Speeches 

Good quality freshwater is fundamental to our kiwi lifestyle. It's crucial for economic development, and its beauty, health and cleanliness are key to our national identity, to our kiwi culture and to the health and security of communities around New Zealand.

We trade on our clean green image; it's what tourists love about this country and it offers us a competitive advantage internationally where consumers are increasingly clamouring for eco-friendly products and services.

While we can continue to take pride in some of the world's cleanest, most beautiful rivers and lakes, the most recent state of the environment report shows that the quality of New Zealand's fresh water is under increasing pressure from intensifying land use, both in urban and rural areas.

While pollution from point sources has decreased, trends indicate an increase in diffuse pollution entering into our waterways from fertilisers, pesticides, oils and nutrients from livestock effluent.  These diffuse discharges are associated with increasingly intensive land use, both in urban and rural environments, and are difficult to contain.

The current state of the Rotorua Lakes is a clear example of the damage that urbanisation and rural land use intensification can cause to water bodies. These lakes are important for both tourism and recreation. However, several of the lakes have suffered water quality problems for decades. High nutrient levels have resulted in seriously degraded water quality, as well as algal blooms which reduce oxygen levels in the water, threatening other life in the lakes. Research has shown that pollution comes mostly from intensive farming and sewage discharge.

The government has been involved with the Rotorua Lakes Strategy Group, made up of Environment Bay of Plenty, Rotorua District Council, and Te Arawa Lakes Trust, to assist in the restoration of Rotorua's Lakes. The Prime Minister announced in March this year that the government will contribute $72.1 million to the Group's lakes clean up project. The project involves:

• construction or extension of sewerage works to unserviced lakeside communities
• treatment or diversion of nutrient-rich streams flowing into Lakes Rotorua and Rotoehu
• capping lake sediments to stop nutrients coming up from lake beds
• construction of wetlands, and land management changes to reduce nutrient inputs from surrounding land
• harvesting and disposal of weeds from Lake Rotoehu

But fixing water bodies on a case-by-case basis is not the answer. This is why the government is undertaking the Sustainable Water Programme of Action to improve the management of our fresh water resources and protect them into the future.

The programme is about building a strategic, nationwide consistent approach to water management. It's about ensuring efficient, fair, and sustainable use of our fresh water while protecting it from contamination. An important aim for the programme is managing the undesirable effects of land use on water quality.

Under the programme we have completed a national environmental standard for the protection of human drinking water. This standard came into effect in June and will require councils to consider the effects of activities on drinking water sources in their decision making, thereby reducing the risk of contamination.

We are also close to finalising a standard for the measurement of water takes that will require resource consent holders to measure and report on how much water they use.

A third standard on ecological flows and water levels is currently undergoing public consultation, with submissions closing on August 29^th. This proposed standard provides methods for determining the water levels required to preserve the life-supporting capacity of our water bodies.

We have recently released a discussion document on a proposed national environmental standard for on-site wastewater systems. Requiring standards for on-site treatment systems will help to avoid water pollution from inadequate treatments and septic tank failures. Submissions close on 26 September.

These standards will result in greater consistency in decision making. But the cornerstone of the Sustainable Water Programme of Action is the proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management which I announced last month.

This has now been referred to Board of Inquiry which will shortly publicly notify the proposed NPS and seek submissions.

The Board will be independent and will hear submissions, assess the national policy statement as proposed and provide me with a report which may include recommended changes.

The proposed national policy statement will lead to improvements in the management of land use effects on water by tying together policies on water quality, water quantity, and land use and development.  I encourage you all to have a read of it, as this could be the national policy framework that will guide local government decision making on our water resources into the future. 

This emerging regulatory regime, of the national policy statement and relevant national environmental standards, is complemented by the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord. The Accord is an industry-led, voluntary initiative developed to set targets relating to the physical protection of water bodies.

The Accord has improved the understanding of dairying's impact on water quality and the initiatives that are required to reduce them, including keeping cattle out of waterways, treating farm effluent, and managing the use of fertiliser and other nutrients.

I expect the pastoral industry to work proactively to stop degrading water quality through excessive nutrient use. This includes making sure farmers who continue to pollute don't let the rest of the industry down. I congratulate local authorities for taking legal action where local regulations and consent conditions are breached.

We all need to remember that water is not a resource of infinite purity and supply, and all New Zealanders need to take its quality and conservation seriously. I strongly believe that by working together with councils and other bodies, and by implementing regulation and policy to provide national guidance, we can contribute to the improvement and sustainable management of our waterways.

Thank you for inviting me here today, enjoy your symposium.

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