Ana Apatu: We must treat water as taonga

It seems clear to me that across the region we have an issue with access to good quality water, both drinking water and recreational water. Photo / Getty Images

During the year of 2011 the Healthy Populations team for the Hawke's Bay District Health Board at that time developed their Strategic Plan.

This plan, Supporting Healthy Communities 2012-2015, identified three key priorities.

The priorities were identified from what our local data was telling us and by asking the community. These priority areas were child wellness, healthy hearts and water.

Consultation with community groups, including hapu, clearly identified water as a priority area where communities and people believed water was impacting on the health of the region.

This plan reminds us water contributes to human health, not only through its life-sustaining properties when consumed, but through the opportunities it provides for physical activity and recreational as well as its use for the production of food. In short, water is a taonga.

The plan also states because so many of us have ready access to safe drinking water, we sometimes take it for granted. Not so with our recent events.

The plan reminds us that nearly half of the gains in mortality and life expectancy in the 20th century are attributable to the provision of safe drinking water.

During consultation we found that water was an issue for many communities.

For small communities reliant on rain for drinking water, low or inconsistent rainfall along with inadequate water storage facilities could lead to water shortage.

Predictions told us at that stage water was likely to become more important over time as Hawke's Bay is expected to experience up to 20 per cent less rain with predictions of varied rainfall patterns by 2070.

Findings during the development of Supporting Healthy Communities 2012-2015 also highlighted community water supplies were more vulnerable to problems with microbiological quality of water, partly due to the relatively high cost per person of treating water in these communities.

At the time a recent survey by Public Health identified at least 31 communities at high risk of water security and/or water quality problems and 88 communities with medium risk.

Human water use is part of a water cycle that includes the transfer of unused water from homes, industry or land back into receiving environments.

Wastewater and water bodies that receive solid wastes must therefore be considered in thinking about the relationship between water and health.

Many aspects of water monitoring and use are controlled by regulation.

Regulation includes laws relating to the use of ground water discharges into natural water bodies, the use of water for food production the treatment and monitoring of drinking water and monitoring of water used for recreation.

This plan then provides a complex drawing of some of the factors impacting on healthy water which includes but is not limited to water allocation, quality and safety of streams rivers and lakes, habitats for kai moana and wild foods. This priority area is not new.

Many of us can remember our best times being associated with recreational activity that is centred around water.

Swimming in the rivers, summer holidays at the beach, fishing - this was part of growing up in Hawke's Bay.

Over the past weeks during the water crisis I have observed the rollercoaster of emotions unfolding. I felt the level of anxiety at one stage while walking through the supermarket. People's anxiety was palpable.

Now there feels to me a sense of sadness and some frustration. I feel for those who have been unwell.

I was initially impressed by the community's response as a whole to work through this crisis.

Unfortunately, I have not been so impressed by what I have witnessed in more recent times.

It seems clear to me that across the region we have an issue with access to good quality water, both drinking water and recreational water. This by all accounts is not a new thing.

The recent event with the water crisis must be seen as a wake-up call for all of us. Rather than pin the blame on individuals who I believe put their hand up when this event first unfolded, we should be adopting a response as a region.

In many ways we are all to blame. The responsibility of caring for our water lies with all of us.

- Ana Apatu is chief executive of the U-Turn Trust, based at Te Aranga Marae in Flaxmere.