Let's be crystal clear

Our precious rivers and lakes are under threat, and we need your help to send an important message to the Prime Minister. By Tom Kay

With summer here, we can see the best and worst of our waterways – those where we can safely swim in cool, clean water – and those off-limits, plagued by algal blooms, low flows, and health warnings. 

Do you have a favourite family swimming spot that is no longer safe to swim in? 

It wasn’t so long ago that people and wildlife could enjoy swimmable rivers and lakes throughout the country. With this in mind, we have created this poster (right) showing two people enjoying a summer swim in nature. It was inspired by vintage New Zealand tourism advertisements of a bygone era when it was safer to swim in many more waterways than today. 

Over recent decades, our freshwater has degraded significantly. Today more than 95% of rivers in urban, farmed, and exotic forest areas fail to meet at least one water quality guideline. 

To make things worse, government ministers are poised to reverse vitally important freshwater protections, which will see more rivers polluted and depleted of water. It is part of the coalition government’s War on Nature. 

If you scan the QR code or type in the URL on the poster, you will be taken to a dedicated page on Forest & Bird’s website where you can sign a letter asking Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to stop his government’s attack on freshwater. It will take just a few minutes to make your voice heard. 

Then please download and put up the A4 posters somewhere others can see it – a noticeboard at your local tramping club, community space, or school, on your window, or just on your fridge for family and visitors to see, scan, and sign the letter over the summer. You could also laminate and display it at a popular local swimming spot. 

Kiwis have a deep emotional connection to rivers and lakes in Aotearoa – and one of our strongest drives is wanting to see government action to restore their health. 

Please join thousands of other New Zealanders and tell the Prime Minister that you want him to protect our rivers and lakes for people and wildlife.

The more letters Prime Minister Luxon receives, the harder it will be for him to ignore our voices. But time is running out. 

In the Spring issue, I explained how the government was pushing the environmentally destructive Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill through select committee. While it was doing this, Ministers also slipped in an extra change. 

Just days before the Bill passed its third reading in October, an amendment paper from Minister Chris Bishop effectively stopped regional councils bringing in new rules at a local level to address freshwater pollution. 

Instead, councils are now required to wait for the government to write its “new” (and likely much weaker) direction on freshwater policy. 

The government’s fast-track approvals legislation is also threatening waterways – including allowing for the destruction of rivers to make way for new dams. 

Plans for Ruataniwha dam, in Hawke’s Bay, are back on the table, despite Forest & Bird’s Supreme Court win for nature in 2017. Some of our last remaining 10% of wetlands could also be destroyed without community consultation to make way for new mines and quarries. 

One of the last wild rivers on the West Coast, the Waitaha, is threatened by a hydro scheme that was turned down by the previous government on environmental grounds. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Together, we can fight for healthy freshwater for local communities and native species.

Anyone can download and print Forest & Bird’s freshwater campaign posters at forestandbird.org. nz/DownloadAPoster. Please share this link with friends and whānau.