‘It’s our birthright. We mustn’t let it slip away’

Swimming in a clean river or lake is one of summer’s pleasures. The sparkle of the water and the laughter of children are things we all rejoice in.

Sadly, over recent decades the health of a large number of our rivers and lakes has got worse.

We all agree that no one should get sick from kayaking, fishing or collecting kai in a New Zealand river.

The last election settled the political issue – everyone now agrees we should have swimmable rivers and healthy ecosystems.

It’s our birthright to go down to our local river in summer and to put our head under without getting sick. We must not let this slip away.

Which is why we are taking action, first to stop the state of our rivers and lakes getting worse, and then restore them all to good health.

Part of that effort to improve freshwater quality is stricter waterquality standards at the places people swim.

But cleaning up our waterways is also sound economics.

Our ‘‘New Zealand brand’’, the success of our tourism, farmers and other exporters – and the premium returns from our exports – are all underpinned by our clean, green reputation.

The vision of our primary sector leaders is to grow our prosperity by selling our milk, meat and horticultural produce to the highestvalue, most discerning consumers in the world.

As trade minister it is clear to me that our international customers are increasingly focused not only on what they buy but also how we produce it – and the impact that has on the environment.

It is worth noting too, of course, that the problem is not confined to our rivers and lakes.

We also see problems at our city and ocean beaches, often from sewage and wastewater spills from urban sources.

The closure of many Auckland beaches after heavy rain before Christmas was a recent reminder of that.

New Zealanders throughout the country are stepping up to the challenge. In Auckland the council has committed to spending more than $1 billion to separate stormwater from sewerage to protect their beaches.

In rural areas, farmers and other community members are planting river banks, fencing waterways and taking more care with some of the practices that can pollute our freshwater.

But the underlying trend is still problematic and more needs to be done.

In September the Government released our Action for Healthy Waterways package, which aims to stop further degradation and to start making immediate improvements, so freshwater quality is significantly better within five years.

As part of this package, we have proposed higher standards for water quality in the places New Zealanders swim in summer.

The E coli levels we have set are with human health outcomes in mind. Regional councils currently monitor nearly 300 recreational freshwater sites, and about half breach the proposed bottom line.

We want regional councils to work with their communities to decide which places should be managed for recreation, identify the sources of contamination, and set the timeframe for improvements.

We have committed $229 million of taxpayers’ money to back the work that needs to be done by landowners and councils to support sustainable land use.

The love New Zealanders have for our rivers and lakes is reflected in the 17,000 submissions we received on the healthy waterways package.

We expect the regulatory changes as part of that package will be completed in the first half of 2020.

I am very optimistic we can turn this around.

Central and local government, farm leaders, environmental NGOs and all of our communities share a common objective. The millions of New Zealanders enjoying our waterways over summer know that, quite simply, this the right thing to do.

David Parker is the Environment and Trade Minister.