the state of our environment | February 2012

The current weather makes it hard to believe, but that’s summer over - a very dry, warm summer it was too on the back of a dry spring. February was yet another month of below normal rainfall, which makes six drier than usual months in a row. Most, if not all, of February’s rain fell within the first 5 days and there are some sites in the region that haven’t seen any rain since then or only a trace. Rivers flows are low across the whole region, as are soil moisture levels, and groundwater levels are being hit too, with a number of wells in the Heretaunga and Ruataniwha Plains measuring their lowest-ever levels – all signaling that we’re in drought conditions. February temperatures were about right for the last month of summer and water quality was good for doing some final splashing about at our bathing beaches and at those lakes and rivers still deep enough to dip your toes in.

20130305_HBRC_SOE_February2013.pdf

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>