New Zealand's Water Wake Up

22 March is World Water Day, an event that historically passes New Zealand by with little fanfare, save the efforts of groups such as Oxfam New Zealand and their Taps Off campaign. 2017 may however be different. Over the recent months, we have seen the confluence of several significant water-related issues that could finally see New Zealand take the issue of water risk seriously. 

• Last August, over a third of residents in the North Island village of Havelock North fell ill as a result of contamination in the town’s water supply. Concerns were subsequently raised around the potential for this incident to be repeated in other parts of New Zealand both as a result of increasing pollution pressures on our freshwater and groundwater supplies, as well as the lack of chlorination in many of our public water supplies. In January this year, the human health impacts of water quality also materialised in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, with reports highlighting that E.Coli bacteria levels had exceeded safe limits at two monitoring points in Auckland’s inner city suburbs.
• In February, the central Government release its Clean Water reform package, intended to improve New Zealand's freshwater. The reforms seek to modify the overarching National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management and set a target for 90% of New Zealand's rivers and lakes to be 'swimmable' by 2040. The Clean Water package has however struggled to inspire and left many, including the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, questioning whether the move from ‘wadeable’ to ‘swimmable’ water targets will make a material impact on addressing New Zealand’s declining freshwater environment. The departure of a number of key stakeholders from the Land and Water Forum, established to “develop a shared vision and a common way forward among all those with an interest in water”, has emphasised the divergence of opinion around how best to manage one of New Zealand’s most significant natural capital assets, but has also highlighted that a desire for more comprehensive and tangible action is emerging.
• The start of March then saw one of the most significant storm events of the recent past hit parts of New Zealand.  As a result, Auckland's residents were faced with reducing their water consumption by 20 L/person/day and the prospect of a boil water notice.  Whilst Aucklanders' response to this water saving target has been mixed, reiterating perhaps the disconnect between residents' daily water consumption and their awareness of the broader impacts associated with water supply and treatment, the discourse around the resilience of the city's water infrastructure has been notable.  Recognition that the effects of climate change will likely increase the frequency and severity of these storm events has also provided further impetus for action.
• Finally in the last few days, we've seen the issue of bottled water exports being raised again. Whilst this may seem a relatively innocuous issue, it raises a broader and more significant question for New Zealand. Practically all of our agricultural exports are, in effect, different forms of water being exported, whether it is ‘bottled’ in the form of dairy products, fruit, or meat. These activities also have the potential to generate potentially more significant water impacts than direct abstraction for sale in the form of diffuse nutrient pollution. Whether the current focus leads to some broader action around better valuing water (noting the difference between the cost, price and value of water that I’ve highlighted previously) or better integrating the concept of building natural (and other) capitals raised in the New Zealand Treasury’s Living Standards Framework, remains to be seen. The recently released OECD Environmental Performance Report also highlights that New Zealand's current growth model is starting to show its environmental limits and recommends the use of natural capital accounting to better value water resources and ecosystems.      

With the World Economic Forum 2017 Global Risk Report ranking water in the top five global risks in terms of impact for the sixth consecutive year, the escalation of water risks in New Zealand is long overdue. 2017, and the series of water issues and events we've seen materialise in the past few months, may just be the wake up call that New Zealand needs to take serious action. 

#mywaterstory #worldwaterday