Waikato Regional Council

WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council scientists believe breaches of national standards for air quality at a busy northern Hamilton intersection may be linked to roadworks in the area.

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WAIKATO — Full year figures have confirmed that Waikato farmers made significant environmental gains last season as they, the agriculture industry and the regional council increased the focus on complying with dairy effluent management rules.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council is concerned about the environmental impacts of the government’s proposed National Environmental Standards (NES) for plantation forestry for sensitive areas like the Coromandel Peninsula.

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WAIKATO — The Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Group emergency coordinating centre in Hamilton says a marine tsunami threat has been confirmed after the earthquake this morning in the Tonga-Kermadec trench to the north-east of New Zealand.

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WAIKATO — A website launched 12 years ago to divert thousands of tonnes of waste from landfill has been revamped to make the free exchange of reusable items easier.

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WAIKATO — The changing climate and how it can affect you will be the subject of a free public seminar hosted by Waikato Regional Council and featuring weather expert Jim Salinger, Lincoln University professor Caroline Saunders and business commentator Rod Oram.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council has formally lodged a new resource consent application to undertake mangrove removal as a part of wider catchment work at Whangamata.

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WAIKATO — Waikato residents can have their say on public transport services, with the Waikato Regional Council this week adopting its draft 10-year public transport plan for consultation.

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HAMILTON — Hamilton’s abundant winter flower supplies are expected to draw bellbirds and tui to the city and Waikato Regional Council is encouraging members of the public to report any sightings.

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WAIKATO — A road safety campaign has been launched in the Waikato to cut the number of fatal crashes involving business fleet vehicles.

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WAIKATO — Waikato residents will get the chance to have their say on a $6 million capital funding request for a cycling centre of excellence near Cambridge.

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TAUPO — The Environment Court has now formally approved a new Waikato Regional Council policy aimed at protecting water quality in Lake Taupo, meaning farmers around the lake will need to apply for a resource consent to continue farming.

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WAIKATO — Environmental monitoring of the Awakino river and coastal marine area is set to continue after the end of an oil spill clean-up involving the Waikato Regional Council, Department of Conservation (DoC), Massey University, and trucking company Transpacific.

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WAIKATO — Massey University, Department of Conservation and Waikato Regional Council are ramping up their wildlife response at Awakino after investigations this morning showed more birdlife has been affected by an oil spill than initially thought.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council will today be assessing the need to continue with the clean-up operation in the Awakino River following Wednesday’s oil spill.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council says most of the oil spilled into the Awakino River yesterday afternoon appears to have gone out to sea overnight and that an initial assessment indicates no major environmental impacts around the river mouth or on the coast.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council has nine staff on the ground around Awakino as it seeks to contain a 20,000 litre oil spill into the Awakino River.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council staff will on Thursday morning be assessing options for helping clean up an oil spill into the Awakino River.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council this week outlined a new strategic direction for regional development aimed at protecting the environment and boosting regional export growth and income.

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WAIKATO — A new five-year draft plan to enhance the capability of the Waikato region to respond to disasters has been approved for public consultation by the Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Group.

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WAIKATO — For every dollar regional ratepayers put into a programme restoring Waikato’s eroded and vulnerable dunes they get $5 back, the environment committee has heard.

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HAMILTON — Waikato Regional Council will carry out further investigations before deciding to consult with the public over whether to put up $6 million to build a world-class velodrome near Cambridge.

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HAMILTON — The theme of farmers “Caring locally, competing globally” will be the feature of the Waikato Regional Council’s Fieldays stand between 15 June and 18 June.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council has given nine community projects a boost, with a combined total of $208,500 being awarded from the environmental initiatives fund (EIF).

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HUNTLY — A new memorandum of agreement (MOA) aimed at helping better protect lakes and wetlands in Waikato District is being signed on Tuesday 7 June at 8am at the Twin Lakes Event Centre in Huntly.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council has finalised its work programme and budget for the year beginning 1 July, with an overall rates increase to existing ratepayers of 2.6 per cent.

