Change is coming, as regional councils across the country work to set new objectives, policies, and rules to protect the health of our freshwater.
What we do to the land, such as farming, horticulture, urban development and land drainage, contribute to some big problems in some of the region’s lakes, rivers, streams and estuaries. Large municipal and industrial activities also contribute. Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council is exploring what changes need to be made to ensure these special taonga are protected and improved for future generations.
Poor water quality caused by contaminant runoff and leaching from the land and drainage is an issue in parts of the Kaituna, Ōhiwa, some Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes, Tauranga Moana, Waihī and Waiōtahe catchments and large changes are required across time to support lake and estuary ecosystem health. In some areas, E. coli levels rise significantly after heavy rainfall, making the water unsafe for swimming and gathering kai.
To improve water quality in the Bay of Plenty, we are exploring new rules, which will impact what you can do on the land. Changes may include options such as:
- No stock, or stocking constraints on grazing steep erosion prone land
- The requirement to keep stock away from all rivers, streams, canals, and drains
- Data gathering on stock, feed, fertilisers and other farm and horticulture nutrient inputs, and considering controlling these to bring down nutrient losses
- Setting a cap on nutrient inputs
In some parts of the region, the amount of water we are taking from rivers and streams (water quantity) has the potential to affect fish and critters that live in these waterways. In the highest water use areas (such as Northern Tauranga and Kaituna/Pongakawa) we may have very little (if any) extra water available to allocate and may even have to claw back some allocated water, depending on what limits we set. Applying minimum flow limits everywhere means we may need to restrict or stop water takes during dry periods.
We acknowledge there is already a lot of change afoot, due to new national regulations, and this is yet more, so we encourage your involvement and welcome you to talk to our team at events.
Over the next few months, our team is holding events across the region to discuss what the freshwater management issues are for the region and for your freshwater catchment, and the draft options we are thinking about to manage them.
This is the time to have your say while the policy options are draft. We need to assess the draft policy options fully before we present options and recommendations to your elected councillors for decisions in 2024. After that, Council will formally, publicly notify the proposed policy changes, and everyone will have a chance to lodge formal submissions and be heard in front of a hearings panel.
Together, let’s work through and identify pragmatic solutions for long-term economic and environmental sustainability.
A list of upcoming drop-in sessions is below. You can also access a full calendar of events, along with more information, at boprc.govt.nz/freshwater
If you cannot attend a meeting you can provide feedback online by heading to participate.boprc.govt.nz/Essential-Freshwater