September 28, 2017
Water talk wins praise from resource lawyers
Waikato Regional Council’s Let’s Talk Water community discussion has won it a top award from the Resource Management Law Association.
Council chair Alan Livingston says while water quality and allocation have become issues of national interest, the discussion has lacked in detail and possible solutions.
That is why there has been a huge interest in the council's freshwater strategy work, including from policy and law people at the weekend RMLA conference.
The Let’s Talk Water discussion and further consultation with iwi and regional stakeholders led to the adoption in June of the fresh water strategy.
Examples of problems the strategy is designed to address include the fact major rivers like the Waikato and Piako are now fully allocated.
At many freshwater sites around the region bacteria levels exceed safe swimming standards.
The strategy provided an integrated foundation to develop a new set of water management tools.
Copyright © 2017, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com