Tony's Story
Down here, you’d be forgiven for thinking we don’t have a problem with water. We have some of the most spectacular lakes and rivers in the world, but they can’t stay that way unless we treat them right.
Our water
Fresh water is part of our national identity. Clean fresh running water is something we feel connected to, something we expect will be there forever. Clean fresh running water supports life and our way of life. Our rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands are among our most valued natural assets.
We have lots of fresh water, but we are finally reaching the point many other countries reached a while ago – where we have to worry about how much water we have, how it is used, what is polluting it, and how we better protect our rivers, lakes and streams from what we do on the land. In some places we want water for so many conflicting reasons that we will need to make decisions we haven’t faced before.
We want to be able to use some water and leave some water wild and free, but as we drain off more and more for our use, the pool of water left is shrinking.
Water availability
Approximately two-thirds of the world is covered in water, but only 1% of that is available for drinking. New Zealand, like the rest of the world, only has a certain amount of water, so we need to use it carefully. In the last few years some areas have experienced water shortages, but by being smarter about how we use water we can make sure that doesn’t happen.
Freshwater can be found in two places, underground (groundwater) and above ground (surface water). Some deep groundwater aquifers have been underground for up to 10’000 years. Surface water includes things such as lakes, rivers and reservoirs. In New Zealand, the water from our taps often comes from reservoirs, which are essentially lakes created by building a dam in a river to store water.
Water availability problems occur when water demand outstrips supply and the water cycle is unable to keep up. Many of New Zealand’s water needs occur when our rivers are low, like in the middle of summer.
Visit in your community to learn more about what you can do to help preserve water quantity where you live.
Water quality
While allocating water wisely is difficult, controlling and protecting water quality is harder still. People expect our waters to be clean. Sometimes they aren’t.
Rivers and lakes are affected by whatever we do on the land. When it rains, oil and rubbish on the roads is washed down storm water drains. Fertiliser and animal dung on farms runs into streams. It all ends up in our rivers, lakes and estuaries. As land is used for towns, farming, forestry and horticulture our rivers, lakes and streams have to cope with increasing levels of pollution, bacteria, silt, fertilisers and animal dung.
Visit in your community to learn more about what you can do to help protect water quality where you live.
Ways we manage water
The Sustainable Water Programme of Action
As New Zealand’s freshwater comes under growing pressure, Government is working with local government, sector and interest groups on a dynamic new approach to water management.
The Sustainable Water Programme of Action was established in 2003 to ensure freshwater resources are managed and used in ways that support New Zealand’s long-term sustainable development. After an extensive public consultation process in early 2005, the Government has decided to take a three-pronged approach to improving the water management framework including:
- Building partnerships with local government, industry, Maori, science agencies and providers, and rural and urban communities.
- Managing the undesirable effects of land use on water quality.
- Providing for the increasing demands on water resources and encouraging efficient water management.
Actions to achieve each of these objectives have been proposed as part of the Sustainable Water Programme of Action.
Visit the Sustainable Water Programme of Action webpages to find out more.
Regional councils manage our fresh water. Under the Resource Management Act (RMA), councils have to decide how much water our rivers need to survive and for the living things in the rivers to thrive. That’s the line in the sand against which any request to use water is measured.
The RMA allows councils to plan how they will manage fresh water. These plans can control how much fresh water can be taken for specific uses (such as irrigation), they guide whether anything can be put down pipes into rivers and lakes, and they say how some water will be protected for cultural and recreational reasons.