A community group is urging elected representatives to help coordinate urban water management in the Upper Clutha, warning that Lake Wānaka’s declining water quality requires urgent action.

A NIWA report presented in December last year rated Lake Wānaka’s water quality as ‘good’, the first time its rating had dropped from ‘excellent’.

The report said Lake Wānaka had the highest concentration of lake snow of all lakes in the district, its ecological health had declined over the longer-term, and it noted a reduction in deep water vegetation, likely the result of declining water quality.

“We know the lake water quality has been downgraded and we need to understand and act accordingly,” Lakeside Road Enhancement Group representative Mandy Bell told Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board members at Thursday’s (Thursday February 20) meeting.

A community-wide catchment plan was created eight years ago to bring together 13 groups working to improve water health and it has been the basis for some “really positive work programmes over the last eight years,” Mandy said.

“What we need now is an urban catchment plan,” she said. 

“It will provide us with a clear direction, a work plan which allows us to maximise resources, and leverage people… to…do the work that is needed.”

Mandy has been involved in water health initiatives in the Upper Clutha for many years, including a long period as the chair of WAI Wānaka and recently with Aotearoa New Zealand Catchment Communities Group.

She is currently involved with the Lakeside Road Catchment Group, which is one of a number of parties - from community-led ones to larger organisations - doing their bit for lake health.

“We need to maximise our scarce resources and work together,” Mandy told the community board.

An urban catchment plan would “pull together the good work happening across the community, put the challenges in one plan, and help enable enduring [lake] health”.

She asked the community board to support the development of an urban catchment plan.

The community board is “one of the many that need to sit around the table and work together,” Mandy said.

PHOTO: Wānaka App