The Waikato Regional Council has arranged a series of Healthy Rivers/Wai Ora drop-in sessions to look at water quality issues and their causes.
The Council says, ‘Come to a Healthy Rivers: Plan for Change/Wai Ora: He Rautaki Whakapaipai drop in session around the Waikato and Waipa River catchments in April 2015.’. Unfortunately Raglan has been overlooked again. The Council is only holding sessions in Tokoroa, Huntly, Hamilton and Otorohanga.
Council watchdog John Lawson says, “Once again Raglan has been forgotten, despite having one of the dirtier rivers emptying into the harbour”. – http://www.lawa.org.nz/explore-data/waikato-region/freshwater/waingaro-river/waingaro-river-%28pukemiro%29-at-ruakiwi-rd-off-sh22/. The link John has provided shows that the Waingaro River which empties into the Whaingaroa Harbour is in the top 25% worst rivers for Black Disk and Turbidity.
At the sessions the Council will be providing the latest developments on the project, including:
- current water quality and trends in different parts of the Waipa and Waikato River catchments
- insights into factors driving water quality
- how the project’s modelling and research programme will help develop options
- the project milestones and timelines.
The Waikato Council says you can also share your thoughts with the Collaborative Stakeholder Group on how they propose to:
- divide the catchment into areas to better manage water quality
- determine how healthy (or unhealthy) a water body is.