Media Release

Water a priority for Regional Council

14 March 2017

Bay of Plenty Regional Council staff and Councillors attended NZ Water Forum public rallies at Tauranga and Whakatāne today to hear their concerns.

Regional Direction and Delivery Committee Chair Councillor Paula Thompson said that caring for water is an absolute priority for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

“It’s great to see locals as passionate about water quality as we are and we’ll take the feedback we received today on-board,” she said.

Councillor Thompson said that the region’s water quality and supply is generally good but it’s under increasing pressure and needs improvement in some locations.

“Central government is responsible for the Resource Management Act and National Policy Statement for Freshwater which is the legal framework Regional Council is required to work within. We’re investing more than $24 million each year into work to clean up local waterways and deliver on central government requirements.”

“We’re totally committed to setting water quality and quantity targets that meet the needs of our community, but that does take time. In the meantime we’re also delivering work on the ground with land, business and infrastructure owners alongside iwi and the wider community to strengthen water allocation limits, reduce pollution, and clean up waterways. We’re making real progress but there’s more work to do,” Councillor Thompson said.

Regular updates on Regional Council’s freshwater management work are available by subscribing to Council’s Freshwater Flash e-newsletter at www.boprc.govt.nz/freshwaterfutures

ENDS

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