Southland Water Quality Lamented

THE letters in Thursday and Saturday’s paper on the water quality of Southland rivers are interesting.

I recently had a look at the condition of the Mataura River. It is the most polluted river in New Zealand, with our other rivers nothing to write home about.

In this situation you will understand my astonishment when the consents committee of Environment Southland was prepared to allow 250 up 829 cubic metres of effluent daily into the Mataura River. Even more surprising, Maurice Rodway was quite happy to sanction this and yet when I asked him to tell the Environment Court about the conservation order on the Mataura River, he refused.

Environment Southland has concentrated on managing dairy effluent so far but will need to look at urban and industry discharges as soon as possible.

The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has decreed that there will be no discharges of effluent into its rivers by 2020. Is it possible we could match this? It needs a mind change by the urban people to regard their sewage not as waste but as a resource. Fundamentally there is no difference between animal and human sewage and its value.

May I suggest that Environment Southland considers progressively removing all sewage discharges from the Mataura River as a start.

Dugald McKenzie, Wyndham

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