No unworkable rules on water quality – Smith

It would be impractical to have a national rule that all water bodies be swimmable all the time, he says.

“Most of our rivers breach the 540 E. coli count required for swimming during heavy rainfall.

“Water bodies like the Washdyke Lagoon in Canterbury and Lake Papaitonga in Manawatu are home to many birds whose E. coli make it impossible to meet the swimming standard without a massive bird cull.

“There are also rivers associated with geothermal activity that makes water quality unsuitable for swimming.”

Smith says we also need to be open about the cost of regulations on communities and the fact that many water bodies have long hydrological cycles that mean it is a long time before we see improvement.

“The government is open to strengthening the national requirements on swimmability and has the Land and Water Forum working on options. A lot of work is going into understanding the proportion of time our waterbodies meet the E. coli standards for swimming and how we can ensure it is improved.”

But Fish & Game says the government has failed all New Zealanders by refusing to commit itself to higher freshwater standards, such as making it safe to swim in rivers.

Environmental organisations including Fish & Game have been campaigning for the government to improve the country’s water quality standards by lifting the present ‘wadeable’ requirement to ‘swimmable’.

Fish & Game chief executive Bryce Johnson says the government isn’t aiming high enough and the minister’s comments let down all NZers.

“The government is out of step with the public on protecting our waterways. People have made it clear they want rivers, lakes and streams safe to swim in and gather food from,” says Johnson.

He criticises the minister’s claim that the government can’t set a swimmable standard for freshwater because of flooded rivers.

“I am flabbergasted by the minister’s claims. He is trying to hoodwink the public by claiming that because flooded rivers aren’t swimmable we can’t have a swimmable standard for water quality. We should be talking about rivers when they are not flooded as this is when most people go swimming.

“This is cynical politics. Who in their right mind wants to swim in a raging flooded river?

“People want to be able to swim in a river during summer while relaxing with their friends and family. Surely, that isn’t too much to ask.”

Johnson also dismisses the minister’s claim that the only way to make some waterways safe for swimming would be to cull the birds that live there.