Simple and easy submissions template to help improve water quality in Doubtless Bay/Far North District

Kia ora koutou

Four simple steps to improve water quality!

Water issues are on the mind of many in the Far North at present, from draught dwindling water supplies to toxic sewage treatment plant discharges.

The Local Government Act requires the Far North District Council to prepare and consult on an Annual Plan each year, and submissions for this year are currently open. The annual plan submissions process provides a great opportunity to put a greater emphasis on water management and quality in our District.

This is a bit of a numbers game, so the more submissions entered the great emphasis is placed on it.

We have tried to make this as simple as possible, so if you wish to be involved please follow these four simple steps!

Step 1: Download the Submission Form by clicking on the download link below

Far North District Annual Plan Submission Form 2010 11.doc

Step 2: Check that you agree with the submission items and print out the form (feel free to amend, add, or remove any of the items)

Step 3: Add your details and sign the form

Step 4: Either fax or deliver the completed submission form before close of business TODAY (Friday 16 April). For more information please see the form for details.

To support any of the submissions, the Far North Environment Centre will be attending the submission hearing in Kaitaia on Wednesday 5th May. To contact the Far North Environment Centre, please click here.

A summary of the submission details are:

• Ease capital expenditure requirements by improving the efficiencies of existing infrastructure: Smoke test existing reticulated storm water networks in the Doubtless Bay catchment to determine the potential impact of storm water inundation on the efficiency/compliance/management of the wastewater reticulation and treatment systems.
• Introduce rate incentives for onsite rainwater harvest/management to improve water/storm water management
• Alleviate capital expenditure requirements by improving the efficiencies of existing infrastructure: Reduce growth demands, and improve resource demand management/peak demand management by implementing water conservation and efficiency measures on potable water, storm water, and wastewater. This will have positive impacts by reducing cost and environmental impacts on resource take, reticulation, storage, use, and the final cleaning and disposal. This should be supported through planning (rainwater tanks/grey water/onsite storm water management), active community education, and action implementation. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on developers to implement actions.
• The current multi-agency water quality monitoring and reporting programme is inadequate and is failing the community. The programme has to be reviewed and improved so it becomes robust, transparent, and independent. The programme should then be utilised as a management and education tool to improve water quality.
• Support local activities to raise awareness and enact change within our communities to improve land management and water quality through the development and implementation of integrated catchment management programmes for catchments within the District.
• Wastewater discharge should not be to water, and any existing discharges should only be discharged to areas within the catchment they are generated from. Discharges need to be consistent with hapu sensitivity. A strategy and target date needs to be set to eliminate ALL wastewater and treated wastewater discharges into any water.
• Waste water treatment plant: management utilisation proactive approach rather than reactive e.g. utilise existing resource consent monitoring for proactive management to limit potential impacts
• Support the development of the community plan for the Doubtless Bay area to incorporate integrated catchment management.
• Support riparian management programmes to improve the receiving environment e.g. landowner engagement and support to remove barriers to improve land management, such as riparian management (LandSure programme)
• Investigate and advocate research into natural hazards. Improve flood management through holistic integrated catchment management programmes for catchments within the District. Improve risk management – impacts on hapu and communities, economy, farming, fisheries, tourism of degraded environment e.g. water quality, sediment management
• Develop and implement a climate change strategy to both reduce climate change potential and manage any related impacts.
• Reduce operating costs across all activities through improved and proactive management of facilities.
• Target, enforce and prosecute (where consistent offending occurs) those involved with the problem of wandering stock and illegal dumping.
• Improve the transparency in wastewater management and auditing e.g. monitoring, compliance, reporting and communicating

For more information on the Far North District Council and the submission process, please click here.

Submissions close Today (Friday 16 April 2010)

NEW ZEALAND TREE CROPS ASSOCIATION INC

NORTHERN REGION BRANCH COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU !

A SERIES OF FASCINATING EVENTS (WHICH UP TILL NOW YOU HAVEN’T HAD THE TIME, INCLINATION OR PETROL MONEY TO ATTEND )

Well fellow treecroppers, the time has arrived to change all that, with your help and input. A steering committee has been formed to resurrect a branch or branches for Northland (yes, from Wellsford to the Cape) with the intention of having local field trips/workshops/guest speakers.

Our first meeting will be a social event to introduce ourselves, share ideas and get a committee together.

WHEN: Saturday 8th May 12.30 pm

WHERE: Kauri hall Apotu Rd RD1 (10 mins south of Hikurangi, 10mins north of Kamo)right by the bridge.

BBQ lunch: sausages and bread supplied, tea/coffee available.

