John
Key: Our rivers are in “good shape”
"A
staggering 74 per cent of New Zealand's native freshwater fish
species are in danger of extinction.
"Compare
that to the global average of 37 per cent and you are pushing it to
say, as John Key recently stated, that our rivers are actually in
"good shape"."
Canterbury
facing 'chronic ecosystem failure' without action, ecologist warns
23
May, 2015
SUPPLIED
Fish
& Game says its new report shows ECan has failed to adequately
protect our streams, rivers and lakes.
OPINION: I
sit here, high on the flanks of Hutchinson's bluff, Raoul Island,
Rangitahua – New Zealand's northernmost island – and
best described by Arthur Bowes Smyth on the first European discovery
as a tiny speck "in the midst of a prodigious sea".
I'm
perched above Western Springs, one of only two places on the island
where freshwater springs from the volcanic earth. I watch as it pools
behind a tiny concrete dam, fills some slapped-together fish bins
with simple plumbing, and travels onwards 3 kilometres down
towards our base.
This
20mm pipe running at a humble 8 litres per minute keeps our water
tanks full with more freshwater than we need, and here, as in many
places in Canterbury, you turn on the tap and clean clear freshwater
flows out on demand.
STACY
SQUIRES/FAIRFAX NZ
Lake
Forsyth on Banks Peninsula has had toxic algae blooms since January
and is in worse health than it has been in recent years.
As
I marvel at the simplicity of this setup, I am aware that even here,
in this far flung outpost, it's all too easy to take it for granted.
READ
MORE:
* Canterbury's poisonous Lake Forsyth kills sheep
* ECan has 'significant concerns' with Govt proposal to clean up lakes
* Drinking water under watch
* 'Progress' on water quality has been in the wrong direction
* How to break Canterbury's water stalemate
* Canterbury's poisonous Lake Forsyth kills sheep
* ECan has 'significant concerns' with Govt proposal to clean up lakes
* Drinking water under watch
* 'Progress' on water quality has been in the wrong direction
* How to break Canterbury's water stalemate
My
experience is in stark contrast to that of the Bell family, whose 30
year-long struggle to settle this island in the late 1800s is
recounted in their legendary book Crusoes
of Sunday Island.
Theirs tells a story of what life would be like here if it weren't
for our reliable supply of clean fresh water. A struggle, to survive,
let alone grow food, keep animals and support a growing family.
STACY
SQUIRES/FAIRFAX NZ
Signs
warn of toxins at Canterbury's Lake Forsyth.
News
from the mainland comes through our satellite internet connection as
steady as our water, and as a freshwater ecologist marooned by water
a good deal saltier than what I'm familiar with, I find myself
catching up on the headlines and happenings through concerned
colleagues and friends.
It
makes for depressing reading. Cattle continue to have access to
defecate in and trample streams, Lake Forsyth's killer toxicity and
our almost flippant sale of our diminishing pristine aquifer water to
corporate bottling companies are among other latest disastrous local
government decisions and actions that have got tongues and tempers
a-wagging over freshwater.
It's
much needed attention for the freshwater world. New Zealand's
freshwater crisis is nowhere so pronounced as in Canterbury.
ENVIRONMENT
CANTERBURY
Lake
Forsyth, on Canterbury's Banks Peninsula, can appear to be a
stunning water resource.
Our
extensive aquifers, world renowned braided river systems and lowland
rivers and streams are under relentless pressure from development,
particularly that of large scale irrigation and land conversion to
dairy. Our national freshwater statistics include New Zealand having
the highest rates per capita of coliform enteritis, campylobacter,
cryptosporidium and salmonella in the OECD.
Not
surprising when we consider that Canterbury's cow census for 2015 put
us at 1.2 million cows – a conservative effluent equivalent of
over 16 million people, but without the sewage treatment plants.
Fishing
and swimming are already widely restricted due to faecal
contamination and toxic cyanobacteria blooms (such as in Lake
Forsyth), which thrive in the increasingly high temperatures our
dwindling rivers and lakes provide; and the pollution of drinking
water is climbing steadily in our rural areas where residents pump
water from their own shallow aquifer bores.
Pregnant
women and mothers in some rural areas have been warned by Canterbury
District Health Board not to use their water to bottle-feed their
infants as the nitrogen level in the water may be so high that it
could disrupt their baby's ability to uptake oxygen effectively
resulting in "blue baby syndrome".
A
staggering 74 per cent of New Zealand's native freshwater fish
species are in danger of extinction.
Compare
that to the global average of 37 per cent and you are pushing it
to say, as John Key recently stated, that our rivers are
actually in "good shape".
If
the creatures that evolved to live in our rivers and streams can no
longer survive in them then we have a chronic ecosystem failure that
will take much more than denial, boyish smiles and empty platitudes
to make any tangible improvements.
Both
central and local government need to wise up to the fact that we
cannot "collaborate" away environmental limits.
"Wise" does
not appear to be their strongpoint.
The Government
last week announced $312,000 of funding from Nathan Guy's
Ministry for Primary Industries' Irrigation Acceleration Fund for
ECan to conduct a series of aquifer recharge trials in Hinds,
diverting Rangitata water towards the aquifers to essentially "water
down" and dilute the high levels of nitrogen in the
catchment.
In
2010, emeritus professor Walter Clark, HOD at the University of
Canterbury's Zoology Department, sounded inThe
Press a
warning emphasising that we cannot predict the effects of many of our
actions when it comes to groundwater.
He
questioned at the time when our then newly-appointed commissioners
were taking the reigns, the logic of pouring vast quantities of dung
and urine onto our soil and then attempting to "water it in".
"Will
we so load the water under porous soils with organic matter that its
decomposition will use up the oxygen and asphyxiate the
stygofauna (the creatures which clean our water)?"
Six
years later, it appears we are comfortable with going in blind on
this one.
With
the certainty of an uncertain future that climate change will bring,
how do we reduce the vulnerability of ourselves, our children and our
grandchildren in a future where access to clean water will be
increasingly critical?
Are
we content leading future generations towards suffering and hardship
that we and our predecessors have never before faced, without even
the guarantee of reliable freshwater?
Will
the Government respond with robust regulatory limits, as advised
by the scientific community, that make serious progress towards
cleaning up our mess, recognising that our entire wellbeing and
future economy rests upon decisions made now? Or will we continue to
play pretend?
From
here, high on the slopes of Raoul Island the horizon dips away, the
ocean stretching out in every direction. Water, water everywhere, but
aside from this fortuitous freshwater spring, not a drop to drink.
Canterbury's
freshwater resources are the bare bones of what allows our
communities to survive, let alone thrive, and that is something
history suggests we dare not take for granted.
Lan
Pham is a freshwater ecologist and Director of Working Waters Trust,
an organisation dedicated to freshwater education and conservation.
When she is not marooned on Raoul island, she lives in Christchurch
and works with landowners, schools, community groups and iwi
throughout Canterbury, Southland and Otago.
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