River league tables 'to lift water quality'

The newly introduced league tables for river quality will help the government intervene and improve water quality, Environment Minister Nick Smith says.

The three tables will rank 77 of the country's rivers on their quality for recreational use, nutrient concentration, and biological contents.

South Canterbury's Waitaki, Opihi and Opuha rivers all rank in the top half in all three categories, with the Waitaki having the lowest level of unwanted nutrients out of all the monitored rivers.

Dr Smith told the Timaru Herald the league tables were part of a greater initiative to get involved in water quality issues.

"At the moment there are a number of different researches done by the Ministry of Environment, Statistics New Zealand and Niwa. All produce data and research on water quality, but we thought it was important to produce something that was easy to follow and not such a bureaucratic mush."

Dr Smith said for too long, government had taken a back seat to the regional authorities in addressing water quality issues.

Environment Canterbury monitoring director Ken Taylor said the tables did not give much information by themselves.

"They're a pretty crude measurement, as they ignore a lot of the context of what's being done to improve the water quality in the rivers, or the external conditions.

"If you look at the tables, it suggests Canterbury is doing okay, but it ignores a lot of the things we might be working on," he said.

He said most of the tools needed to address rivers and water quality were available in the regional council's river management plans.

- © Fairfax NZ News