Reducing Pollution of our Waterways

Tasman District Council works to ensure that the commercial and recreation values of our rivers are maintained or enhanced.

Council Supporting Landowners and Community Initatives

Supporting Landowners to Improve Water Quality – partnering with the community, when communities of landowners work proactively to address an issue, Council can avoid taking a regulatory approach
Providing fencing materials – subsidies may be available for landowners wishing to exclude stock from waterways
Community Projects - e.g. “I Only Drain Rain" Project which involved working with schools and the community in Richmond and Motueka about the hazards of tipping hazardous substances into waterways.
Presentations and workshops - e.g. Sediment and Erosion Control Workshops, field days, meetings and farm visits
Riparian Land Management Strategy - a non regulatory approach aimed at guiding the council and the community to improve water quality, aquatic and terrestrial habitats

Working with the Community to Manage Discharges

StreamCare Groups

Riparian Land Management Strategy

Regulation

The Tasman Resource Management Plan (TRMP) has rules that ensure fine sediment and other discharges of contaminants to water do not significantly effect the environment. For example stock crossings are restricted so that they do not produce high loads of disease-causing organisms or fine sediment which may degrade the waterway.

Council-Owned Infrastructure Development

Upgrading sewage treatment plants
Upgrading storm-water system, particularly to control discharges of hazardous substances from industrial and commercial operations
Installing low impact designs pollution control devices to protect waterways in urban catchments

Reducing Pollution from Council Owned-Assests

What You Can Do To Prevent Pollution In Our Waterways

Keep hazardous substances (such as oil and pesticides) out of our stormwater system and away from groundwater wells
Report to Council any discharges of liquid or rubbish to water, or land where it may enter water, or any drainage of wetlands
Monitoring the health of your stream using the Stream Health Monitoring and Assessment Kit

NIWA: Stream Health Monitoring and Assessment Kit

Rural landowners

Fence off streams, rivers, swamps, wetlands and seeps to prevent regular access by mobs of stock. The management of land on the stream side of the fence will vary depending on the situation (eg slope, soils, presence of weeds). The best management options for the streamside corridor include: planting in native trees for about 2-3m adjacent to the stream then a rank grass strip of 2-3m. Rank grass strips are often better at filtering sediment and disease-causing organisms than forests but the forest feeds the life in the stream
Make sure farm dairy effluent irrigators are operating effectively and are moved frequently to prevent effluent ponding and run-off into waterways
Avoid break-feeding or mob-stocking close to waterways, especially in wet weather
Form a landcare group with your neighbours to discuss and use better land management practices to protect your local waterways

Developer or Contractor

Install stormwater detention areas in new subdivisions to improve water quality (less silt and animal faeces reach the rivers and streams)

Further Information

Aorere Factsheet - Realistic Solutions to Real Farm Problems