighting concerns about our ageing storm and waste water systems, and the fact that storm water contaminated with raw sewage is being discharged into our estuary.
Ageing storm and waste water systems are not unique to Invercargill, with the Government’s Three Waters Review (drinking, storm and waste water) currently exploring options for improving the way three waters services are delivered by local government.
However, the fate of New River Estuary shouldn’t await the outcome of such reviews, with a number of questions urgently needing to be answered. These include:
• What is the current state of the New River Estuary?
• What are the sources of its decline?
• Who is responsible for the estuary, and if it’s a collective responsibility, are each of us playing our part?
Ultimately the New River Estuary is all of our business, from the start of its catchment, to where it enters the sea, and all of us have a role to play in its protection.
Over the next few months, I’ll be working with others in the community to find the answers to these important questions.
Liz Craig is a Labour List MP based in Invercargill 1. In what city would you stroll in an elevated park called the High Line?
2. What Broadway musical by Irving Berlin was loosely based on the life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley?
3. Percy Montgomery played more than 100 rugby test matches for what country?
4. The TV series The Sopranos was set in what state?
5. Who murdered King Duncan of Scotland in 1040 and took his place on the throne?
6. Plein-air is a style of what?
7. What river originates in the Swiss Alps and flows into the Mediterranean near Marseille, France?
8. The Romany or Roma people are colloquially known by what name?
9. What type of festival has been held at Newport, Rhode Island, every year since 1954?
10. In what city would you visit the Tairawhiti Museum?