District Council against plan to improve lake water

2.45pm

Rotorua District Council wants Bay of Plenty Regional Council to scrap a plan to improve water quality of the district's unhealthiest lakes.

The District Council's lawyer, Jim Milne, asked a panel of regional councillors to abandon Environment Bay of Plenty's Rule 11 yesterday, the final day of hearings on a proposed regional water and land plan.

If introduced, the rule would mean all land users in the catchments of lakes Rotoiti, Rotoehu, Okaro, Rotorua and Okareka would have to apply for resource consent if they increased the amount of nutrients discharged into the lakes.

Nitrogen and phosphorus escaping from the land and septic tanks have been blamed for the lakes' ill-health and algal blooms.

The district council, however, felt Rule 11 was not a good way to improve lake water quality, Mr Milne said.

Lake Rotorua had passed a "critical" stage of deterioration and the district council believed the bottom of Lake Rotorua was releasing almost 75 per cent of all the harmful nutrients contained in the lake.

As these releases were probably "beyond human control", Rule 11 would be useless in combating them, Mr Milne said.

He suggested lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti may never return to their former good-health.

Rule 11 was "directed at constraining" agriculture, and about a fifth of the area being farmed would be badly affected.

Agriculture, forestry, logging and their processing industries generate a quarter of the district's economic activity, the district council estimated.

"The costs and benefits of Rule 11 have not been properly evaluated as required."

People who stood to be badly affected by the rule would likely take costly court action against Environment Bay of Plenty, possibly stalling the rule's introduction.

The district council would rather see ratepayers' money spent on action to improve the lakes than on legal defence.

Environment Bay of Plenty councillors, who make up the hearing committee, will deliberate until July on submissions and any suggested changes to the plan.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)