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WAIKATO — Dirty and dangerous discharges of effluent from stock trucks appear to be on the increase in the Waikato and the regional council has written to trucking firms asking them to take action to stop this practice.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council is backing a new Upper North Island Strategic Alliance which will see seven councils working together to make the most of sustainable development and economic growth opportunities.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council has welcomed a Government announcement that it will contribute $15.2 million towards phase two of the Tui Mine remediation project at Te Aroha.

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COROMANDEL — A nine year project to provide 100 year flood protection to people and property in a Coromandel Peninsula town has entered its final stage.

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WAIKATO — By Bala Tikkisetty A cautious approach is recommended when it comes to applying nitrogen fertilisers to pasture during winter.

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RAGLAN — People are being urged to exercise extreme caution on the west coast of the Waikato region due to a heavy swells warning.

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HAMILTON — Four Waikato teenagers passionate about the environment have returned from a national forum eager to use the knowledge gained during the event to improve their communities.

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WHANGAMATA — An all day oil spill exercise is due to be carried out at Whangamata Harbour on Tuesday 24 May by Waikato Regional Council, Whangamata Marina staff and other associated agencies.

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WAIKATO — Motorists are being urged to drive with their headlights on at all times over winter to help reduce the risk of crashes.

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WAIKATO — The Government’s new national water policy statement reinforces work already underway in the Waikato to improve water quality in the region’s rivers, lakes and streams, says Waikato Regional Council chairman Peter Buckley.

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WAIKATO — An independent hearings committee has granted Waikato Regional Council’s river and catchment services group permission to extract up to 150,000 cubic metres per year of river bed material, including debris, from the Tongariro River for flood management and erosion control purposes.

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HAMILTON — A Silver Fern railcar service from Hamilton to Auckland’s inner city Strand station (the old main station) is now the preferred option for getting Hamilton-Auckland commuter rail up and running.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council has announced the names of the successful appointees to be the 2011-14 landowner and community representatives on catchment liaison sub-committees The sub-committees consider local issues in particular catchments, have a say in the way council funding is used locally and provide advice to the council’s full catchment services committee.

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WAIKATO — A joint Waikato mayoral appeal has collected more than $60,000 for quake-hit Christchurch.

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WAIKATO — Duck shooters preparing for the start of the hunting season are being reminded by Waikato Regional Council to pack lifejackets for each person on board their boat.

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WAIKATO — By Bala Tikkisetty As winter approaches, it is a good time for farmers to prepare for the potential impacts of stock wintering on soil health and water quality.

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WAIKATO — A South American beetle with exclusive tastes has been released for the first time in the Waikato region as a biological control agent for the pest plant Tradescantia fluminensis (commonly known as wandering jew or wandering willy).

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COROMANDEL — A Waikato Regional Council scheme is making more than 18,000 native shrubs and trees available for planting on the Coromandel Peninsula this year.

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CAMBRIDGE — The Waikato Regional Council will formally review the Home of Cycling proposal before making a decision about consulting with the public on whether to put up to $6 million toward the proposed world-class velodrome in Cambridge.

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WAIKATO — A newly signed off Regional Land Transport Strategy for 2011-2041 will help lay the foundations for good economic growth in the Waikato region, says the chair of the multi-agency Regional Transport Committee.

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TAUPO — Efforts to protect Lake Taupo by reducing nitrogen inputs to the lake are proving to be highly successful to date.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Group is urging residents to be alert for the impacts of strong winds that are currently buffeting the region, particularly Taupo and South Waikato.

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WAIKATO — Waikato rivers are coping well with the heavy rain in parts of the region over the past 24 hours.

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A Waikato Regional Council team has travelled to Thailand to help remedy one of the country’s most polluted rivers, the Tha Chin River.

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WAIKATO — A four year project working with farmers in the upper Waikato River catchment is helping the Waikato Regional Council develop its land and water policies.

