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:
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 |
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Due to the COVID-19 Alert Level Four lock-down Regional Council staff are now working from home while our offices are closed.
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.
A health warning has been issued for Waihī Estuary at Pukehina because of a bloom of potentially toxic algae.
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.
There are no events scheduled for this project.