Lake Hayes test funding sought

Lake Hayes

The Friends of Lake Hayes are hoping for a favourable response from the Otago Regional Council (ORC) to an application for funding to analyse water samples from the lake's main tributary.

Kerry Dunlop, who stepped down as the lobby group's chairman last week after 10 years' service, said new chairman Mike Hanff had lodged an application for $19,700 from the ORC's Environmental Enhancement Fund.

Mr Hanff, a chemical engineer, had offered to carry out the water sampling in Mill Creek at no cost.

The group's 120 members are concerned about a decline in the lake's water quality over the past decade that has resulted in algal blooms, a scarcity of fish and skin irritation for swimmers.

In his final chairman's report at the group's annual meeting last Friday, Mr Dunlop said when he presented the group's submission on the ORC's draft annual plan for 2017-18 in June, he was disappointed by some of the feedback from members of the hearing panel.

"Chairman Stephen Woodhead said he did not believe more science was necessary to improve the water quality of Lake Hayes, and another member said our offer of citizen science to help collect water samples would not necessarily be worthwhile."

He was surprised the annual plan did not reflect the "high level of public concern" about water quality in the region's lakes.

However, the ORC had earmarked $91,000 to study three lakes in the region including Lake Hayes.

That work would look at the potential for remediation measures, including an economic cost-benefit analysis to prioritise methods and to identify who should fund any work. Mr Dunlop said the group had commissioned Otago University freshwater scientist Marc Schallenberg to study how the lake's health could be restored.

Dr Schallenberg's report, which recommended better monitoring and a package of short- and long-term remediation measures, was a "valuable reference document" that would encourage the ORC and other agencies to support restoration efforts.