Government funding for two Marlborough water quality projects

Marlborough Mayor John Leggett has welcomed the government recognition of a Council-led project to restore the health of the town’s Taylor River. A government grant of $261,950, spread over five years, to go toward the Taylor River Catchment Improvement Project was announced today.

The river is a central feature of the town and, although it’s a floodway, it is also an important recreational area despite consistently poor water quality.

“For years we have been working with the community, trying to raise the water quality and this funding is tangible endorsement by central government of all that’s been done here at community level to restore our river. My hope is that, before too much longer, the waterway will be as clear as I recall it as a youngster,” said Mr Leggett.

Since 2012, the Council has been running a monitoring programme on the river and its tributaries to track river health and the physical, biological and chemical influences on water quality.

“Council has had a great partnership with the Marlborough Landscape Group, coordinating community plantings for our Taylor River Project and our schools have been right in there, adopting their own little bits of the river for planting and beautifying. It’s been a project that really belongs to us all and I’m pleased to see that acknowledged.”

The funding will enable the Taylor River Project to be extended to a wider stakeholder group, going beyond the Landscape Group and schools to iwi, viticulture and pastoral farming interests with some financial assistance for targeted riparian planting in the river’s upper catchment. It will also help pay for more monitoring and survey work to track the causes of pollution of the river.”

Meanwhile the Council is upgrading the town’s sewerage and stormwater networks, improvements which should also help prevent contaminants leaking into the waterway.

ENDS.

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