Keep our water safe
From best to worst...
There are a number of Horizons Regional Council water quality monitoring sites on the Waikawa Stream. The North Manakau Road site regularly records the lowest bovine E.Coli reading in the region, but by the time the same water reaches the the site at the Waikawa footbridge, less than 10km downstream, it records the highest. Not only is our awa highly polluted with E.Coli, but some of our groundwater is also contaminated with high Nitrate levels.
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This is unacceptable. Our growing community should have access to clean water, which is safe and clean for residents and visitors to enjoy without risk to their health and wellbeing.
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Residents and holiday makers alike are frustrated at the cancellation of much loved traditions
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E.Coli levels at the pedestrian bridge are the highest in the region
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White-baiting is a highly valued tradition at risk
​So what are we doing?
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The Waikawa Beach Environment Group is advocating strongly on behalf of our community, and is working with all interest groups, including HDC, Horizons, WBRA, Iwi and others to highlight this issue to achieve better outcomes for everyone who enjoys our community.
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We have responded to the Government's proposed changes to current fresh water protections by preparing a comprehensive submission opposing them. You can view our submission by going to https://www.wbeg.net/copy-of-make-a-submission
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We also developed a summarised submission document to make it as easy as possible for our members of our community and the general public to make their own submissions. We set up a venue at the 'footbridge' to provide information to anyone who was interested in taking part and then uploaded completed submissions to the Ministry for the Environment website on their behalf.
We are grateful for the level of support we received and can only imagine that this is reflected nationwide.
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