Waiology • May 03, 2013 •
By Daniel Collins For the most part, droughts are natural events. Rainfall and river flows wax and wane, and there will be times when there just isn’t enough water to fully meet our needs, whether to grow crops or to quench a city’s thirst. Wairarapa drought, February 2013. (Credit: D. Allen, NIWA)And when it comes down to it, … Read More
Waiology • Apr 08, 2013 •
By Daniel Collins When it comes to managing our freshwaters well, science can provide only part of the solution. It is important to appreciate how much water we have, what quality it is, and how our activities change these things – questions that only science can answer – but it is also important to appreciate what people want from … Read More
Waiology • Mar 22, 2013 •
By Daniel Collins While water management is challenging enough as it is, climate change makes it harder. No longer can we rely solely on experiences from the past to guide our actions, but we must also consider forecasts of the future. And with New Zealand’s water resources expected to change in the coming decades – well within resource management … Read More
Waiology • Mar 22, 2013 •
By Daniel Collins World Water Day is held annually on 22 March to focus people’s attention on freshwater and advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Championed by the United Nations, each year is dedicated to a different theme. This year’s theme is cooperation (“water, water everywhere, but only if we share”), and it is for this … Read More
Waiology • Mar 18, 2013 •
By Ian MacKenzie The Government has just released the discussion paper “Freshwater Reform 2013 and beyond“. It has three main recommendations: establish a national objectives framework, allow for collaborative community planning, and manage within quality and quantity limits using best industry practices. All three of these need sound information, preferably undisputed, and based on sound interpretation of the … Read More
Waiology • Mar 13, 2013 •
By Steve Couper Deteriorating water quality is consistently rated by many New Zealanders as being their number one environmental concern. Their concern is well placed. Some of our lowland waterways are now so badly polluted that the ‘clean green’ brand we promote is being actively challenged. The evidence for declining environmental health in these waterways is strong. Monitoring 77 … Read More
Waiology • Mar 11, 2013 •
By Ned Norton and Helen Rouse In water resource management under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS) (2011), limit setting refers to the process of defining the amount of the resource that is available for use (in terms of both quantity and quality) while still meeting defined freshwater environment outcomes. A collaborative approach to setting limits … Read More
Waiology • Mar 09, 2013 •
By Daniel Collins On Saturday the Government released its freshwater management reform proposal – Freshwater reform 2012 and beyond. The report proposes a massive suite of reforms, stemming from work initiated in 2009 with the Government’s ‘Fresh Start for Freshwater’, and based on recommendations from the Land and Water Forum, and consultation with stakeholders and the … Read More
Waiology • Mar 04, 2013 •
By Hugh Canard I was asked to contribute to Waiology’s series on water governance, and after a very brief struggle with my inertial guidance system, I thought my contribution should be from the inside of the governance tent looking out. I have been variously engaged in the early stages of the development through to the implementation phases of … Read More
Waiology • Mar 01, 2013 •
By Daniel Collins “Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.” So goes the saying, often dubiously attributed to Mark Twain, when talking about water politics in the western US. And while New Zealanders are fortunate to have a much wetter climate (and tend to prefer beer or wine), we are no strangers to fights over … Read More