Water quality standards should be set by groups of scientists and not one individual, says University of Otago freshwater research fellow Marnie Prickett.
Prickett is critical of a report commissioned by Beef + Lamb NZ that said national bottom line (NBL) standards for fine sediment and E coli are unachievable and would be financially damaging.
“Industry bodies should be supporting farmers but too often they produce material that seems designed to frighten people rather than support them,” she said.
“Talking about ‘decimation’ on the back of a single person’s report is cynical and harmful, and it’s not how good decisions are made,” she said in a written statement.
The review by independent consultants Torlesse Environmental said that even if agriculture were removed and catchments returned to their natural state, 38% of the country’s rivers would still not meet national sediment standards.
Asked whether NBLs are unachievable, Prickett said such decisions and questions should be worked on by the scientific community, not determined by a single person.
“That’s how we make sound decisions and get meaningful answers.”
She said the report reflects siloed thinking and is not supportive of the sector.
“Improving freshwater is one piece of the puzzle, but there are multiple factors that will influence how the sheep and beef sector fares over the coming years and decades.
“Beef + Lamb should widen their research base to develop a strategy that supports sheep and beef farmers find their way forward in the restoration of catchments while changes in the climate put increasing pressure on farm systems, other sectors vie for allocation in a limited world, and markets change.”
The BLNZ report noted issues with measuring E coli concentrations, but Prickett said the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, has said that it is no reason not to regulate or manage the bacteria.
“Instead, it is an argument for investment in more monitoring and research so that management can be effectively prioritised,” Upton wrote recently.
Prickett noted that where a natural process causes NBLs to be breached, these sites are exempt from having to be improved above bottom lines.
“This is sensible because our efforts need to be on pollution or degradation caused by human activity that we have the power to improve.”
Prickett noted that in 2017 BLNZ, along with other farming groups, pledged to make New Zealand rivers swimmable, but she said they appear to be now backing away from that commitment.
The BLNZ-commissioned review estimated 44% of sheep and beef farmland would have to be retired, along with other extensive mitigations, if the NBLs for fine sediment were enforced.
“Even if these measures were taken, around 50% of the catchments currently below the NBLs would remain below them,” the report said.
It quoted published literature that around 20% of waterways coming out of catchments in their natural state, for example National Parks, do not currently meet suspended fine sediment NBLs.
The report estimated meeting NBLs would cost the NZ economy $3.9 billion a year in lower exports with additional costs from the loss of jobs and industry.
