Lakes rate will ruin us, say Rotorua farmers

Farmers fear higher rates to clean up Rotorua's lakes may drive them out. Picture / Daily Post

Rotorua farmers facing higher rates to clean up the area's ailing lakes have confronted the local authority proposing the measure.

The Bay of Plenty regional council is arguing for targeted rates for all property owners in the Rotorua district to raise some of the estimated $200 million needed to rid the lakes of nutrients from human activity that have caused bad pollution.

Farmers have been hardest hit in the proposal, which would require owners of properties of 4ha and more to pay rates based on land area and nutrient losses into the lakes.

Some say it could spell the end of farming in the area.

About 40 farmers vented their anger at the proposal, contained in Environment Bay of Plenty's draft 10-year plan, at a submissions hearing in Rotorua yesterday.

Lachlan McKenzie, who runs a 200ha dairy farm at Kaharoa, said the targeted rates would cost him $700,000 over the next 10 years.

"I don't have that money," he said. "It will cost me my farm."

Stuart Morrison, who has farmed in the area for 41 years, said farmers had already shown their commitment to saving the lakes by agreeing to Rule 11, a set of regulations introduced in November that limit the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous allowed to run off farms into the lakes' catchment.

Rule 11 has forced farmers to change farming practices, often at financial cost, and Mr Morrison said it was unfair that they were now being asked to shoulder more of the burden.

"Targeting the viability of farmers who have a lot of goodwill, who live in a situation where they want to clean up the lakes, makes no sense to me."

Federated Farmers also voiced its opposition, presenting a petition with more than 400 signatures.

"We don't think we've been treated fairly," Rotorua-Taupo president Gifford McFadden said.

The proposal would affect 24 dairy farmers and about an equal number of sheep farmers in the lakes area.

Rotorua District Council opposes targeted rates, but Environment Bay of Plenty wants the scheme to raise $1.64 million towards the cost of restoring the lakes next year, rising to almost $4.5 million in 2014.

Other organisations with interests in the lakes said the regional council needed to pursue government funding.

"They are a national treasure," Rotorua District Community Association chairman Richard Wilson said.

Farmers offered solutions to the lakes problem, saying money for expensive schemes such as the planned $12 million Ohau Channel diversion could be better spent.

Mr McKenzie suggested mussel farms to harvest nitrogen, saying this had been done successfully to clean up estuaries in the United States.

Silt traps at stream mouths and retention dams were also suggested.

Chairman John Cronin said Environment Bay of Plenty had noted the "very impassioned view" of the farmers on targeted rates and would re-examine the proposal.

"We will have a good look at it to ensure that the rating base is fair," he told the Herald.

Paul Dell, project co-ordinator for the Rotorua Lakes Protection and Restoration Action Programme, said some of the farmers' suggestions for stopping nutrient flow had merit.

"We have not closed our mind to anything," he said.

Yesterday's hearing followed one in Tauranga on Monday. Much of the focus of submissions there was on transport and infrastructure.

Iwi groups also asked for a greater role in the region's development.

A third hearing will take place in Whakatane tomorrow, where submissions are expected to be made on spending for projects planned following last year's floods. The Bay of Plenty is one of the country's fastest-growing regions, with this year's Census figures showing population growth of 7.3 per cent since 2001.

THE PROBLEM

* Lakes around New Zealand are being poisoned by nitrogen and phosphorous from surrounding waterways.

* Much of this polluted water comes from fertiliser and effluent runoff from dairy and sheep farms.

* Farmers in the Rotorua area have already agreed to change their farming methods to reduce this runoff.

* Several are angry that they are now being asked to pay a special rate as well.

* One said the rate would cost him $700,000 over 10 years, forcing him to sell his farm.