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New push on freshwater reform
How much should we raise the bar for the worst waterways in the country?
This is question the Ministry for the Environment says it has set out to answer with its newly proposed "national bottom lines" for water quality.
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Rakaia River - Image Credit: Andrew Cooper
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A discussion document released Thursday provides enforceable numerical limits for the first time for a selection of indicators of ecosystem and human health in lakes and rivers. Around 60 scientists were involved in expert review panels that worked out the finer details, which were run past end user groups to test feasibility before being finalised.
As currently proposed, the bottom lines provide for:
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80% of freshwater species protected from impacts on growth
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less that 5% risk of E. coli infection from wading or boating
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moderate impacts from excess plant and algal growth
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moderate stress on aquatic life from dissolved oxygen levels
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periodic nuisance blooms; low risk of health effects from cyanobacteria
Nationally, there are 26 monitored lakes that fail to meet one or more of the bottom lines. As much as 10% of river sites may breach bottom lines in some regions, such as the Manawatu-Wanganui.
In places where water quality exceeds the bottom lines, councils will still be required "to maintain or improve the overall water quality" within their region. Exceptions to the bottom lines may be granted for existing infrastructure, such as dams and legacy sites, where these are deemed to have "significant economic benefits" that would not be realised otherwise.
Freshwater scientists involved in the review process have had a largely positive response to the outcomes.
"The report is a culmination of many people's efforts over the last two years and represents an important step in the plan for improved freshwater management that was devised by the Land and Water Forum, said Dr Roger Young, freshwater ecologist at the Cawthron Institute.
"I'm particularly pleased to see recognition of the strong connection between what happens on the land and potential effects on the coastal environment"
However, other freshwater experts who did not participate in the science review have questioned the absence of key indicators for rivers, saying that appropriate measures to protect rivers were "completely absent."
"There is extensive evidence that nitrogen limits, phosphorus limits, MCI (biological invertebrate health measure), IBI (fish health measure), and deposited sediment are important environmental bottom lines in rivers, but where are they in the mix?" asked Dr Russell Death, Massey University.
Prof Jenny Webster-Brown, Director of Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management welcomed the numerical limits as a "major step forward," but cautioned against an "alarming trend towards complexity"
"Relatively simple concepts are being made more obscure through the use of unfamiliar terminology. Referring to 'water management units' in place of water bodies or catchments, for example, does nothing to make this process more transparent to the communities involved in the decision-making processes."
She also highlighted the lack of nutrient limits for rivers and the omission of limits for trace toxic contaminants that she says are "not currently effectively controlled."
Read full comments from freshwater experts on our website.
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