A gap in the council’s process to measure water quality and monitor discharges into the district’s freshwater lakes and rivers came under the spotlight in this week’s (Thursday December 10) full council meeting. 

A citizen science exercise conducted by the Touchstone Project, a local initiative to raise awareness and support those concerned about Lake Wānaka’s water catchment, discovered high levels of E-coli in Roys Bay which was sourced back to a cross connection of a sewer pipe into Wanaka’s stormwater system.

Its pollution of Lake Wānaka had gone undetected for years, deputy mayor Calum Macleod said. He added that paint negligently washed into stormwater drains “by third parties using council’s network in a negative manner” was another example where monitoring of the lake’s water quality needed to be properly resourced and better measured. 

“Both these examples were discovered solely by monitoring the receiving environment,” Calum said. 

In order to monitor the quality of the lake and river water, council first has to establish an ongoing measurement of baseline water quality, he said.

“To my mind the establishment and ongoing measurement of baseline water quality monitoring remains simply fundamental,” he said. “After all you cannot monitor what you do not measure.”

Calum said the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 (Freshwater NPS), which was implemented in September this year, provides local authorities with direction on how to manage freshwater under the Resource Management Act 1991.

It says all decisions about freshwater management should be made by putting the health and well-being of the water at the forefront of their discussions.

It specifically requires councils to “prioritise the health and wellbeing of our water bodies; maintain or improve all water bodies; monitor and report annually on freshwater ... and respond to any deterioration”, Calum said. 

Unable to amend the council's Integrated Three Waters Bylaw (2020) to include water monitoring, Calum instead gained the approval of council to develop a policy relating to the monitoring of local lakes and rivers and that it be included in the council’s 10-year plan to ensure adequate funding.

This policy will ensure that the proposed Integrated Three Waters Bylaw is being complied with and the council is meeting its obligations under the Resource Management Act, he said. 

“This is a pretty big deal as far as the Queenstown Lakes District Council getting its house in order,” he said. 

PHOTO: Wanaka App