MEDIA RELEASE
Friday, November 22, 2013

Horizons welcomes Commissioner’s report

Horizons Regional Council is welcoming a report released by Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright which explores the relationship between land use and water quality.

Its release follows a 2012 report into the science of water quality and focuses on key nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus based on expert modelling.

“The main point we can take from this report is that the effort and investment being made by Horizons across the Region has set us on the right track and in fact in many cases we are already leading the way,” said Horizons chairman, Bruce Gordon.

“Horizons has carried out this type of modelling before to inform decision making and overall we have a range of tools to improve water quality outcomes.”
One of these tools is Horizons Regional Council’s One Plan which provides the framework for managing water resources in the Horizons region for both the rural sector and wider industry. Council is working with the dairying industry to implement the Plan in a sensible and practical manner that supports landowners making the necessary changes.

Mr Gordon said gains in water quality will come from a range of improvements across the region, not just a reduction in nitrogen from farms.

“Point source discharges from territorial authorities and industry are also required to reduce their nitrogen impact on water quality and as agreed under the Manawatu River Leaders’ Accord. Territorial authorities in the region are already spending over $30 million combined on sewage treatment plant upgrades, including removing their discharge from the Manawatu River at low flows in many cases,” he said.

Some of the work carried out within the Horizons Region includes:
• In the Horizons Region, water quality is monitored at 130 different river and stream sites on a monthly basis making it one of the largest monitoring networks in the country.
• Over the past three years Horizons has contributed to the planting of over 115,000 native plants along stream banks and over 600 km of stream fencing over the past five years, including works carried out under the Sustainable Land Use Initiative (SLUI).
• The SLUI programme is Horizons’ largest non-regulatory water quality initiative and has contributed to over 7.5 million trees in the region to control hill country erosion since its initiation in 2006. Recent water quality results show improved trends in sediment at more than half of the region’s continuous sediment monitoring sites.
• In June 2011 the Manawatu River Leaders’ Forum launched their Action Plan, detailing over 130 actions to be taken by members of the Forum to clean up the Manawatu River.
• All dairy shed effluent is now applied to land for treatment and compliance among dairy farmers is also on the rise, with a record 93 per cent compliance last season.
• Horizons is also involved in a range of programmes to restore and enhance habitat for native fish and whitebait.

ENDS

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