Farmers want safer rivers too

A report in the New Zealand Herald, highlighting the state of New Zealand’s inland waterways, has Federated Farmers asking for greater action on the sources of bacterial contamination.

“Fortuitously, I am surrounded by more experts on water than you can point a stick at.  They suggest speaking to the Ministry of Health or to NIWA, to fully understand what is behind these grades,” says Ian Mackenzie, Federated Farmers water spokesperson, who is attending the Land & Water Forum in Wellington.

“From what I understand the grades are used as a risk assessment tool.  If you swim at a ‘very good’ spot you have only a one percent chance of coming down with something.  Swim at a ‘very poor’ site and your risks increase to five percent.

“As you can see the margins between very good and very poor are not huge.

“E-Coli is however low hanging fruit.  If you want to stop what will potentially make people ill, bacterial contamination is the place to start.

“Being a representative farmers’ organisation, we know our members cannot duck or hide that a number of these sites do fall in rural areas.  Federated Farmers is aware of this and is why we are working across industry and with our own members to lift agriculture’s game.

“I know farmers ‘get it’ and this is why it is wrong to blame farming for everything. Doing that masks the reality there are very poor sites around settlements and near camp sites.  Even water in some of our major centres of population is not good and this must be of concern.

“It is why Members of Parliament, like Eugenie Sage, need to comment intelligently or not at all.   Given what she is quoted as saying in the Herald, Ms Sage well knows the worst sites in Canterbury are on the Avon and Heathcote Rivers in Christchurch.

“Then there are the surprises.  I recall the Manawatu River being labelled by the Dominion Post several years ago as among the worst in the western world.  Yet Ministry for the Environment (MfE) monitoring has found that river generally safe for swimming.

“Given what was written in the recent Horizons One Plan decision, this MfE data on the Manawatu may help to provide some wider reassurance.

“This is why the MfE’s data is so useful.  It allows communities to understand where the issues are so we can all work together to fix them.

“Lake Rotorua shows it is possible.  The water quality there has not only improved beyond a target set for it, but four swimming sites were graded fair, good or very good.  Sadly, one was poor but at least we know about it and I am certain that community will work to solve it.

“This is why farmers are on the lookout for solutions instead of problems. We know we have to play our full part but then again, so do we all,” Mr Mackenzie concluded.

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