Voluntary Dirty Streams Accord a roaring success

The voluntary Clean Streams Accord has failed and it’s time to set enforceable water quality standards, Green Party Co-Leader Russel Norman said today.

“Water quality in New Zealand’s rivers and lakes continues to get worse according to all the scientific evidence.

“It’s time for central government to step in with enforceable standards – let’s make our rivers safe for swimming at least. We must stand up to industrial agriculture.

Today the Government released the Clean Streams Accord ‘Snapshot of Progress 2007/8’ report. It shows that 11% of farms continue to flout the law on effluent discharge, in stark contrast to the Accord’s target of full compliance immediately.

“Good farmers deserve better – their bad neighbours must be forced to clean up waterways. We need an even playing-field enforced by a referee, not an unregulated free-for-all.

The Clean Streams Accord, signed in May 2003, aimed to ‘achieve clean healthy water – including streams, rivers, lakes, groundwater, and wetlands – in dairying areas’, Dr Norman said. However:
In the Waikato 75% of waterways tested were unsafe for even stock to drink, let alone humans, and 70% were not safe for swimming.

In Southland damage to the internationally-recognised Waituna Wetland from cow effluent and intensive dairying has required the regional council to employ a special protection officer.

And in Canterbury, bores and spring-fed lowland streams are drying up as the aquifers are drained by dairy irrigation. Today’s report shows that serious non-compliance has vastly increased in Canterbury from 2% last year, to 20% this year.

Even National MP Nick Smith admitted last year that water quality in New Zealand has declined in the time that the voluntary industry Accord has been in place.

Today the Agriculture Minister David Carter said: ‘No farmer has the right to pollute.’

Dr Norman responded, “The Accord has made no meaningful improvement to compliance, and Fonterra proposes to weaken the Accord target of 100% compliance, to just an aim of improving non-compliance by 50% by 2011, after eight years of failure.

“Many farmers are really trying to clean up waterways, but their efforts are being undermined by the industrial farmers that just don’t care.

“We owe it to future generations to pass on clean rives and lakes. We will lose our clean and green reputation – valued by Government at $1.5 billion - if we keep polluting our rivers and lakes.

“Our kids deserve to have the joy of swimming in clean streams like we once did”, Dr Norman said.
The Green Party will question the Minister of Agriculture today in Parliament question-time.