Water Quality Report Fits With Council Strategy

A report on water monitoring programmes in Hawke’s Bay has recommended more investigations to gain further understanding about water quality.
Following public concern about the state of the Tukituki River, a review of water monitoring programmes was commissioned by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, which developed the terms of reference in association with the environmental advocacy group, Hawke’s Bay Environmental Water Group (HBEWG). HBEWG has been lobbying Council for better water quality in the Tukituki River in particular over the past few years.
“The Water Group wanted to be sure that Council was doing the monitoring as well as it possibly could, and at the Council we also wanted to see if we were doing enough work in this area,” said Council’s manager environmental science, Graham Sevicke-Jones.
“The outcome of the review by NIWA scientist, Kit Rutherford, provides us with good direction, and the public with a higher level of reassurance.”
The review report confirms that Council staff have sound technical competence and that sampling methods are well documented, with results analysed, written up and archived in a professional manner.
The report also comments favourably on the positive relationship that has developed between the Council and HBEWG, stating that the group has an advocacy role in the broader sense.
While the current programmes are satisfactory, the report recommends that the Council needs to do more work to gain specific information when there are recreational water quality problems at ‘hot spots’ along the Tukituki River.
NIWA also advises that Council add more water quality investigation programmes and analysis to better understand the interaction between land and water, and the impacts of dry land agriculture on waterways. More work is also recommended to understand the link between water allocation and water quality.
“These recommendations fit precisely with the strategic direction that Council has been working towards over the past year. In the draft Ten Year Plan, Council is proposing more work in water quality as this is such a critical resource for the region’s future.”