The Government has announced a new package of clean water measures, including amendments to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, a series of regional “swimmability” maps, criteria for the $100 million Freshwater Improvement Fund and national regulations to exclude stock from waterways.

Marlborough District Council Environment (science and monitoring) Manager Alan Johnson says clean freshwater water had been as a key Council priority for several years now and a great deal of progress had been made toward lifting the standard here.

“We are aspiring to have clean streams and rivers and coastal waters for the sake of the resource and because it underlines the way we manage our wider environment – an important message to be sending out from Marlborough.”

“We’ve put new resource into coastal water monitoring, our small dairy industry has made some good progress in keeping stock out of waterways, and we’ve got infrastructure renewal programmes well underway in Picton and Blenheim. Some of our environmental science research, like the Taylor River Study, is part of this bigger picture.”

“We’re already conscious that an aging urban wastewater network can leak and a lot of work has been done by Council already to deal with those weak points, some of which have been created by earthquake fractures. But we have also major work programmes underway to upgrade the urban pipe networks so we’re well ahead of things in addressing the issues that have been raised by this national policy statement.”

One focus for the public would be the assessment of the ‘swimmability’ of lakes and rivers, measuring E. coli levels, and this announcement shows that, in the national context, Marlborough’s river quality stands up well overall, he said.

The other community focus will be the expectations created by the proposed national regulations to exclude stock from waterways, a policy that is expected to provide a level of consistency between regions.

The Council will be reviewing the consequences of the new initiatives announced today by the Minister and will be considering if a submission is necessary.

ENDS.

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