Horizons: Better water key

Improving the quality of water in rivers, lakes and streams is Horizons' top priority, the regional council said as the hearing on the water section of the proposed One Plan got under way in Palmerston North.

About 40 people, including a large contingent of farmers, scientists, as well as Fonterra solicitors and scientists were there to hear the first of Horizons' staff and its legal counsel go through the One Plan's reason for being.

The water hearing, in front of a panel of two independent commissioners and two Horizons' councillors, began last week.

The topics covered in the hearing are water quality, farm strategy, water allocation, ground water as well as beds of rivers and lakes.

It is hard to balance the regulatory and non-regulatory approach to cleaner water, but Horizons believes the One Plan meets the community's need for a cleaner environment, while at the same time recognising farming runs the economy.

Greg Carlyon, a group manager at Horizons, believed the balance was about right.

"Existing non-regulatory approaches by Horizons and industry [eg, Fonterra's dairying and clean streams accord] to address non-point source pollution have met with limited success."He said the voluntary nature of the initiatives has meant only the better performers responded.

"Without Horizons taking a regulatory approach, water quality will continue to decline. Compulsory enforcement is the only way to get the small group, which hasn't responded to voluntary initiatives, moving."

While farmer lobby groups believed the proposed One Plan unworkably tight, Horizons said others felt the policies were too lenient and the time frame too long.

Horizons estimates 80-90 per cent of nitrogen in rivers is run-off from farms.

Nutrients cause weed growth and deterioration of water quality for fish and recreation.

"The degradation in the rivers – the big one is farming, and it is mostly dairy. And we are looking at further intensification."

Mr Carlyon said Horizons' existing policy was inadequate for dealing with the current water quality situation let alone the enormous potential that exists in the region for further intensification.

Horizons chief executive Michael McCartney said targets in the One Plan will have positive impacts on all waterways in the Horizons region.

"Our One Plan journey began almost seven years ago, at a time when demand for water in our region made it obvious that we needed new policies around water allocation," he said. The One Plan combines seven major planning and policy statements into a single document.

"In the end, it is this independent panel that will make the decisions. But first, they need to balance a mountain of information, including scientific reports and academic research, with the opinions of a variety of commercial organisations and environmental lobby groups. This is the panel's challenge."

Public consultation over the One Plan began in 2004 and just under 600 submissions were received by the end of the submission period in 2007.

Farming groups want a non-regulatory approach and are afraid the One Plan will bring the need for a "consent to farm". Some farmers believe the land now is carrying no more stock than it has in the past. They are concerned nutrient requirements will force some to cut cow numbers, making farms uneconomic.

The panel is expected to finish the water hearing in late March.

Submissions from Federated Farmers, Manawatu and Tararua farmers, power companies, Fonterra, and Horticulture New Zealand will be heard when the panel sits in February.

- © Fairfax NZ News