Locals from Tauranga’s Waitao community gathered together last month to celebrate and see the 2016 National River Story Award that they won at the Morgan Foundation River Awards ceremony in Wellington earlier in November. Click here for the full article. Video created by the NZ Rivers Trust and the Morgan Foundation about the Waitao community’s work to care for their local river. Other kaupapa at a national level Safe swimming data now online - Do you want to know what areas are safe for swimming in the Bay of Plenty? Now you can find out, with the launch of ‘Can I swim here?’ data on New Zealand’s leading environmental monitoring website. The December 19 launch on the Land, Air, Water, Aotearoa (LAWA) website allows people to check where the best swimming spots are in their region and how they rank for water quality. It coincides with the start of Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s summer water quality testing. This annual monitoring of popular Bay swimming spots will continue until March 2017. Regional council environmental scientist Paul Scholes says it is undertaken every summer to check how safe each spot is for swimming. “We regularly take samples between November and March, monitoring more than 80 river and stream, lake, beach and estuary sites. We also monitor water quality at popular recreational river spots between November and April.” Water quality affects everyone, Paul says. “While the Bay of Plenty’s water quality is generally good, bacteria such as algae bloom and e-coli can affect swimmability.” Water quality is one of the regional council’s outcomes, and to help with monitoring it has appointed a dedicated recreational bathing assistant to support the environmental science team over summer. Last year it also established a Water Programme of Action, which details activities and projects focused on managing the Bay of Plenty’s freshwater resources. Regional Sector Group - Re-elected Bay of Plenty Regional Council Chair Douglas Leeder has been appointed Chair of the Regional Sector Group (RSG). Details on the role of the group can be found on the LGNZ website. The Water Directorate that includes Ministry for Primary Industries and Ministry for the Environment in conjunction with primary sector and regional councils are looking to progress a pan sector accord on good management practice accord. The work will identify risks and mitigation options as well as appropriated for land owners. It will enable Regional Council to present a co-ordinated response to you our ratepayers to increase your confidence on how we are managing our water resource in the Bay of Plenty region. Research by Dairy NZ continues to produce positive results on “Forage systems to reduce Nitrate leaching”. Tuna Sculpture at Lake AniwaniwaThis tuna sculpture was part of the play ground equipment opened on Saturday 27 November at Lake Aniwaniwa, formerly known as Lake Aniwhenua, when the last stages of the Holly Davis Memorial Playground opened. Regional Council supported the community's efforts with the tuna sculpture. Regional Council Chair, Douglas Leeder said this is a great opportunity to spread the message about water quality and quantity. "Freshwater - our rivers, lakes, streams and ground water is our most valuable natural assets. What happens on the land affects the water, and everyone (both urban and rural) has a part to play in ensuring the water quality and quantity in the Bay of Plenty is sustainably managed for our requirements both now and in the future". Holly Davis Memorial Playground is situated at the Lake Aniwhenua Camping Area off Galatea Road. Data Services- tidal flow survey carried out as part of the monitoring requirements for Kaituna re-diversion project, another to be done once conditions are suitable. - Sampling water at beaches where we swim will happen over summer; - done 1045 physical flow measurements in rivers and streams over the last financial year; - accepted 6100 samples (38200 tests); - six new monitoring sites installed over the last financial year. Integrated Catchments Council’s Science, Data Services and Kaituna Catchments Teams completed a catchment-wide survey of water quality at over 150 sites in November. They were joined by Hohepa Maxwell from Tapuika Iwi Authority and Barry Roderick (pictured above) from the Freshwater Futures Community Group in surveying a number of the low-lying drains. The BOPRC laboratory accepted 370 samples in the 4 days the survey was running (normally we get about 600 a month). The results from this survey will be used to target incentives work by our Land Management Officers and to provide input data to the surface water model being developed for Plan Change 12 to implement the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management. - Work to create and restore wetlands continues at Maketū, Te Tumu, Te Puke and in the Pongakawa. - Partnerships between landowners and Council have protected 39.6km of waterway margin in the Kaituna – Pongakawa – Waitahanui area in the past year. More information about the work happening out in these water management areas can be found here. Proposed Change 3 to the Regional Policy Statement Rangitāiki River Submissions to Proposed Change 3 (Rangitāiki River) closed on 23 November with a total of 19 received.The proposed change will recognise and provide for the vision, objectives and desired outcomes of the Rangitāiki River Forum – the journey of Te Ara Whānui o Rangitāiki – Pathways of the Rangitāiki. Proposed Change 9 to the Regional Water and Land Plan Region-wide Water Quantity Submissions closed 14 December with over just under 80 received, this includes late submissions. The proposed changes will help water users understand if they need a resource consent to take water and potential metering requirements. For more information about Plan Change 9 click here. Rangitāiki & Kaituna-Pongakawa-Waitahanui (KPW) Water Management Areas We’re working towards specific water quality and quantity objectives, limits and methods and these will be discussed in greater detail in mid to late 2017. We held workshops with our community groups recently to ask them to consider "what is happening to our in-river freshwater values and how acceptable is this?". Rangitāiki update here. KPW update here. Staff will prepare and publicly notify the availability of summaries of all submissions received for proposed changes 3 and 9. |