Don Farmer
Fears are held that Lake Onoke for centuries one of Wairarapa's largest seafood harvesting areas is dead, having fallen victim to gross pollution being fed into it from the Ruamahanga River.
A workshop held in Greytown and attended by district and regional councillors, Department of Conservation staff and personnel from MAF discussed the plight of the lake and this has led to a late submission on resource consents being sought for Masterton's sewerage upgrade.
It is being prepared by South Wairarapa District Council and is likely to be accompanied by a submission from the council's Maori standing committee.
The state of the Ruamahanga River has been in the headlines lately since Consumer Magazine published research into water quality at swimming spots throughout the country.
On a scale of 1 to 10 this showed the Ruamahanga was badly polluted.
Featherston ward councillor Dean Davies, who was at the Greytown meeting, said on Friday Lake Wairarapa and Onoke were national treasures that needed to be looked after.
Council submissions to Greater Wellington Regional Council, is charged with issuing resource consents for the Masterton sewerage scheme, would state the time has come "to start looking at the way we behave".
Mr Davies said to save the river and lakes it was no good sitting on your hands.
"We have got to do something and its not just district councils discharging effluent to the river, its also farm run-off and nutrients from fertiliser application.
"It's more than just flushing the toilet although at the workshop someone did say in Masterton people seem to just flush and forget."
Perry Cameron, a businessman who lives in rural Featherston, has spoken at community board meetings throughout South Wairarapa.
Mr Cameron wants Masterton's consent applications to be returned to them so that much wider consultation can start with its sister district councils, the department of conservation, people living along the river, iwi and residents of Lake Ferry.
He told the community boards Lake Onoke is an historic food gathering source with flounder, whitebait, eels, cod, trout and in recent years wild salmon being harvested from it.
It is also home to wildfowl and borders Onoke Spit, the breeding ground for the endangered Caspian Tern.
Mr Cameron is urging the regional council to pass back the consent application to Masterton District Council for consultation and research into "potential impacts of discharge on water quality, fish and game stocks in Lake Onoke and the establishment of a monitoring means for the lake for bacteria, nutrients, water clarity and phytoplankton biomass".
Among the submissions on Masterton's sewerage plans is one from a senior Greater Wellington Regional Council manager.
Ian Gunn has lodged the submission opposing the applications in their entirety.
His submission, along with about 30 others, will be heard by a three-man panel of independent commissioners in Masterton in late February.
Among the points Mr Gunn will make in his submission is his concern that border dyke irrigation is still part of the proposal and his concern is based on past experience of that method having been used by the now defunct Waingawa Freezing Works, and its impact on shallow groundwater.
Grave fears for lake's health
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