Government’s bottom lines for water create a licence to pollute
The Government has pulled the plug on cleaning up our dirty rivers so they are safe for swimming, the Green Party said
today.
The Green Party was commenting on the Government’s national bottom lines for water quality released today by Environment
Minister Amy Adams. They amend the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management to set a national bottom line for
human health of secondary contact recreation. This means that rivers only have to be clean enough for wading or boating
but don’t have to be clean enough to swim in.
“New Zealander’s want clean rivers that they can swim in. Around 90 percent of public submissions called for this. Yet
the Government’s weak bottom lines have ignored public views and will allow our rivers to become more polluted,” said
Green Party water spokesperson Eugenie Sage.
While water quality must be maintained or improved across a region, the minimal acceptable state for rivers is to meet a
standard of secondary contact recreation. This means making our rivers and lakes safe for paddling and wading rather
than the primary contact recreation standard which means safe for swimming.
“This means that while some rivers in a region are improving, councils can let others degrade to a condition that is too
polluted for swimming
“National’s bottom lines for water quality have big gaps and amount to a licence to pollute.
“We have a freshwater crisis on our hands with more than 60 percent of monitored river swimming sites unfit for
swimming. The Government’s national bottom lines won’t fix it and instead allow irrigation and intensive agriculture to
expand.
“We desperately need effective regulation that prevents further degradation and improves the quality of our rivers and
lakes. The Government’s changes to the National Policy Statement won’t achieve this.
“We can have strong national objectives and bottom lines that ensure our rivers are clean enough to safely swim in,”
said Ms Sage.
ends