Anything you can bring will be appreciated.

RSVP: To thundermountain@clear.net.nz

A bit of history of Tree Crops Association up north: there did exist a branch which due to a lack of ongoing interest was absorbed into the Auckland branch which changed its name to the 'Northern region' . However, due to a northerly migration of many 'good folk' from Auckland , about half of the Auckland roll was living from Wellsford north, so this endeavour to reinstitute a northern (Northland) branch is underway. The concept of having a Far North branch is something we will look closer at once we can get our numbers up. We do plan to alternate events between centres to stimulate interest and give everybody a fair go at participating.  So we look forward to a van full of eager Kaitaians on the 8th!

See you there.

Institution of Engineering and Technology

The IET Prestige Lecture 2010

Transition Engineering : The most important engineering discipline in human history

The IET Prestige Lecture is free to attend and will be of interest to professional engineers and anybody with an interest in alternative energy. It is also intended to promote engineering as a profession.

Late intermediate (year 7-8) and high school students are particularly welcome. The lecture is presented every year throughout New Zealand but this is the first time that it will be given north of the Auckland area.

You can find out more on our website at: www.doubtlessbay.co.nz/IET or contact the IET Far North representative, Martin Wale :

phone 09 406 0264 or email mawale@theiet.org.

Date:

Thursday 22 April 2010

Times and Venues:

12.00 noon : Taipa Area School Cultural Centre - Doubtless Bay

5.00 pm : Kerikeri High School Library - Bay of Islands

Lecturer:

Dr Susan Krumdieck is Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Canterbury where she lectures on Thermodynamics, Energy Engineering and directs the Final Year Projects Programme. She is the director of the Advanced Energy and Materials Systems Laboratory, an interdisciplinary research group including engineering, sciences, social and community organizations.

Dr Krumdieck will present the fundamental framework for Transition Engineering, the art and applied science of system change. Engineers will find the structure of the framework familiar. But then, she will push the boundaries of engineering and technology development with the radical suggestion that the new field of Transition Engineering will emerge to address the 21st Century's great challenges; climate disruption, resource depletion, ecosystem reclamation and population reduction. The lecture will include some examples of Transition Engineering innovations

Toxic Algal Bloom Discharge March 2010

Can we Manage Sewage Better? Talk to the Far North District Council

Community meeting:
6:30pm
Wednesday 14 April
Taipa Area School Whare

The extended drought that we are currently experiencing is putting pressure on the infrastructure that supplies the services we usually take for granted. Households are feeling the effects as water restrictions kick in for Kaitaia and in Doubtless Bay many people reliant on rainwater tanks are imposing their own restrictions to eke out the remaining stored water. But it is not only water consumption that has come under the spotlight – we are also facing additional problems disposing of the waste water.

Toxic Algal Bloom

With rivers much reduced in volume, the release of waste water from treatment plants can not be considered environmentally safe. At Taipa, a combination of holding the wastewater for a longer time at the sewerage treatment ponds and the hot, humid weather resulted in a toxic algal bloom developing by early March. As the ponds reached capacity, the District Council made the decision to treat the algal bloom with copper sulphate and release wastewater to the Parapara River and Aurere Estuary. At the time, signs warning against swimming and shellfish gathering were erected at Parapara Bridge and Aurere Estuary as it was considered that toxicity could still be high from the algal bloom. Assurances were given that none of the wastewater was being released into the Taipa River.

Why Release to Waterway?

Concerns have been voiced locally about the apparent discrepancy in treatment approaches between Kaitaia and Taipa. With low flow rates in the Awanui River an alternative, land-based disposal was used for Kaitaia’s treated wastewater, avoiding adding extra nutrients and contaminants to the diminished river. Why was this not instigated for Doubtless Bay? And what assurances do we have that the effects of the (treated) algal bloom are not still impacting on shellfish at Aurere? The signs have been officially removed from the estuary, but the questions about the safety of the kaimoana remain. Similar concerns surround the operation of the waste treatment facilities at Hihi.

Find out More and Have Your Say

Residents will have the opportunity to put these questions to Stephen Cooper, FNDC’s acting manager for waste, waste-water and refuse, at a public meeting on Wednesday April 14. The meeting, called by Doubtless Bay Community Care for our Catchment, will be in the Taipa School Whare, starting at 6.30pm. With submissions to the Far North District’s Annual Plan due by April 16 this will provide a timely opportunity to formulate public input to the Plan and perhaps gain an understanding of how our water and waste-water infrastructure could be managed more proactively. The Taipa Treatment Station’s discharge consent is also pending renewal, and although submissions to that process have not yet been opened to the public, better communication from the District Council about current management and options for improvement would enable residents to make an informed contribution to the consent process.

