10 months ago
Community group meetings on hold
Due to the COVID-19 Alert Level Four lock-down Regional Council staff are now working from home while our offices are closed.
A Freshwater Futures community group has been established for the Pongakawa/Waitahanui catchments, to inform the development of changes to the Regional Natural Resources Plan.
Through a series of workshops held over two years, the group is helping to identify community values and aspirations for freshwater, and providing advice on freshwater management options.
The group's area of interest includes the freshwater bodies and land catchments of Little Waihī, Paengaroa, Pukehina, Ohinepanea, Ōtamarākau and Pongakawa. Their work will result in a draft plan change that sets objectives, limits and methods (including rules) for improving the way water quality and quantity is managed locally.
So far, the group has discussed:
- The process for implementing the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and what values should be provided for.
- The current state of water quality, quantity and ecology in the catchment's rivers, groundwater, wetlands and Waihī Estuary.
- Logical geographic areas for establishing water management objectives (Freshwater Management Units).
- What an acceptable state of in-river values such as ecosystem health, swimmability and mahinga kai (food gathering) might look like in local waterways, and how that could be measured.
Community group members were appointed following a call for expressions of interest in 2015. As a collective they provide a broad range of feedback and information based on their experience and perceptions as local residents, iwi, businesspeople, councillors and industry, agency, recreation or environmental interest group representatives. As at January 2019 members included:
|
Andre Hickson Bernie Hermann Bev Nairn Colin McCarthy Darryl Jensen Dennis Walker Geoff Rice Grant Rowe Jane Nees (Regional Councillor) John Garwood |
John Cameron John Meikle Julian Fitter Kepa Morgan Kevin Marsh Melv Anderson Mike Maassen Paul van den Berg Wilma Foster |
- Briefing Notes Workshop 3: Values Framework and Freshwater Management Units
- Briefing Notes Workshop 4: Community Views on Water in Rivers, Streams and Lakes
- Briefing Notes Workshop 5: In-river State and Use Values/ Modelling
- Briefing Notes Workshop 6: Catchment Modelling Scenarios and Use Values
- Briefing Notes Workshop 7: Mitigation Bundles and Information on Surface and Ground Water Quantity
- Briefing Notes Workshop 8: Surface water quality
- Briefing Notes Workshop 9: Surface water quality
- Briefing Notes Workshop 10: Surface water quality
- Briefing Notes Workshop 11: Groundwater quality
- Workshop 1: Introduction
- Workshop 2: Current State of the Water Management Area
- Workshop 3: Values Framework and Freshwater Management Units
- Workshop 4: Community Views on Water in Rivers, Streams and Lakes
- Workshop 5: In-river State and Use Values/ Modelling
- Workshop 6: Catchment Modelling Scenarios and Use Values
- Workshop 7: Mitigation Bundles and Information on Surface and Ground Water Quantiy
- Workshop 8: Surface Water Quality
- Workshop 8a: (Optional) Opportunities and Barriers & Mitigations Options
- Workshop 9: Surface water quality
- Workshop 10: Surface water quality
- Workshop 11: Groundwater quality
- Kaituna-Pongakawa-Waitahanui Water Management Area: The Science Story Environmental Summary Report
- Kaituna-Maketu and Pongakawa-Waitahanui Water Management Area: Current State and Gap Analysis
- Fact sheet: Geology and soil health of the Kaituna/Maketū and Pongakawa/Waitahanui catchments
- Fact sheet: Water quality and ecology of the Kaituna/Maketū and Pongakawa/Waitahanui catchments
- Fisheries assessment of waterways throughout the Kaituna-Maketu & Pongakawa-Waitahanui WMA, 2016
- Fact sheet: Surface water and groundwater quantity in the Kaituna/Maketū and Pongakawa/Waitahanui catchments
- Contaminant Loads in the Waihī and Maketū Estuaries
- Ecological and water quality conditions of drains and land drainage canals in the Rangitāiki and Kaituna Plains
- Regional Direction and Delivery Committee Report 11 December 2018
- Workshop 1: Pongakawa Waitahanui Freshwater Futures Community Group workshop (15 Dec 2015)
- Workshop 2: Pongakawa Waitahanui Freshwater Futures Community Group - Current State Workshop (15 Mar 2016)
- Workshop 3: Pongakawa Waitahanui Community Group - Values Framework and Freshwater Management Units
- Workshop 4: Pongakawa Waitahanui Community Group - Community Views on Water in Rivers, Streams and Lakes
- Workshop 5: Pongakawa Waitahanui Community Group - Desired InRiver State and Use Values
- Workshop 6: Pongakawa Waitahanui Community Group - Catchment Modelling Scenarios and Use Values
- Workshop 7: Kaituna/Maketu and Pongakawa/Waitahanui - Mitigation Bundles and Information on Surface and Ground Water Quantiy
- Workshop 8a: Kaituna/Maketu and Pongakawa/Waitahanui - Mitigation Options
- Workshop 9 Kaituna/Maketū and Pongakawa/Waitahanui – Surface water quality
- Workshop 10 Kaituna/Maketū and Pongakawa/Waitahanui – Surface water quality
- Workshop 11 Kaituna/Maketū and Pongakawa/Waitahanui – Groundwater quantity
Waitahanui River.
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PROJECT CREATED
21 Dec 2016
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Project Updates
Community group meetings on hold
Due to the COVID-19 Alert Level Four lock-down Regional Council staff are now working from home while our offices are closed.
Work completed to date by this community group remains relevant and is being used to further develop future options for managing freshwater quantity and improving water quality in Water Management Areas (WMAs).
Our development work is continuing but may be delayed as some of our staff are temporarily re-deployed to assist with essential services and the COVID-19 Civil Defence response, and it is unlikely that any further community group workshops will be scheduled in the near future.
See further information about contacting us during lock-down and our response to COVID-19 at www.boprc.govt.nz/COVID-19
We will reconnect with the WMA community groups, once we have certainty of the timing and content of Government’s freshwater policy package scheduled for release in May.
about 3 years ago
Health warning issued for Waihī Estuary at Pukehina
A health warning has been issued for Waihī Estuary at Pukehina because of a bloom of potentially toxic algae.
Health warning issued for Waihī Estuary at Pukehina
A health warning has been issued for Waihī Estuary at Pukehina because of a bloom of potentially toxic algae.
“The health warning means that people should avoid any activity which involves contact with the water in Waihī Estuary at Pukehina,” says Dr Neil de Wet, Medical Officer of Health.
“Algal mats may also accumulate along the shoreline of the estuary and around its mouth and so it’s especially important that parents ensure that children avoid contact with these mats as they may be toxic.”
“Shellfish accumulate the toxin and so it’s advised that shellfish are not collected from anywhere in Waihī Estuary or the estuary mouth,” says Dr de Wet.
Dogs are particularly at risk and should be kept away from the shoreline or areas where algal mats may accumulate.
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