Fresh-water worries

New Zealand's fresh-water management is deteriorating and the decentralised system is not meeting our needs, says the lead author of the report that led to the sacking of Environment Canterbury.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Wyatt Creech said on TV One's Q&A programme that although figures for lots of areas showed improvement, New Zealand's decentralised system with no national control had no strategy for managing the often poor quality of many lowland rivers and streams.