GUEST BLOG: All about the Waikato River Authority

Waikato River Authority CE Bob Penter

Introduction

The Waikato River Authority is leading the largest environmental project ever to be undertaken in New Zealand. It involves restoring and protecting the Waikato River. This is the country’s longest river with one of the largest catchments at 11,000 square kilometres.

The Waikato River Authority is eight years into the clean-up project that is at least 80 years in duration.  So far, the Authority has funded 250 individual river clean-up projects with an investment of $38 million. This year we will allocate up to another $6 million to river and catchment restoration.

Since the inception of the Authority, tens of thousands of trees have been planted along Waikato River waterways and their tributaries. There has also been a major focus on the restoration of habitat for native fish species and other projects to improve water quality. One project has involved visiting 650 individual dairy farms to help reduce nutrient loss. As a result of changed farming practices, 80 per cent of these farmers were able to reduce their nitrogen and phosphorus loss into waterways, directly improving the health of the Waikato River.

Background

Tooku awa koiora me oona pikonga he kura tangihia o te maataamuri.

The River of life, each curve more beautiful than the last.

These words form part of the Vision & Strategy for the Waikato River and are taken from the lament by Kiingii Taawhiao, the second Maori King, in which he recorded his adoration for the Waikato River and the significance of the River as a treasure for all generations. These visionary words inspire the actions that will be necessary to restore the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River.

Since the first European settlers arrived in the Waikato region more than 150 years ago, and for Maori before them, the Waikato River has played a central role in the economic and social wellbeing of the wider community. Through the decades, and especially around the mid-20th century, the Waikato River became increasingly degraded. Industrial waste, sewage and farming run-off have all taken their toll on the wellbeing of the river. While there have been improvements in recent years there is still much to be done to achieve the Waikato River Authority’s Vision & Strategy for the Waikato River.

In 2010, as a result of Treaty settlements between the New Zealand Government and the Waikato-Tainui tribe (to compensate for unjust Government confiscation of Maori land in the 1800s), and with support from Tuwharetoa, Te Arawa River Iwi Trust, Raukawa and Maniapoto iwi,the Waikato River Authority was established. It’s enabling legislation provides for a co-governance board of Crown and River Iwi appointees, requiring the Authority to be an independent entity in support of the Vision & Strategy.

Because restoring and protecting the Waikato and Waipaa River catchment is such a large and long-term undertaking, the Waikato River Authority is also working towards the creation of an endowment fund so that catchment restoration work can carry on in perpetuity.

Collaboration is crucial for a cleaner River. Waikato and Waipaa River iwi (Maori tribes), industry, central and local Government and the wider community all have roles to play now and into the future. The journey is underway.

Objectives

Our vision is for a future where a healthy Waikato River sustains abundant life and prosperous communities who, in turn, are all responsible for restoring and protecting the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River, and all it embraces for generations to come.

Both Maori and non-Maori consider the Waikato River a taonga or treasure. However, for the people of Waikato-Tainui the River is more than that, it is a tupuna or ancestor.

It is this motivation that drives the clean-up of the river. As the Waikato River is important to all the people of the region, the ultimate measure of the Vision & Strategy will be that the Waikato River is safe for people to swim in and take food from over its entire length.

In order to achieve this, the Waikato River Authority will continue to actively promote and foster a public connection with the lakes, wetlands and waterways within the catchment and help spread knowledge and understanding of the need for the their health and wellbeing to be protected. 

Cleaning up the river

The scope of the project is for the clean-up of the entire 425 kilometre long Waikato River from its source at Lake Taupō in the central North Island through to Port Waikato just south of Auckland where it flows into the Tasman Sea.This area incorporates the Waipaa River as the major tributary of the Waikato River. It also has its own challenges for restoration due to large amounts of sediment from erosion (the Waipaa River has been estimated to contribute 180,000 tonnes of sediment into the Waikato River each year).

There are two main aspects to the work of the Waikato River Authority. 

The first is to foster and guard the integrity of the Vision & Strategy for the rivers. This document has legal authority for the protection of the rivers that comes from the enabling legislation for the Waikato River Authority. This was passed into law in the New Zealand Parliament in 2010, and is the primary direction setting document for all activities within the catchment that affect its lakes, wetlands and waterways. It requires all planning and environmental agencies to give effect to the Vision & Strategy.

As well as its legislative powers, the Waikato River Authority also has a funding function as the second aspect to its work. The Authority makes available up to $7 million a year to projects that contribute to the restoration and protection of the Waikato and Waipaa Rivers and their catchment.

These two aspects of the Waikato River Authority’s work also enable it to fill its role as the leader in the collaboration between agencies and organisations with the ability to influence a positive outcome for our catchment.