KEY POINTS:
The Government has committed itself to giving long-term help to clean up Rotorua's lakes - but escaped pressure to pay up to $100 million to rid the waters of nutrients.
Environment Minister David Benson-Pope joined representatives of local councils and iwi to sign a memorandum of understanding on the lakes' restoration in Rotorua yesterday.
The memorandum between the Crown, Environment Bay of Plenty, Rotorua District Council and Te Arawa Lakes Trust included a commitment from the Government to fund projects for the lakes on a case-by-case basis.
Rotorua Mayor and chairman of the Rotorua Lakes Strategic Joint Committee Kevin Winters said the signing was a historic day for the lakes.
The councils had already spent five years working on improving water quality and it was great to have a formal Government commitment.
"Our budgets aren't big enough to solve this problem."
The memorandum served as an acknowledgment that cleaning up the lakes was not just a local responsibility, but a national one, he added.
Mr Benson-Pope, signing on behalf of the Crown, said the damage to the lakes had been done over generations and would take generations to correct.
He said the Government's pledge was part of a wider commitment to the environment and sustainable development, with Ministry for the Environment and OECD reports showing a need to address nutrient pollution in the country's waterways.
"Water underpins New Zealand's image," he said. "The continued reality of that image is vital to the success of our tourism industry ... and our whole economy."
He and Rotorua MP Steve Chadwick promised to continue pushing for more Government funds for the lakes.
Mr Benson-Pope told the Herald he had asked for an additional $1 million in the Budget for the Ohau Channel diversion.
The cleanup of the lakes - polluted by decades of nutrient runoff from farming, sewage and other sources - has been estimated at $200 million, half of which the local and regional councils originally wanted the Government to contribute.
But Environment Bay of Plenty chairman John Cronin said expecting the Government to pay a lump sum of $100 million was now considered unrealistic and instead, under the memorandum, the Government had committed itself to considering each restoration project on a case-by-case basis.
Toby Curtis, chairman of the new Te Arawa Lakes Trust, said Te Arawa was overjoyed that its members were now "full participants in the management and development of the lakes".
The trust replaced the Te Arawa Maori Trust Board and was formed as part of the Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Act. The act, passed in September, settled historic claims to the lakes, including vesting ownership of the lakebeds in the trust.
Mr Curtis said he was signing the memorandum on behalf of all past leaders of the trust board.
Clean-up money
* $4 m invested by the Government in an $11 million project to divert nutrient-laden waters away from Lake Rotoiti.
* $4.5 m paid to sewerage reticulation schemes being undertaken by Rotorua District Council to decrease nutrient pollution.
$10 m in taxpayer money has been used for research on improving water quality.
