Action for Freshwater

Last month we attended a NZ Government Consultation evening in Christchurch hosted by The Hon Dr Nick Smith, Minister for the Environment. It was pleasing to hear him acknowledge that “Freshwater is New Zealands greatest natural resource”. It was concerning to hear how long the Minister is planning to take to address some of the issues currently impacting our freshwater in New Zealand. There are certainly many different groups, often with polarising views on how we should protect and manage our Freshwater. These groups all have strong opinions on how we should manage our Freshwater. We are of the opinion that we need to protect our current water quality and work as much as possible to improve it. The current government minimum water standard is “Suitable for Boating and Wading” … we think it is possible to boat and wade in a sewer pond. Therefore we give this ‘goal’ an ‘F’ rating… ‘F’ for … Frankly not meeting the standards most Kiwi’s would expect. Granted this statement is a little inflammatory but the point is extremely relevant. Lets aim for a water quality that we can be proud of … We support raising the minimum standard to swimmable to safeguard the health of New Zealanders, current and future! If you feel passionately about protecting this precious resource now and for the future what can you do?  We recommend following https://www.facebook.com/choosecleanwaternz/

and making a submission that Forest and Bird have set up:

http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/campaigns/freshwater-for-life/submission

Please take 5 mins to do this. Every message they hear that demands ‘swimmable’ as the minimum standard is powerful.

We are strongest together. ‪#‎wechoosecleanwater‬