All are welcome at the meeting on 14 April. For ideas on a submission to the Annual Plan re proactive water and sewage management, please click here.

As the debate heats up about mining our conservation land it can be hard to sort out what is being taken away and what is being offered in compensation as far as conservation values are concerned. The following article from the Environmental Defense Society outlines the government's proposal and also includes some history of specific areas currently protected by being listed in Schedule 4.

Following the article is a PDF of the Green Party's guide to making a submission on the conservation mining issue. Submissions are due by Tuesday the 4th of May. It would be good to let the government know how you feel about the diminished protection of conservation land.

12 April 2010

Dear Colleague,

Mining our special places: a step too far

By Gary Taylor

The government proposes to remove 7058 hectares of protected conservation land from Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act. It is also considering removing several hundred thousand hectares more in nine months time after a minerals survey is completed.

Not all conservation land is in Schedule 4: just the most protected places with the highest natural and landscape values. So the argument is not about the broader role of mining in our economy; it's about whether we should open up the very best of our publicly owned conservation land to private sector miners. The government's discussion paper has generated a great deal of heated debate, inflamed by both the provocative nature of the proposals and the combative and spin-laden nature of the government's own rhetoric. Extravagant claims about the benefits of mining have created a sense of a gold rush, of our leaders losing their judgement. The way the matter has been mishandled has polarised people and is not conducive to a serious discussion about the role of mining in our conservation estate.

Promoting the idea of allowing gold and silver mining on Great Barrier Island came as a complete surprise. No sensible government would open that land to mining and no Environment Court would ever be persuaded to allow it. It is steep, highly visible, important for tourism and located on one of the most remote and undeveloped islands in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. And mining is prohibited under Auckland City's district plan. A mine on White Cliffs would need an access road, a cyanide extraction plant and a large tailings dam to store the toxic waste product on flat land at Claris. If the tactic was to put the proposition up as a straw man, to make government look reasonable when it "listens" and decides not to allow mining there after all, then it has backfired. It has enraged many Aucklanders including the National member of Parliament and the Mayor and drawn people into the wider debate in their thousands.

The plan to open National Parks to mining is even more challenging. The government proposes to allow coal mining in 3315 hectares of the Paparoa National Park. It's one thing to mine under the Paparoa National Park with an entrance outside the park boundaries - that happens now - and quite another to mine within it. A large scale coal mine is usually open pit with extensive visual scarring from both the mine and the roads and infrastructure.

Our first National Park was established in 1887. They have all been set aside in perpetuity for their intrinsic values and are our most iconic protected places. Their purpose is set out in the National Parks Act:

It is hereby declared that the provisions of this Act shall have effect for the purpose of preserving in perpetuity as national parks, for their intrinsic worth and for the benefit, use, and enjoyment of the public, areas of New Zealand that contain scenery of such distinctive quality, ecological systems, or natural features so beautiful, unique, or scientifically important that their preservation is in the national interest.

Even if a national park was removed from Schedule 4 protection, the granting of access has to be done lawfully. The government has confirmed that it has no intention to amend the National Parks Act so it's hard to see how allowing any form of mining could survive legal challenge. Any applicant would have to be very brave to see a way through the litigation battlefield to get access, let alone pass the formidable barrier of the Resource Management Act and get consents.

Then we move to the Coromandel Peninsula. At present all of the conservation lands north of the Kopu-Hikuai Road, the so-called green line, are protected from mining. That status was achieved after nearly 20 years of campaigning (see side bar). The 3,038 hectares that are now proposed to be opened to mining on the Peninsula are described in the government's report as high priority sites for habitat and species protection and containing a number of threatened species. The areas north of Thames have high rainfall and are flood prone, are coastal, forest covered, steep and have outstanding landscape values. It's hard to see how underground mining with its roads, portal areas, water discharges and heavy traffic movements could be done without significant environmental damage. It's not exactly the Australian desert. It doesn't end there though.

In phase 2 all of the rest of the conservation land on the Peninsula will be surveyed for its prospectivity and possible removal from Schedule 4. Elsewhere in the country, surveys will examine Northland (including the famous Puketi and Waipoua Forests), parts of the central North Island and parts of Central Otago and the West Coast. They will also have a close look at opening a lot more of Paparoa to mining as well as parts of Rakiura National Park (Stewart Island).

