Swimmable rivers? Not good enough, Cookie Time founder says

Monday, 7 August 2017

Cookie Time founder Michael Mayell is campaigning for drinkable, not just swimmable, rivers.

Decades after he founded Cookie Time as a 21-year-old, toiling away in the kitchen of his tiny Christchurch flat, Michael Mayell has become an activist.

The entrepreneur has launched a 'Drinkable Rivers' campaign, urging people to demand rivers that are clean enough to drink from, not just swim in.

Michael Mayell with one of his Drinkable Rivers billboards.

A billboard was placed prominently on Brougham St in Christchurch on Monday, the first of four in the city. They would be joined by two billboards in Wellington.

A website outlines steps people can take to make a difference.

He has become more health-conscious over his career.

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* No longer swimmable: A community mourns its lost river**

Mayell said like many others, he had become alarmed at the state of waterways in Canterbury and beyond, and felt he needed to make a contribution.

It started with the premise of 'swimmable rivers' – a premise he would like to challenge.

'The concept of swimmable rivers is ridiculous,' he said.

'We should be aiming for a much higher vision than that. We should up the ante and we should make it about drinkable rivers, not swimmable rivers. We should all get behind that idea.'

There has been heightened interest in water quality throughout New Zealand and scrutiny of the Government's work to improve the state of freshwater.

In February, it announced that by 2040, 90 per cent of waterways would be 'swimmable' based on a measure of E coli. It prompted debate about whether it amounted to an improvement or not.

For Mayell, not only was the answer wrong, but so was the question.

'[Rivers] are the blood of the nation. If we've got drinkable rivers, we've got a flourishing environment. If it's only swimmable, it's not good enough.'

With his campaign, and its #drinkablerivers hashtag, he hoped to start by nudging the debate from swimmable to drinkable.

That would be followed by a more solutions-based conversation: a conversation he was willing to have, particularly regarding agriculture.

Throughout his career, Mayell had evolved from giant cookies, to the One Square Meal bar, to his latest venture, Nutrient Rescue.

He still owns half of Cookie Time, which has become a beloved New Zealand brand.

Mayell said he no longer wanted to build businesses, but to build a better country.

'I've moved from being an entrepreneur wanting to make money to a social entrepreneur wanting to make a difference,' he said.

'I'm becoming more and more of an activist and starting to stand up for what I believe in.'

He decided to launch the campaign now, before the September 23 election, to put pressure on politicians to take a position.

'I wanted to make this an election issue. I think everybody needs to put their position forward on the river issue, because I think it has reached a critical mass.

'Let's get the words drinkable rivers into the conversation . . . We all agree with that idea, surely.'