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WAIKATO — The record popularity of this year’s Balloons Over Waikato event has been reinforced by data showing that buses carried more than 16,000 passengers to and from the event, a 65 per cent increase over 2010.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Regional Council today adopted a new strategic direction that will see it take more of a leadership role in regional development.

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RAGLAN — A course aimed at saving the lives of boaties crossing the notorious Raglan bar is being held next month by Coastguard Raglan, with support from Environment Waikato.

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HAMILTON — Environment Waikato is again operating special bus services for people attending the Balloons over Waikato Nightglow event at Waikato University this Saturday 2 April and the ITM400 Hamilton from 15-17 April.

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WAIKATO — Waikato Civil Defence is warning people to be aware of the dangers posed by heavy rain expected to hit the Coromandel later today, while a weather watch is also in place for the rest of the Waikato.

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HAMILTON — Environment Waikato is warning Hamilton residents about a potential tree removal scam involving a woman impersonating a regional council biosecurity officer.

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WAIKATO — Visitors to Te Aroha’s Domain Day will have the chance to peer into the depths of the Tui Mine, New Zealand’s most contaminated site, without even getting their feet dirty.

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WAIKATO — Environment Waikato consents for a planned sand extraction and processing operation to be run by Titoki Sands Limited at Tamahere have been granted by independent hearings commissioner Graeme Ridley.

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WAIKATO — Helicopter monitoring has shown dairy farm compliance with regional effluent management rules is improving significantly so far this season, new figures from Environment Waikato show.

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COROMANDEL — A marine threat remains in place for Waikato’s east coast this morning and people are being urged to stay away from the ocean and other waterways, with tidal gauges detecting the first surges in the area.

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WAIKATO — Waikato region’s coastal residents are being urged to stay away from the ocean and other waterways after a tsunami marine threat for New Zealand was issued following an earthquake in Japan.

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WAIKATO — By Bala Tikkisetty It’s unclear how many old tyres are discarded annually in the Waikato but it’s estimated about four million a year are used up nationally, generating about 36,000 tonnes of waste.

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WAIKATO — A meeting being organised by Environment Waikato in association with Federated Farmers is offering dry stock farmers the chance to get up to speed with some key issues associated with dry-stock farming.

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WAIKATO — Environment Waikato has issued an alert about rising river and lake levels following a heavy rain warning from MetService.

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RAGLAN — Coastguard Raglan, with support from Environment Waikato, is again offering to help boaties with information on how to cross the notorious Raglan bar and to be generally safer at sea.

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WAIKATO — Thirty-nine people who have self-evacuated from Christchurch to the Waikato have registered through Work and Income but there are many more now sheltering in the region following last week’s earthquake.

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CHRISTCHURCH — The number of people being deployed to Christchurch through the Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Group is growing.

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WAIKATO — A comprehensive land and water strategy for sustainable agriculture will be a major area of work for Environment Waikato in the next financial year, and will need to take into account a wide range of economic and environmental issues.

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WAIKATO — Waikato people are responding generously with offers of free accommodation for people needing to leave Christchurch following the earthquake.

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CHRISTCHURCH — The Waikato response to the Canterbury earthquake is continuing this morning with the finalising of details of a collective mayoral relief fund and the assistance the region can offer Christchurch.

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CHRISTCHURCH — Waikato councils are being asked to establish a collective mayoral relief fund to help Christchurch in the wake of the latest devastating earthquake.

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HAMILTON — A long-term trial of three ‘bat boxes’ in Hamilton’s Hammond Park could provide the safe havens needed by the area’s threatened native long-tailed bats, says Environment Waikato.

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WAIKATO — Every minute an eight metre pole is being driven into the banks of the Piako River at Ngatea in the first stage of a multi-million dollar project for the area.

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RAGLAN — A tide gauge is expected to be installed in Raglan’s Manu Bay this weekend and will provide data valuable to scientists, as well as local boaties and surfers.

