Headline: Voluntary water accord no substitute for binding standards
“A voluntary accord is no substitute for effective rules with controls on intensive farming and clear standards for water quality and limits on pollutants,” said Green Party water spokesperson Eugenie Sage
The voluntary Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord is no substitute for effective binding rules and standards, the Green Party said today.
Dairy New Zealand today released the final version of its Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord, which revises Fonterra’s 2003 Clean Streams Accord. The draft was released for feedback in February 2013.
“A voluntary accord is no substitute for effective rules with controls on intensive farming and clear standards for water quality and limits on pollutants,” said Green Party water spokesperson Eugenie Sage.
“The dairy industry has had ten years of voluntary accords and they aren’t working.
“New Zealand’s water quality has dropped from second in the world to 43rd according to Yale University’s water rankings.
“Furthermore, 92,000 New Zealanders got their drinking water from a scheme which had faecal contamination in 2010/11, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Health.”
Ms Sage said these were the symptom of the freshwater crisis New Zealand was experiencing.
“The Accord is better than nothing but it’s not inadequate to protect our waterways and reverse ongoing pollution and degradation, particularly with the industry’s aggressive target of increasing milk production,” Ms Sage said.
“Other industries need a resource consent to discharge to rivers, lakes and waterways. We don’t allow a voluntary approach for those discharges.
“Yet the National Government has failed to require the dairy industry to get a resource consent to graze and farm dairy cows despite the nutrient leaching, sediment, and faecal runoff which dairying causes.
“The new accord is about industry good practice but voluntary accords don’t stop pollution of our rivers, lakes and streams.
“Our clean green reputation and New Zealanders’ right to clean, swimmable water in all our rivers, streams and lakes are worth more than good intentions.”
Ms Sage also noted that a major gap in the Accord that it does not apply to Westland Milk Products Ltd’s 330 suppliers and the 174,000 dairy cows on the South Island’s West Coast.
References:
NZ water quality ranking dropped from 2 to 43: http://epi.yale.edu/epi2012/countryprofiles
MoH report showing 92,000 NZers go their drinking water from a scheme which had faecal contamination in 2010/11: http://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/annual-report-drinking-water-quality-2011-2012-jun13.pdf
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