Have your say on lake water quality

For immediate release: Friday 10 August 2007

After three years of science, research, reports and meetings, it’s time to have your say on the plans for restoring and protecting three of our region’s lakes.

The Proposed Lakes Rotorua & Rotoiti Action Plan, a programme for the long-term restoration of the lakes’ water quality, and the Proposed Lake Rotoehu Action Plan are open for submissions.

Environment Bay of Plenty’s Environmental Planner Andrew Wharton says it’s great to see the action plans open for public comment.

“Local politicians, working party meetings, and the science that’s been done on the lakes has all come together to create these documents. Once adopted, we can use them to guide our work in coming years. They’ll give direction about what the community wants us to achieve, especially over the next ten years.”

The plans include water quality targets, as well as on-the-ground actions to get there and policies to shape future actions by the three management agencies: Environment Bay of Plenty, Rotorua District Council, and Te Arawa Lakes Trust.

The Proposed Lakes Rotorua & Rotoiti Action Plan in particular has some ambitious targets to remove nutrients from both the lakes. Deadlines are given, and the community will be able to monitor what progress is being made. As an example, we expect that the Ohau Channel diversion wall will go a long way towards meeting Lake Rotoiti’s targets.

For Lake Rotoehu, the long-term goal is to get the lake back to its pre-1993 water quality.

Mr Wharton says this is the time for people who are interested in the lakes to speak up about the parts of the plans they do and don’t like.

People can download a copy of the plans by visiting Environment Bay of Plenty’s website at www.envbop.govt.nz, or by calling us on 0800 ENV BOP (368 267).

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