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WAIKATO — The pest plant tutsan has become a major problem around Taumarunui and Ruapehu near the regional border and is starting to move aggressively into neighbouring Waikato areas, says Environment Waikato’s biosecurity team.

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WAIKATO — Environment Waikato’s policy and strategy committee has formally supported the idea of fish farming in the Firth of Thames but has made suggestions about how it is introduced.

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WHANGAMATA — An Environment Waikato pest management programme at Onemana, north of Whangamata, is reviving the area’s pohutakawa trees.

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WAIKATO — Two consecutive weekends of wild weather in the Waikato late last month underlined the increased risks the region faces from river flooding, Environment Waikato’s river and catchment services committee heard yesterday.

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WAIKATO — Environment Waikato is keen to see a speeding up of research into new pest toxins that can be approved for spreading by helicopter, says regional pest management committee chair Laurie Burdett.

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HAMILTON — A fledgling bellbird has been sighted in Hamilton more than a century after the species was thought to have become locally extinct.

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WAIKATO — New activities to help drive regional economic growth feature in Environment Waikato’s 2011/12 draft budget.

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TAURANGA — Tauranga’s Bay Hopper bus services are running again and buses are on schedule after flooding of the Go Bus depot caused delays in getting buses onto the road this morning.

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WAIKATO — Heavy overnight rain in the Waikato region has led to a number of slips and road closures on the Coromandel and northern Waikato, while a number of rivers and streams have overflowed their banks leading to localized surface flooding in some parts.

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WAIKATO — Waikato’s wetlands are environmental “nurseries” that support healthy animals, plants and water quality, says Environment Waikato sustainable agriculture coordinator Bala Tikkisetty.

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WAIKATO — Recent rain has helped restore crucial soil moisture to above average levels in the Waikato, says a sub-group of the Waikato Regional Drought Committee, with further rain forecast this weekend.

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WAIKATO — Environment Waikato says the potential for weather-related problems across the Waikato this weekend has grown with a fresh weather warning from MetService.

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WAIKATO — Resource consents related to a King Country Energy (KCE) proposal to build a new hydro dam on the Mokau River have been granted by Environment Waikato (EW) and the Waitomo District Council (WDC).

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WAIKATO — People should expect Lake Taupo and the Waipa and Waikato rivers to continue rising over the next two days even though rain is forecast to ease across the Waikato region.

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WAIKATO — About 300 campers were being evacuated from a Taupo campground this morning as Waikato authorities prepare for widespread flooding across the region.

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WAIKATO — The multi-agency Rail Working Group looking at the feasibility of a new Hamilton-Auckland passenger rail service yesterday asked for further investigations into three options for advancing the inter-regional service.

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WAIKATO — A potentially toxic blue-green algal bloom has been detected in Lake Ohakuri, the largest lake in the Waikato River hydro system.

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WAIKATO — Environment Waikato’s navigation safety team is reminding skippers to follow the region’s navigation safety bylaw after a collision between two boats put two children in hospital at the weekend.

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WAIKATO — Bar crossings are the highest risk activity boaties in the Waikato will come across.

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WAIKATO — Recent rain in the Waikato has been an “early Christmas present” for farmers but the region-wide drought was far from over, a meeting of the multi-agency regional drought committee heard today.

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WAIKATO — Environment Waikato is adding the South American lace bug to its armoury of pest plant control methods as it seeks to eliminate woolly nightshade in the region.

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WAIKATO — An Environment Waikato spraying programme targeting yellow flag iris along the Waikato River around Huntly and downstream is due to get underway in February next year.

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WAIKATO — A kayak and paddle found floating in the middle of the notorious Raglan bar last Sunday morning resulted in an unnecessary and costly search effort.

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WAIKATO — As pressure on livestock farms, crops and orchards mounts due to the drought conditions in the region, Environment Waikato is reminding water users about the rules governing takes from waterways and groundwater.

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WAIKATO — The Government’s official declaration of a drought in the Waikato has been welcomed by the regional drought committee.

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