February 23, 2017
New water policy falls short
The Government’s new water policy is being dismissed as sleight of hand that falls well short of what Maori and other stakeholders want.
While the Government has refused to engage with the New Zealand Maori Council on water issues apart from through court and Waitangi Tribunal hearings, officials and ministers have met regularly with the Freshwater Iwi Leaders Group, which is part of the Land and Water Forum.
Now Environment Minister Nick Smith has set a target that 90 per cent of lakes and rivers will reach swimmable water quality standards by 2040.
But the definition of swimmable has changed to tolerate far higher levels of e-coli, campylobacter and other pollutants.
Kevin Hague from Forest and Bird says the Government largely ignored the consensus recommendations made last August by the Land and Water Forum on the issues of human and ecological health.
He says the new policy does not require any improvement to water quality, except for the very worst rivers.
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