Fish & Game New Zealand has urged caution around Federated Farmers’ Water Spokesperson Hugh Ritchie’s claim that water storage is ‘one of the magic bullets’.
“Water storage is not necessarily ‘a winner for the whole community,” said Bryce Johnson, Chief Executive Fish & Game New Zealand. He adds:
The key concern is the adverse environmental effects of changed land use ‘down stream’ of the storage scheme which Federated Farmers don’t address.
Assuming the catchment’s current in-stream ecological and recreational amenity values are retained, fish passage is provided and provision is made for adequate flushing flows, there still remains the crucial issue of the adverse effects of intensified agriculture utilising the stored water.
These adverse downstream effects are well understood, are cumulative and can be significant. Increased irrigation and intensification means increased stocking rates and fertiliser applications, which result in increased effluent, sediment and nutrient run-off into rivers, streams and aquifers that are often already suffering reduced flows.
The cumulative effects of large scale irrigation on the recreational, ecological, community and cultural values of down stream waterways can be major.
The effects on freshwater resources of any altered land uses that occur down stream as a result of the storage scheme (including increased sediment, nutrient and effluent run off) must be less than less than minor for any Fish & Game agreement with the initial water storage scheme.
The reality remains that the freshwater resource and the country’s natural capital is finite.
While water storage can be a winner for both agriculture and the community, it is not a ‘magic bullet’ in the simplistic manner suggested by Federated Framers.
Changed land use can cause serious adverse environmental effects.
Environmentally sustainable agriculture must be a bottom line, and ‘environmentally sustainable’ is much more than stocking storage impoundments with fish.
You must log in to post a comment.