Pollution at Lake Ngaroto in Waikato. Photo / Supplied
Pollution at Lake Ngaroto in Waikato. Photo / Supplied
Key points:
45 per cent of lake monitoring sites worsened between 2011 and 2020, with just 36 per cent improving.
45 per cent of New Zealand’s total river length is unswimmable, according due to risk of bacterial infection.
48 per cent of the country’s river network is at least partially inaccessible to migratory fish.
About two-thirds of freshwater native bird species were either threatened with extinction or at risk of becoming threatened in 2021.
More than 4200 reported wastewater overflows in the 12 months from July 2020 to June 2021.
Scientists are accusing Labour of broken promises on improving the dismal state of the country’s lakes and rivers with the latest stocktake painting an “appalling” picture with most measures worsening despite nearly six years in Government.
Environment Minister David Parker meanwhile says some of the statistics are an “indictment” on the country and an “intergenerational challenge” to turn around. He also said as the data used was from 2020 it did not capture the impacts of tighter water regulations that came into force in the latter half of that year.
Our freshwater 2023, produced by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics NZ, shows while there have been some minor improvements, on most measures the country’s freshwater sources are becoming increasingly polluted, further threatening native species on the verge of extinction and causing more people to become sick.
The report, part of a monitoring series produced every three years, found 45 per cent of lake monitoring sites between 2011 and 2020 had become more polluted with nutrients and algae, and 45 per cent of the country’s entire river length was deemed unswimmable due to risk of bacterial infection over the period 2016 to 2020.
The report noted the increasing pressures from changing land use, including still increasing levels of fertiliser being used, intensification of farming - more livestock in smaller spaces - alongside thousands of urban wastewater discharges.
Freshwater scientist and Victoria University senior researcher Dr Mike Joy said Labour had campaigned on turning around the country’s water woes yet had failed to tackle the heart of the problem.
“A lot of people say [freshwater water issues] is what won them the 2017 election, or at least helped National lose.
“Well nothing has improved, because nobody wants to tackle the source of the problem.”
Joy said Labour’s attempts to fix the country’s water woes equated to putting towels around a pot to stop it boiling over.
“Nobody is turning the gas down, and the gas is intensive farming.
“The number one impact on water quality is way too much fertiliser, way too much cattle.”
Joy likened it to the difficulties in getting action on climate change with the economy so tied in with fossil fuels.
“As long we ignore the source nothing is going to change.”
The report itself does shy away from that fact, noting Aotearoa has experienced one of the highest rates of agricultural land intensification over recent decades internationally.
Freshwater scientist Dr Mike Joy. Photo / Alexander Robertson
Between 1996 and 2018, almost 60,000 hectares of exotic grassland was converted from low-producing to high-producing land - an area 2.5 times the size of Abel Tasman National Park.
Urban land swallowing up previously highly-productive land had also contributed to an increase in intensive farming on remaning land.
Dairy cattle numbers increased by 82 per cent nationally from 3.4 million to 6.3 million between 1990 and 2019.
Irrigated land doubled between 2002 and 2019, with around 73 per cent of this increase attributable to dairy intensification.
The report found water quality was more degraded when there was more high-intensity pasture and horticultural land upstream.
The report also identified increased sediment loads - illustrated recently on the East Coast after successive cyclones - where there was land dedicated to pastoral agriculture and plantation forestry upstream.
Dr Tim Chambers of Otago University’s Department of Public Health said the report outlined the “core pressures” that led to the degradation of freshwater, and with it the serious economic, socio-cultural and health implications.
The national ground water monitoring programme shows that 68 per cent and 19 per cent would fail the drinking water standards for bacterial and nitrate contamination, respectively.
For bacterial contamination, 82 per cent of all sites were either getting worse (50 per cent) or showing no improvement (32 per cent). For nitrate, 51 per cent were either getting worse (35 per cent) or not improving (16 per cent).
An estimated 45 per cent of our river length was not suitable for swimming due to bacterial contamination.
In 2017, 1200 people got sick after reporting contact with recreational water.
And more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of groundwater sites monitored failed drinking water standards at least once during the period measured.
“The report does clearly show that further action is required to protect our freshwater for our physical and economic wellbeing,” said Chambers.
Environment Minister David Parker said to have nearly half the country’s rivers deemed unswimmable was an “indictment”.
“It is something that I and most New Zealanders are not prepared to accept.”
On criticisms of Labour’s lack of progress, Parker said because of time lags involved in producing the data, the report mainly covered the period before the launch of the Government’s Essential Freshwater reforms in September 2020.
“The Government said the reforms will take a generation to reverse the damage done to our waterways in the past decades, but we expect to see material change within five years.”
A report on the Essential Freshwater programme would be publised in in the near future, he said.
“Making substantial improvements to water quality is an intergenerational challenge that requires a determined and sustained effort.
“We are now well under way on this massive task, which is at the heart of what we value and upon which we depend as New Zealanders, and so we just need to keep going.”
Green Party environment spokeswoman Eugenie Sage said the report made it clear the Government was not doing enough to ensure rivers, lakes and aquifers were healthy.
“Thousands of us remember growing up swimming in local creeks and rivers.
“Today’s report is yet another reminder that in many parts of the country, people can no longer do that or take kai without risking their health and wellbeing.
“Not only are too many of our lakes and rivers unswimmable, many of the native freshwater fish species that depend on clean rivers, lakes, wetlands, and estuaries are also threatened with extinction.”
Sage said changes to the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management in 2020 - off the back of advocacy from iwi, environmental groups and the Green Party - would have an impact but more change was needed.
“Intensive farming, including the use of synthetic fertiliser, poor land use controls on earthworks for urban subdivision and poor stormwater management continue to be major causes of water pollution.
“The Government needs to progressively phase out synthetic fertiliser use, implement the intensive winter grazing rules, and increase support for regenerative farming practices to reduce nutrient pollution and sediment run-off.”
Greenpeace campaigner Christine Rose said the report highlighted a clear link between intensive agriculture, particularly dairy, and poor water quality.
“Rapid deintensification of the dairy industry is critical to making that change. That means decreasing the number of cows, cutting synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, and transitioning to a way of farming that works with, instead of against, nature.”
Joy said while the report did not shy away and “unflinchingly identifies the appalling state of lowland freshwaters of Aotearoa”, he was disappointed with the statistical reporting quality.
The latest data it uses is from 2020, despite 2023 data existing. He also said it failed to take a more holistic approach, which the authors themselves identified as a data and research gap.
The Government has signalled the new legislation replacing the Resource Management Act (RMA) will help address freshwater pollution issues, which Environment Minister David Parker has likened to “death by a thousand cuts” due to its piecemeal approach.
The new Natural and Built Environments Act would set environmental bottom lines, along with moving from an effects-based approach to one based on outcomes.
Joy said he didn’t think this would have much of a difference as it still ignored the root cause of the pollution.
“It’s the same with Three Waters reforms, none of it tackles the real problem. Dairy is like a religion in this country.”
Ministry for the Environment spokeswoman Natasha Lewis said while freshwater ecosystems and water quality were improving in some places and for some measures, others were worsening.
“Many lakes, rivers and other water bodies are under pressure, mostly due to the way we’re using land and water, and from the changing climate,” she said.
Statistics NZ spokesman Jason Attewell said the report provided evidence-based data to enable informed decision-making and prompt discussion about the present and future.
