The growing problem of misuse and mismanagement of one of New Zealand’s most vital resources is not going to lessen or go away. The problem is rapidly becoming more acute and further delays in taking corrective action will result in even greater harm and permanent damage. Even now, the costs of returning our water resources to some degree of health and sustainability will cost us as ratepayers untold millions and millions of dollars.
 |
 |
Bill Demeter -
President
WaterWisdom Society |
|
It appears that very little is being done by those agencies that manage water. If we focus in on just the Canterbury region we see that over several decades virtually every request for a water consent has been granted and many for vast quantities of water often measured in thousands of litres per minute. At the same time, the same folks that have granted these consents have no way of accurately knowing what is already being taken from rivers and bores. There is a time honoured rule that states; “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”. Environment Canterbury, the agency responsible for water in Canterbury, has no way of knowing how much water is taken from the thousands of consents already granted and have only recently decided that meters should be a requirement but only on new consents – not existing ones.
Imagine for a moment calling the bank concerning your loan and asking for information about how much you owe, how much you have paid, when your payment is due and what is the interest rate? What would your reaction be if you were told; “We have your name on file but we don’t have any information about any of the questions you just asked, sorry we can’t help you.”
The right answer is to require meters on all water consents granted regardless of when granted. Every user who takes water from rivers, lakes or wells should be required to have a meter and anyone who refuses to install a meter should be in violation of the law. There should be significant penalties for non-compliance and severe penalties for taking more water than the consent grants. Metering should also be applied to households, industry and other users in the same manner.
According to English common law, the law that governs New Zealand, water is incapable of ownership. Government does not claim to own it but does claim to manage water. If so, it is time to start managing it, not mismanaging it.
Each person who cares about protecting our water resource needs to write Environment Canterbury and express their concerns over the lack of metering and not requiring meters of all consents granted over the years. This person to contact is Dr. Bryan Jenkins at:
Dr. Bryan Jenkins
Environment Canterbury
58 Kilmore Street
P.O. Box 345
Christchurch
bryan.jenkins@ecan.govt.nz
Phone 03 - 365 3828
|
