Clean Streams report challenged by Federated Farmers
After five years of voluntary efforts to stem the pollution of farm waterways, opinions over the effectiveness of the Clean Streams Accord are divided.
The accord, signed in May 2003 by Fonterra, Ministers for the Environment, Agriculture and Forestry and Local Government, aims to improve the quality of lowland waterways by reducing the amount of dairy effluent and nutrients entering them.
A recent report, "Dairying and Declining Water Quality - Why has the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord not delivered cleaner streams?", collated by Forest & Bird and Fish & Game New Zealand, suggests many waterways are more polluted since the accord came into effect.
"The results of this study show that the dairy industry is still not meeting its environmental responsibilities, which undermines the integrity of its products," said Kevin Hackwell, Forest & Bird advocacy manager and report co-author.
"The Dairying and Clean Streams Accord has not only failed to improve water quality, but in some areas has allowed rivers and streams to deteriorate further from continued dairy effluent and nutrient runoff."
The Forest & Bird and Fish & Game review concluded that the accord had failed to achieve its major goal, to "reduce the impacts of dairying on the quality of New Zealand's streams, rivers, lakes, ground water and wetlands."
Dairy shed effluent has long been the focus of dairy farm environmental management. A key aim of the accord was the exclusion of dairy cattle from 50 percent of streams and rivers by 2007, and 90 percent by 2012. Dairy cattle were also to be excluded from all estuaries and lakes by 2007.
The report states that set targets have not been met, despite wide-ranging voluntary efforts by farmers to fence off riparian margins and manage nutrients.
Where water quality in dairying areas has been monitored, standards have generally continued to fall during the last five years, said Mr Hackwell. Even in the five closely monitored "best practice" catchments (Toenepi (Waikato), Waiokura (Sth Taranaki), Waikakihi (Sth Canterbury) Pigeon (Nelson) Bog Burn (West Southland)) that have been managed above accord standards, water quality has not improved, or has declined.
Mr Hackwell said that a Federated Farmers peer review, assessing the quality of the report, had not challenged this key finding, which was based on independent research. In his view, one of the most worrying issues raised in the report was the continued failure to meet the target that all farm dairy effluent discharges will comply with their resource consents and regional plans.
"In some major dairying regions 18 to 24 percent of all dairy farms are in "serious non-compliance" with their legal obligations. We found that the national average of serious non-compliance is more than 14 percent of dairy farms-twice the 7 percent reported in this year's Snapshot Report by the accord partners."
The voluntary accord was not working, said Fish & Game New Zealand Nelson-Marlborough regional manager Neil Deans.
Mr Deans is calling for tougher standards and more effective enforcement to improve water quality as dairy industry, regional council and central government efforts have failed to improve the state of the nation's waterways.
Federated Farmers has objected to the review and said that it was too soon to be judgmental about the accord's effectiveness, though the original accord required that progress be reviewed after five years.
A peer review, undertaken by Federated Farmers policy staff, found "serious flaws" in the report.
Federated Farmers dairy chairman Lachlan McKenzie said, "We are critical of the methods used. The reviewers did not do good comparisons and did not check the sources of information. The information is biased and not reliable. We are very disappointed in the quality of reporting."
Mr McKenzie said the accord focused on what farmers could do on their farms to improve environmental outcomes, and gave advice on what could be done on issues such as nutrient management, and this had been taken up by 96 percent of farmers.
He added that the report did not acknowledge how much had already been achieved by farmers willing to work towards improved environmental outcomes.
"We are moving towards the targets and we have improved but we have further to go."
Data in the report showed that the Tasman region had met the accord's goals better than some others. Tasman District Council's Environment and Planning manager, Dennis Bush-King, commented that farming practices in Golden Bay overall had come a long way in the five years that the accord has been in place.
"The improvement in water quality in the Aorere, as evidenced by the reduced closure of shellfish farms, is also an example of effective farmer-led environmental improvement. Nothing is ever perfect and we still have the occasional farmer letting the side down. In terms of non-complying farm discharges, these have mostly been cleaned up, leading to improved water quality."
TDC had acted promptly on poor effluent practice resulting in some enforcement actions, Mr Bush-King continued, and the rate of fencing streams and installation of appropriate stock crossings had greatly increased following the signing of the accord.
"We know that the pollution load is dramatically reduced by actions. While we have not calculated the reduced pollution load from employing this best practice in Golden Bay, catchments elsewhere in the region are showing water quality improvements of over 50 percent," said Mr Bush-King.
"I acknowledge there are deficiencies in the Dairying and Clean Stream Accord such as the ability to push stock exclusion from smaller streams where these contain high values or flow into sensitive or degraded catchments. Additionally, targets in the accord for nutrient budgets could be better focused and include nutrient management for whole farms and not just the dairy platform, but these need to be worked through in collaboration with farmers and others."
TDC plans to publish a report on river water quality, which would include trend analysis, at the end of 2009.
The Forest & Bird and Fish & Game New Zealand report can be found on <www.forestandbird.org.nz>. The Federated Farmers Peer Review can be downloaded at <http://www.fedfarm.org.nz/water>.
Ina Holst
