Kerre Woodham: Don't point the finger at farmers, the state of NZ's rivers is on all of us

Well, water, water everywhere and who knows what to think? 

I think we all accept, we all understand, that we need to improve this country's water supply, this country's water cleanliness, it's how we do it that's the sticking point.  

Be that as it may, the day before the Prime Minister's announcement, a report ‘Our fresh water 2023’, was released and it makes for damning reading.

Produced by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand, it shows there have been some minor improvements. (There we go, that's the good news.) 

The rest is grim on most measures. The country's freshwater sources are becoming increasingly polluted, further threatening native species on the verge of extinction, and causing more people to become sick.

The report is part of a series that's produced every three years, so it hasn't come out of nowhere. Had found 45 percent of lake monitoring sites between 2011 and 2020, had become more polluted with nutrients and algae. 45 percent of the country's entire river length was deemed unswimmable, due to a risk of bacterial infection over the period 2016 to 2020. 

That is a damning indictment on us all. 

And everybody points the digit at farmers. Everybody says it's the farmer's fault, but that is simply not true. It's on all of us.

You cannot point the finger at farmers when you see the state of the waterways in our cities and towns. When you've seen the huge urban sprawl which has had a massive effect on our waterways, our creeks, our streams, our rivers, our lakes, and our oceans. 

When you see sewage and all the associated vileness spilling out into our oceans in all its raw and inglorious state. When you see waste water bubbling up in our streets.

When you see people who can't turn on a tap and have a glass of water, which I would have thought was a fundamental right of living in this country.

The thing is, it is all fixable. There just has to be a collective biting of the bullet and a commitment to restoring the rivers and lakes and oceans to liveable, swimmable levels and to provide clean drinking water for the citizens of the country. That is not such a big ask.  

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