Press Release

River Clean-Up Needs Reality Check

The recent unveiling of the Healthy River/Wai Ora: He Rautaki Report while containing a laudable goal has failed to set timely actions to clean up the Waikato and Waipa Rivers, says Barry Quayle a candidate for Waikato Regional Council.

As guardians of water quality the Waikato Regional Council needs to have objectives which respond within a realistic timeframe if we want healthy Waikato and Waipa rivers, says Quayle.

“It takes 20 years or more for current nitrates to permeate through the aquifers to rivers. What is done now on the land has a long lead in/lag effect on the quality of the water in our rivers, but the time frames in the report allow for continued leaching of nitrates and phosphorus for decades through the aquifers”

Quayle wants greater immediacy than what has been published in the reports to achieve safe to swim and food gathering standards. He says a soft response for action seems to tick a box that something is being done.

“If anything, a 10 to 50-year objective gives all the wrong signals. It doesn’t serve as a catalyst for any urgent action” he said.

Quayle says the Young Farmers Club leaders and members he spoke to during his tenure as the Fieldays General Manager had a real concern and desire for sustainable farming to ensure the land and waterways were in a good state for the future.

“As these young farmers are our region’s future agricultural producers they should be directly invited and engaged to advocate for 3, 5 and 10-year action plans which can be promoted and facilitated within the rural sector and farmers. Couple this with the various community organisations and active groups along with the Regional Council, then the imperative of active time bound objectives can be set and pursued with vigour”.

Quayle says 90% of farmers today have a solid understanding of sustainable farming practices and they value their license to operate in the community – massive amounts of time and money have gone into positive actions already, including riparian planting, increased fencing of waterways and best practice management of fertilizer application.

“Just as the student army polarized and galvanised people to organise action in Christchurch after the earthquakes we need to create the same focus around the rivers clean up and quality objectives. Lets look to our future farmers and back them up with action that doesn’t start in the next decade”.

Ends

Home Page | Regional | Previous Story | Next Story

Copyright (c) Scoop Media