16 December 2016

Cr Michael Laws

Dunstan Ward

Otago Regional Council

Lake Snow – ORC needs to ‘fess up & act quickly

Newly elected Otago regional councillor Michael Laws says that the Otago Regional Council needs to accept that its past actions with regards to ‘lake snow’ in the alpine lakes “have been grossly inadequate and apologise for that inaction.”

“ Lake snow was notified to the Otago Regional Council in 2008. It did nothing until September 2016, and in that time the algae and its effects have taken a firm grip on Lake Wanaka and now spread to other lakes.

“ As with the invasive weed lagorosiphon, the ORC’s inertia on lake snow stands as an object lesson of what can go wrong when you react, and react late, rather than research.

“ There are some massive lessons for our governance here. We dropped the ball big time and need to accept, apologise and atone.”

Cr Laws said that there needs to be a significant financial investment in the southern lakes and that any delay will only make the problems less manageable and more expensive.

“ The Otago regional council has no debt, and $56 million in reserves. It wants to spend $25 million on a new HQ in Dunedin. I say those priorities are dead wrong: the lakes and our waterways – along with pest destruction – must be our prime responsibilities.”

Cr Laws said that he saying “sorry” to lakeside communities was a good first step in acknowledging the problem and getting real action underway.

ends

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