National Policy Statement Archive

  • frog

    Experts debunk National Policy Statement on Freshwater - by frog



    This week Environment Minister Nick Smith released a long awaited and long overdue National Policy Statement on Freshwater. Unfortunately he took the teeth out of what was a sound draft policy statement and removed the parts which would have made the most progress towards cleaning up our seriously polluted rivers and lakes. The governments’ announcement [...] read more
    May 11, 2011 1:46 pm - 6 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Trustpower and the Govt plan to mine this national park – Rakaia River - by Russel Norman



    Last Saturday I went to pay my respects to one of the grand old men who built the Canterbury Plains, the Rakaia River. The Rakaia River is the greatest of the remaining untamed braided rivers. Starting in the Southern Alps it reaches the ocean south of Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora. It is one of the rivers that [...] read more
    May 9, 2011 6:13 pm - 4 Comments
  • Russel Norman

    Aucklanders, you know you’re drinking the Waikato River - by Russel Norman



    One in three New Zealanders (Auckland, Hamilton et al) have a very direct interest in the quality of the water coming down the Waikato River because their drinking water is extracted from that catchment. The more polluted that water is, the more expensive and difficult it is to treat it. So how bad is the water at the end of the Waikato river? read more
    April 29, 2011 5:05 pm - 18 Comments
  • frog

    Rules for freshwater management? Never! - by frog



    Kiran Chug has a great story in this morning’s Dominion Post: the sorry tale of the proposed National Policy Statement on Freshwater management. Our rivers are getting dirtier and dirtier while this document languishes. A quick history: National policy statements are tools that can be developed under the Resource Management Act to guide local and [...] read more
    June 16, 2010 10:45 am - 11 Comments
  • frog

    The swimming hole - by frog



    Yesterday’s West Coast drinking water report segues neatly into today’s release of the proposed National Policy Statement (NPS) for freshwater management. By way of background to this document, Labour promised during the 2005 election campaign it would make rivers and lakes safe for swimming. As the NPS itself states currently only 60% of New Zealand’s [...] read more
    July 23, 2008 3:01 pm - 1 Comment