River cleanup policy 'an 80-year journey' but $23 million spend sets clock ticking

Monday, 1 August 2022

Protecting the health of the Waikato and Waipā rivers is the focus of Waikato Regional Council’s $23 million Plan Change 1 but various legal and technical matters are holding up full implementation of the policy. (File photo)

The clock continues to tick on a river protection policy that has cost some $23 million so far as Waikato Regional Council, iwi, farmers and many other interested parties await its full implementation.

Various issues – including legal appeals and technical issues – have hindered progress of Plan Change 1 (PC1) for the Waikato and Waipā rivers, and a key council manager acknowledges the wait to get fully cracking certainly has its frustrations.

“It would be wonderful if we could make the wheels turn faster for everyone, to give our landowners certainty, and to tick some boxes so we could go ‘OK right now we can turn our minds to the rest of the region’,’’ said Tracey May, the council’s science, policy and information director.

Developing PC1, with the council and river iwi at the helm, involved a huge multi-stakeholder effort to find better ways of protecting the rivers, which face major environmental challenges, including from bacteria, nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment.

The Waipā River at Pirongia after flooding. Like the Waikato which it flows into, the Waipā faces a range of challenges – particularly sedimentation – that Plan Change 1 seeks to address.

* PC1 hearings to continue following Government's freshwater reform proposals

* Waipā gives green light to look into third bridge across Waikato River

“It would be wonderful if we could make the wheels turn faster” to get on with Plan Change 1, Waikato Regional Council director of science, policy and information Tracey May says, but hurdles remain.

Since 2012, PC1 has cost the council some $23 million in labour, management and direct costs. That does not fully account for all the significant volunteer time put into developing the policy.

An extra $400,000 is budgeted by the council for legal and consultancy fees related to the legal maze of more than 20 appeals over the new policy.

Mediation is under way between the parties on the appeals and it is likely the first actual court hearings will be late this year.

May said the appeals focused on the ability of the policy to deliver what it said it will in terms of improving water quality and on how this can be done in as easy a way as possible.

On what benefits for the rivers would kick in once appeals were resolved and the policy implemented, May said benefits would flow from the likes of on-farm interventions such as requirements for farm management plans and the need for resource consents to intensify land use.

“I think that [consents] is a key one,” she said, noting PC1 was “an 80-year journey”.

“The water bodies of the catchment have been impacted over a number of years and it will take a number of years to see the return on investment.”

She noted that in some areas people had “front-footed” change and had made adjustments to practices already in line with PC1.

Council monitoring of waterways had also increased and conversion of land to high nutrient intensity activities “pretty much lessened” since PC1 was publicly notified.

Meanwhile, ongoing council catchment management work and co-operation with the Waikato River Authority was continuing.

May said it was “challenging” to outline what action the public should expect – and when – once appeals were resolved. One of the uncertainties would be what the national direction was on water issues at that point.

“What we can say is that [the regional council] will be working very hard, once matters are settled, to communicate as simply as possible what is required of all those who live in the catchment.”

The council would work closely alongside landowners on implementation, she said.

One key issue in the swirl over PC1’s final implementation is how the use of the Overseer tool, for managing farm nutrient flows, will be integrated into PC1 after “shortcomings” were identified last year.

Council staff are working with government ministries on this but it is not clear when that will be finished.

Another issue is whether PC1 may need to be further tweaked to reflect the 2020 national policy statement on freshwater, resulting in further costs and delays.

May said she was not sure about this but noted that the council’s 2020 long term plan allocated an extra $16 million for science and monitoring related to waterways, including more new attributes that need to be measured.

Previously, the council had been looking at new planning for the Hauraki and west coast catchments but has been required to broaden that focus.

“Now it is west coast, Taupō, Hauraki, Coromandel … all at the same time and all by December 2024.”

PC1’s $23 million expenditure will assist with all that work, hopefully ensuring further return on the dollars spent to date.