Already the government seems to recognise that mining many of these areas will not be economic. Perhaps to save political face, it is considering wheeling in Solid Energy to be the nation's miner of all minerals. This is reminiscent of Sir Robert Muldoon's Think Big initiatives such as the hugely expensive Clyde Dam. It is deeply ironic given the government's preference for the private sector.

So what is a sensible way forward? How can we find legitimate ways to improve New Zealand's economic performance without losing our judgement? For a start, we need a serious focus on how we can grow the economy in a sustainable way. Green growth, smart growth, clean tech - call it what you want - is what's needed. The Prime Minister is apparently warming to the idea of a task force to look at how we can move away from reliance on commodity production and resource-based industries and emulate countries like Finland, South Korea and Taiwan which have built prosperity on modernising and diversifying their economies. We certainly need to take more care with our biggest single sector, tourism, which was worth $21 billion last year.We make more from tourism than dairying and it can continue to expand in a sustainable, long-term way. The 100% Pure New Zealand tourism brand is vitally important to our long-term economic welfare.

Mining our most precious places, including the National Parks that we use to promote that brand, seems absurd. Mining has a role but it has to be in the right place. Schedule 4 protects just 13% of New Zealand's land area. It is the highest value land for nature conservation, the very best bits. Surely mining attention should focus on the other 87%.

No land should be removed from Schedule 4 protection.

Coromandel Peninsula

In the late 1970s, Gold Mines New Zealand Ltd proposed a large open-pit gold mine above Otama, a white sand beach on the Coromandel Peninsula. This so enraged locals that they mobilised and set up Coromandel Watchdog. There followed 20 or more years of hard-fought community agitation, direct action and litigation.

The National government recognised that the old Mining Act wasn't up to the job of assessing the environmental impacts of mining in such sensitive locations and Bill Birch introduced an amendment in 1981. Mining interests faced higher hurdles and many fell including the Otama proposal. Other mines on the Thames Coast failed to get access permission because of concerns about the environmental impacts, including an underground proposal at one of the sites now being proposed for mining again. In 1997, after more than 25 years of campaigning, the public land on the Peninsula was finally protected from mining by virtue of being listed in Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act.

The Government's Proposals Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act protects about 40% of our conservation lands or 13% of New Zealand's total land area from mining. The government proposes to take the following areas out of that protected status right away and to investigate hundreds of thousands of hectares elsewhere with more changes to follow in nine months time.

Submissions on these proposals close on Tuesday 4 May (see http://www.med.govt.nz/).

Areas proposed for immediate remaoval of Schedule 4 protection are:

705 hectares of Te Ahumata Plateau (White Cliffs) on Great Barrier Island 

Thames goldfield;3038 hectares - Golden Hills near Tairua; Tapu, and Waiomu on Thames Coast; Hauraki Hill; Tokatea-Kapanga and Matawai near Coromandel township; and the Otahu Ecological Area and Parakawai Geological Area near Whangamata; all on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Inangahua sector of Paparoa National Park 3,313 hectares

Environmental Defence Society

PO Box 95 152,

Swanson, Waitakere City 0653

New Zealand Phone +64-9-835 4350

Email: manager@eds.org.nz 

For more information about EDS go to www.eds.org.nz; www.edsconference.com

The Community Guide to the Resource Management Act go to www.rmaguide.org.nz

MiningSchedule4SubmissionGuide.pdf

The following programme has been prepared by Transition Town Kerikeri for April/May

Interested in Bee Keeping, Honey extraction and processing?

10/11th April Justin Topzand will be working his hives this weekend (weather dependent)

We invite any bee-people and anyone keen to learn a thing or two to gather at his home; 45 Koropiro Road, Waipapa. 

Email interest and queries to Justin - 4077411 buffymc@clear.net.nz

Growing Good Food – an introduction to growing healthy, tasty, nutritious food 

17th April  “Feeding your vegetables so they will nourish you”

15th May:   “Plant genetics and how it affects the nutrition of your food”

19th June:   “Planning and organising your garden”  

We invite you to join us for an afternoon each month to learn about the principles of growing good food and how to apply them in your own garden. Each session will include: 

      * A featured topic

      * An introduction to the appropriate activities for your garden for the coming month

      * A discussion on topics of interest to the group  

The series will be facilitated by Colin Walker  

 These sessions will be held at the Elm Tree, 83 State Highway 1, Ohaeawai, Bay of Islands  

Cost: $30 (in cash or trade/barter with us)  

