The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Swimmers risk sickness in 'excellent' quality rivers, Green Party says

Isaac Davison
By Isaac Davison
Senior Reporter·NZ Herald·
23 Feb, 2017 04:29 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Cattle on the bank of the Tukituki River behind Te Mata Peak, Havelock North, with free access to the river. Photo / Duncan Brown

Cattle on the bank of the Tukituki River behind Te Mata Peak, Havelock North, with free access to the river. Photo / Duncan Brown

Environment groups are upset that rivers deemed to be "excellent for swimming" under new water quality standards could still make swimmers sick.

The National-led Government announced a target today of raising the proportion of "swimmable" rivers in New Zealand to 90 per cent by 2040, at a cost of $2 billion to central and local government and farmers.

At present, 72 per cent of rivers, streams and lakes were considered suitable for swimming. Until now, the bottom line for water quality has been safe for wading and boating, not "full immersion" or swimming.

Environment Minister Nick Smith said the "ambitious" target would return New Zealand's waterways to a standard "not seen in 50 years".

"This ambitious plan to improve the water quality in our lakes and rivers recognises that New Zealanders expect to be able to take a dip in their local river or lake without getting a nasty bug," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But the Green Party's water spokeswoman Catherine Delahunty said a river with a grade of "excellent" could be "so polluted that 1 person in 20 gets sick from a waterborne disease".

The Government's new National Policy Statement for freshwater said a river was "excellent for swimming" if it only exceeded the threshold for faecal contamination less than 5 per cent of the time.

"The estimated risk of Campylobacter infection is less than 50 cases in every 1000 exposures," the statement said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Delahunty said the standard had been redefined to allow twice as much faecal contamination in rivers deemed "swimmable", but this claim was strongly rejected by Smith.

Land and Water Forum's science director Ken Taylor said the change to water quality standards was more subtle.

He said the standards would put pressure on councils to clean up the very dirtiest rivers. But they would not put pressure on councils to maintain rivers which were already clean or to improve them to a pristine condition.

Taylor said the Government's policy was "reasonably positive" overall and "a step in the right direction".

Discover more

Opinion

Mark Dye: Waterway plan rubbish

23 Feb 08:53 PM

For the first time, it has set a deadline for all livestock to be excluded from rivers.

The exclusion of stock, which had to be completed by 2030, would require 56,000km of extra fencing - enough to go around the world 1.5 times, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said.

National's new rules for farmers could have risked a backlash from a core voting base in election year. The powerful lobby group Federated Farmers, however, was not immediately critical of the proposals and said they were a "useful next step for freshwater in New Zealand".

Water spokesman Chris Allen said the proposals for excluding stock from rivers "need to be practical".

"This is a critical area for us to get right," he said.

CLEANER RIVERS
-80% of rivers safe for swimming by 2030
-90% of rivers safe for swimming by 2040
-Cost of $2b
-10,000km of rivers to be cleaned up
-56,000km of fencing required to keep stock out of rivers

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

Motueka farmer describes moment his wife got swept away in floodwaters

The Country

'We love you Jocko': Hundreds pay tribute to Stewart Island hunting accident victim

The Country

City to Farm - how leftovers are giving back to the land


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

Motueka farmer describes moment his wife got swept away in floodwaters
The Country

Motueka farmer describes moment his wife got swept away in floodwaters

The couple were trying to move their horses to higher ground.

14 Jul 07:08 PM
'We love you Jocko': Hundreds pay tribute to Stewart Island hunting accident victim
The Country

'We love you Jocko': Hundreds pay tribute to Stewart Island hunting accident victim

14 Jul 04:21 AM
City to Farm - how leftovers are giving back to the land
The Country

City to Farm - how leftovers are giving back to the land

14 Jul 03:16 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP