Water protection a juggling act for councils

By ANDRA NEELEY

Farmers, particularly dairy farmers, are coming under pressure over the impact of their activities on water resources.

Recent debate in Canterbury has seen battle lines drawn between the region's Fish and Game Council and the Canterbury Regional Council over dairy farm expansion.

The regional council is charged by the Resource Management Act with ensuring that the environment is not put at risk by activities in its area.

Fish and Game is challenging the council's decisions over water allocation and effluent disposal on dairy farms in the face of deteriorating habitat and water quality in rivers.

Water is a vital resource for all members of society. Farmers have no automatic right to pollute, and they have no legal mandate to use water at the expense of others.

Environment Waikato recently conducted a survey to test community opinion about key areas of environmental management.

The survey approach is carried out regularly and this year it was particularly useful because the council had embarked on its new strategic plan.

Strategic planning is a difficult exercise required by statute to ensure that both regional and territorial councils have longterm plans and goals against which they can be measured by their constituents and the Government.

Not surprisingly, the survey showed an increasing concern about environmental issues.

Given that those surveyed are randomly selected, their concerns can be given considerable weight.

To balance this, however, it must be remembered that surveys require unqualified responses; they measure attitudes not facts; and they can mirror people's wishes but not necessarily their actions.

Most importantly, they do not match people's concerns and expectations with their willingness to pay.

The survey showed water quality continued to be the main concern of rural users. That level of concern rose from 27 per cent in 1998 to 37 per cent this year.

Further, 72 per cent of respondents indicated they were concerned about water pollution from farmland.

For the regional council, the survey gives guidance on some of its initiatives to improve water quality. Its proposed riparian scheme would involve finance from the region's surplus capital fund, previously used to inflation-proof the fund, being used to assist landowners to retire and plant land along waterways.

This is one of several water quality activities outlined in the strategic plan that will require extra money. All of them will have an impact on rural landowners.

The protection of the pristine water quality of Lake Taupo has a large impact on the types of land uses in the catchment.

Denying landowners the unhindered choice of activity on their property is a serious step, and one that no governing authority takes lightly. But it is undeniably part of their legal obligations.

Another major water quality and soil conservation initiative is Project Watershed, a rating scheme for flood protection, river management and soil conservation over the entire Waikato River catchment.

Initial estimates show there is a need to spend an extra $2.4 million a year on these activities.

Meeting a community's aspirations within its ability to pay will be a challenge for any regional council.

Landowners will need to acknowledge the pressures on them and work positively to ensure they are part of winning solutions.

* Andra Neeley is a farmer and Waikato regional councillor.