Public expectations on water need to be realistic

So says Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith.

He says people need to understand that all our water bodies have different issues – be they nutrients, bacteria or sediment. Smith says overall water quality in NZ is very good.

"When I hear people saying that every water body must be swimmable those are slogans rather than substance and slogans will not improve water quality," he told Rural News. "Not every water body in NZ was swimmable before people arrived in NZ.

"The reality is that every water body in a flood will have faecal coliforms counts that make them unsafe to swim."

Smith says the science around water quality is challenging because each of our water bodies have different issues and that there is no single, magic bullet fix for a complex problem. He says another issue – which is hard to communicate – is the hydrological cycle.

This refers to the time it takes for deep ground water to flow from point A to B. In some cases, it can take between 20 to 80 years for the effects of pollution to show up. He says in Nelson ground water polluted by a pig farm resulted in a local council having to spend $13 million on a new treatment plant.

The proposal to take the issue of managing stock exclusions away from regional councils may surprise some.

However, Smith says councils have been struggling with the complexity and politics of fresh water management.

"But I also think that central governments needs to put its hand up and say we have not provided sufficiently clear national direction," he says.