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New Hauraki Gulf pollution alarming
New Hauraki Gulf pollution alarming
At the
Environmental Defence Society’s conference Navigating Our
Future: addressing risk and building resilience, a NIWA
Scientist this morning revealed some serious new problems
affecting the Firth of Thames in the Hauraki Gulf.
Dr John Zeldis, Principal Scientist, Marine Ecology, NIWA described how recent work has identified a substantial increase in dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) since 2005.
“This indicates that there has been a very recent deterioration in the state of the Firth of Thames,” said EDS Chairman Gary Taylor.
“DIN is pollutant that leads to eutrophication of the waters of the inner gulf. We heard that most of that load coming from the land is agricultural in origin.
“We know that the inner Gulf is under stress from historical land use patterns but this very recent indication of further deterioration is very disturbing.
“There is a clear need to improve the national framework for estuarine management but the Waikato Regional Council does have existing responsibilities under the Resource Management Act
“The Council has responsibility to manage freshwater runoff to prevent pollution. We understand that improving things is a big challenge but here we have evidence of a substantial deterioration of very recent orgin.
“The Regional Council should be taking urgent action to bring this pollution load under control,” Mr Taylor concluded.
ends
Environmental Defence Society
EDS speaks for the environment. It has influence.
Since 1971, EDS has been driving environmental protection in Aotearoa New Zealand
through law and policy change. That's why it's one of this country's most influential non-
profit organisations when it comes to achieving better environmental outcomes.
EDS has expertise in key disciplines including law, planning, landscape and science. It
operates as a policy think-tank, a litigation advocate, and a collaborator – bringing together
the private and public sectors for constructive engagement.
EDS runs conferences and seminars on topical issues, including an annual Environmental
Summit and the Climate Change and Business Conference.
EDS is a registered charity and donations to it are tax-deductible.
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