1. Phone: 09 405 9935        Email: info@growinggoodfood.com           Post: 83 SH1, RD2, Kaikohe 0472

18th  April (Sunday) The Big Olive. Olive harvesting. We will be picking olives from the tree outside Cathay Cinema, Yannick's trees and anyone else who has olives and is keen to take part. We will get the olives pressed into oil if we have a sufficient quantity and also bottle some. Phone Yannick to register your interest - 4077417

22nd April: IET Lecture: Transition Engineering with Dr Susan Krumdeic. Held at Kerikeri High School. 5-7pm

24th April: Wattle and daub workshop (Saturday) Facilitated by Grant Stevens, held at Kerikeri Organics.  $15 fee for full day

Start time 9am with a cuppa and then into it. Bring a plate for a shared lunch at 1pm

30th April: Movie to be shown at Pukewhau (details to come)

1st May: Community Supported Agriculture 1.00pm-4.30pm with Colin Walker at Pukewhau Hall

6th May: TT Café - Bay of Islands Community Exchange and Bay of Islands Dollar. Discussion and exploration of how to get involved.

20th May: TT Café - Genetic Engineering…..To be confirmed

Toxic Algal Bloom Discharge March 2010

Can we Manage Sewage Better? Talk to the Far North District Council

Community meeting:
6:30pm
Wednesday 14 April
Taipa Area School Whare

The extended drought that we are currently experiencing is putting pressure on the infrastructure that supplies the services we usually take for granted. Households are feeling the effects as water restrictions kick in for Kaitaia and in Doubtless Bay many people reliant on rainwater tanks are imposing their own restrictions to eke out the remaining stored water. But it is not only water consumption that has come under the spotlight – we are also facing additional problems disposing of the waste water.

Toxic Algal Bloom

With rivers much reduced in volume, the release of waste water from treatment plants can not be considered environmentally safe. At Taipa, a combination of holding the wastewater for a longer time at the sewerage treatment ponds and the hot, humid weather resulted in a toxic algal bloom developing by early March. As the ponds reached capacity, the District Council made the decision to treat the algal bloom with copper sulphate and release wastewater to the Parapara River and Aurere Estuary. At the time, signs warning against swimming and shellfish gathering were erected at Parapara Bridge and Aurere Estuary as it was considered that toxicity could still be high from the algal bloom. Assurances were given that none of the wastewater was being released into the Taipa River.

Why Release to Waterway?

Concerns have been voiced locally about the apparent discrepancy in treatment approaches between Kaitaia and Taipa. With low flow rates in the Awanui River an alternative, land-based disposal was used for Kaitaia’s treated wastewater, avoiding adding extra nutrients and contaminants to the diminished river. Why was this not instigated for Doubtless Bay? And what assurances do we have that the effects of the (treated) algal bloom are not still impacting on shellfish at Aurere? The signs have been officially removed from the estuary, but the questions about the safety of the kaimoana remain. Similar concerns surround the operation of the waste treatment facilities at Hihi.

Find out More and Have Your Say

Residents will have the opportunity to put these questions to Stephen Cooper, FNDC’s acting manager for waste, waste-water and refuse, at a public meeting on Wednesday April 14. The meeting, called by Doubtless Bay Community Care for our Catchment, will be in the Taipa School Whare, starting at 6.30pm. With submissions to the Far North District’s Annual Plan due by April 16 this will provide a timely opportunity to formulate public input to the Plan and perhaps gain an understanding of how our water and waste-water infrastructure could be managed more proactively. The Taipa Treatment Station’s discharge consent is also pending renewal, and although submissions to that process have not yet been opened to the public, better communication from the District Council about current management and options for improvement would enable residents to make an informed contribution to the consent process.

All are welcome at the meeting on 14 April. For ideas on a submission to the Annual Plan re proactive water and sewage management, please click here.

The map below represents the results of the Doubtless Bay freshwater quality samples taken on 29th March. For more information on the monitoring programme and all the results, please click here.

Aurere River:

Due to the recent toxic algal bloom at the Taipa Waste Water Treatment Plant and the related discharge into the Aurere River (click here for more information), we have elevated the reading to ALERT at the Aurere River testing point. Our testing indicates low levels of e.coli  bacteria in the Aurere River, but our monitoring is not set-up to detect any algal bloom toxins. Even though the Far North District Council warning signs have been taken down, we believe caution should still be taken on the Aurere River.

The water quality at each site is assessed and reported according to the Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Health ‘Microbiological Water Quality Guidelines for Marine and Freshwater Recreational Areas’ revised and issued in 2003. The guidelines recommend a three-tier (traffic-light) management framework according to single sample results of E. coli. Please note this information cannot be used as advice or guidance. Water quality can vary over time, and may be different from when the samples were taken.