Government to get tough on farming and councils by regulating for water
Thursday, 5 September 2019
The Government is proposing stricter standards to improve New Zealand's waterways, cracking down on farming practices and increasing regulation.
The health and wellbeing of water will be put first when making decisions, 'providing for essential human needs, such as drinking water, will be second, and all other uses will follow'.
On Thursday, Environment Minister David Parker released the National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management and the Government's rewritten National Policy Statement, which aimed to improve water quality for rivers, lakes and wetlands within five years and fix them within a generation.
The raft of proposals set out in the Government's plan to stop the degradation of waterways included a mandate for councils to have a freshwater plan in place no later than 2025.
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It will also see higher standards for swimming, with a greater effort put into reducing contamination.
The proposals also include measures to improve farming practices, where needed, to stop things getting worse by ensuring all farmers and growers have a plan to manage risks to freshwater, by 2025.
The plan is to tightly restrict any further intensification of land use through interim measures until all regions have working freshwater management plans.
From June 2020 changes such as new irrigation or conversion to dairying will only happen where there is evidence it will not increase pollution.
In catchments with high nitrate/nitrogen levels there will be a reduction in nitrogen loss within five years and there will be more fencing and wider setbacks to keep stock out of waterways.
Standards for intensive winter grazing, feedlots, and stock holding areas will also be applied.
The National Environmental Standard for Sources of Human Drinking Water will also be amended, with tighter management of land use in areas that are sources of drinking water supply so drinking water is not contaminated.
The bar will also be raised on freshwater ecosystem health by introducing new attributes and requirements to protect threatened species and habitats, which will include reducing soil loss, and nutrient run-off and investing in upgrading wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.
Potential new laws around better management of stormwater and wastewater aim to stop things getting worse and improve freshwater health by setting minimum standards for wastewater discharges and overflows.
The plan sets out that land and water resources will be managed in a way that helps indigenous species thrive. It aims to provide for fish passage, so that fish that need access to the sea to breed will face fewer barriers. There will also be improvements to setting minimum water flows and reporting on water use with better management of water allocation within the current system.
In an effort to protect urban and rural wetlands and streams, there will be no more draining or development of wetlands. Any remaining streams in urban and rural areas will not be piped or filled in unless there is no option.
'Our rivers, lakes and wetlands are under serious threat after years of neglect. We can't continue to go on like we are. If we don't fix things now they only get worse and will be more expensive to fix,' Parker said.
'Many of the places we swam as kids are not safe to swim any more. That's not good enough. Our plan will stop things getting worse and start to reverse the damage.
'We were elected on the promise of cleaning up our waterways and this action plan sets us on that path. Cleaning up polluted waterways is a long-term challenge that will take a generation to fix, but the steps in this plan will make a real difference and get things heading in the right direction.'
The plan was being met with support from Water New Zealand, Fish and Game NZ, Horticulture New Zealand, Greenpeace and Local Government New Zealand.
However, Federated Farmers said the proposals essentially threw farmers under the tractor and estimated large parts of rural New Zealand would have to abandon their reliance on the pastoral sector.
The sheep and beef sector also has concerns about the proposals. Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) said the plans to lock down current land uses would have a disproportionate effect on the majority of sheep and beef farms that are low input, extensive systems with a light touch on the environment.
TIMELINE
2019: Support and advice for farmers.
Late 2019–early 2020: Government makes final decisions.
2019–2020: Ongoing work on allocation of allowances to discharge nutrients.
June 2020: Implementation of new requirements.
2020: Further consultation on wastewater and stormwater regulations.
2025: All councils have plans to implement new National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.