Minister praises water plan

Bay of Plenty Regional Council senior land management officer Richard Mallinson on Lake Rotoehu. Photo / Stephen Parker

Environment Minister Nick Smith says the Rotorua community is leading the way when it comes to some of the partnerships developed to help address lake water quality issues - but has urged them not to stop.

Dr Smith was one of the guest speakers on the first day of the Rotorua Lakes Symposium 2015 yesterday. The symposium, titled lake weed and wallabies, continues today.

Dr Smith said the work being done in Rotorua, and the work of the Lake Water Quality Society, was so considerable that other communities were looking at emulating it.

Others were inspired by the vision, sector engagement and long-term drive of the organisation.

Dr Smith said times had changed from a decade ago where there was "an uncomfortable level of complacency" towards fresh water issues. He said politicians were now actively involved in the challenging issue.

He said he wanted to see incentives and policies for groups to work together to find a solution to water quality issues "taking the collaborative model that has been successfully used in areas like Rotorua" and provide framework in the Resource Management Act reforms for that collaboration.

Dr Smith said he also wanted to see a formal statutory process for environmental reporting.

He said an independent reporting system would have the extra advantage of giving communities a chance to look at the health of their lakes and rivers.

He said while Rotorua should be hugely proud of the work that was being done, but that didn't mean the work was over.

"Nature's clock ticks far slower that ours, this is a long haul game ... Please don't take your foot off the accelerator. We have a long way to go."

Visiting expert Dr John Madsen, who is a research biologist with the Agricultural Research Service based at the University of California, said he had been impressed by what he had seen in terms of the collaboration between science and policy and management.

"I'm impressed with how well people seem to be working together and the level of scientific input into the policy."

Dr Madsen said he was impressed lakes groups were analysing the problems and developing multiple solutions.

"That's all very positive."

He said America was certainly dealing with similar weed problems.

His advice to those working on the issue locally - "consider all the options". He said they should use science to develop new approaches and look and new policy solutions to reduce the problem.