Comment: Water quality targets in Tararua – can we make them real please?

A hut along Fiordland Hump Ridge Track has two types of water available – drinking and stream, but if it’s hard to achieve drinkable water in national parks maybe we shouldn't expect such standards for other water bodies.

Tararua Federated Farmers co-president Sally Dryland wants Horizons Regional Council to set realistic water quality targets.

Queenstown’s and Woodville’s recent water quality woes are an issue many rural dwellers will have dealt with. S*** and dead things.

Preventative strategies to mitigate the risks E coli may pose for our water systems and animal and human health are a common focus. I’m forever reminded of tramping in the Puketois as a teenager and when walking out from the swaggers’ hut finding a dead sheep above where we’d been getting our drinking water. With Giardia being found in most of our national parks there is already a need for many drinking water sources to be treated or boiled.

To say we’d like all water sources and courses drinkable, as proposed by one group to Horizons Council recently, I believe is a step too far. Let’s be realistic and ensure we are setting targets that are achievable and based on agreed visions rather than idealistic rhetoric.

While waterfowl swim in rivers, deer roam the bush, pigs root up the soils in forestry blocks and town stormwater flows into the rivers there will be water quality issues that prevent “drinkable” being a realistic target.

Livestock farmers have made efforts to prevent the further degradation of water. For many, this has been done in partnership with Horizons Regional Council and industry bodies such as Fonterra.

Looking at local data, farmers should be commended for the efforts they have been making to try to stabilise erodible land, including fencing off creeks, streams and rivers, planting natives alongside water courses to prevent s*** from entering the waterway, upgrading water supplies by putting in new pumps and troughs to counter not being able to have stock drink from the now fenced-off creeks, upgrading the ponds where they can store effluent and applying this when the soils can absorb and use it, so they don’t need to apply as much artificial fertiliser.

Partnering with Horizons, Tararua District farmers planted approximately 18,000 poplar poles on our hillsides last year, adding to the 50,000 natives. These figures don’t include the farmers who fully funded their own works due to support funding not being available. Based on local nursery numbers these figures could be equivalent to the above. Again, many of these projects require fencing and alternate water supplies.

Driving around the Tararua District it’s striking to see the efforts being made by all. There is certainly an understanding by farmers that steps can be taken to help improve water quality. Thanks!

Water quality targets set by Horizons require a 50-100 per cent land use change for some local catchments. Is replacement of sheep and beef farms with pines going to give better water quality outcomes? Tararua Federated Farmers will be putting in a submission (the deadline is February 28) asking that:

• Visions for our water bodies are first agreed. I.e Drinkable v swimmable.
• Targets are realistic and achievable. Ducks and dead possums are acknowledged as threats.
• The consequences of changing land use are known. What are the economic impacts on our Tararua region?
• Real data is used. Currently, Horizons is using a lot of modelling because no one knows what the current state of water quality is. There is good data available through farmer-funded groups such as the Plantain Project which Horizons hasn’t used.

As always, thanks to those members who help Feds front up for these policy and regulatory discussions and submissions.

• Contact Sally Dryland, co-president Tararua Federated Farmers, on 027 423 8997 if you have any questions.