A plan to improve the water quality of the Waikato and Waipā Rivers has taken another significant step in its 12-year journey so far towards becoming operative.
Late Wednesday (May 28) the Environment Court released a 376-page interim decision, giving the Waikato Regional Council until July 25 to propose amendments that take into account feedback from parties who appealed the groundbreaking plan which will emerge from the change process.
The court has indicated it will likely reconvene the hearing in September to consider the proposed amendments.
In a media statement WRC chief executive Chris McLay said the plan change process was complex and time would be needed for staff to digest the interim decision and address the 35 directions made by the court.
“The policies and rules are still not operative, but this interim decision takes the plan change one step closer. For farmers and growers, it means there’s no action required right now until a final determination by the court,” Mr McLay said.
Proposed Waikato Regional Plan Change 1 is the first step in an 80-year journey to achieve rivers with improved water quality, that are safe for food gathering along their entire length and meet the requirements of Te Ture Whaimana o Te Awa o Waikato (Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River).
The change to the Waikato Regional Plan, which has been developed with community input, is to allow for the management of nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment and bacteria in the Waikato and Waipā rivers.
Rules have been designed to manage both point source discharges (such as sewage from towns and waste from factories) and non-point source discharges linked to agriculture.
A decisions version of the proposed plan change that considered 1100 individual submissions, was notified in April 2020 and subsequently appealed by a number of parties. It is these appeals the Environment Court has now made interim decisions on.
More information about proposed plan change is available at waikatoregion.govt.nz/healthyrivers.
The council says the region’s rivers are showing the signs of being affected by contaminants, with an increase in algal blooms and decrease in swimmability.
The longer the wait to address these effects, the harder and more expensive they will be to fix.
