SECTION B: Who Monitors and Reports?
B.1 Roles and responsibilities
The Microbiological Water Quality Guidelines for Marine and Freshwater Recreational Areas have been developed for the agencies involved in the monitoring and reporting of recreational waters. This is primarily regional, territorial and unitary councils, District Health Boards and Medical Officers of Health.
During the development of this manual there was an overwhelming request from all those involved in beach water-quality monitoring for guidance from the Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Health on the appropriate delegation of roles and responsibilities for recreational beach monitoring. Determining precisely which agency is responsible for which roles in monitoring and reporting beach water quality for public health protection must be one of the first steps in developing a sampling and reporting programme.
Some regional, territorial and unitary councils have clearly defined these roles, basing their decisions on council ‘ownership’ of the roles, and the available resources and areas of expertise.
See Note G(vii) on different responsibility scenarios operating around the country.
The following section outlines an approach for clarifying roles and responsibilities at the regional level by way of protocols, agreed to by the different agencies that have a role in monitoring and reporting recreational water quality. This section also presents a recommended framework for the roles regional councils, territorial local authorities, unitary councils and health agencies will have with respect to recreational water-quality monitoring and reporting.
B.2 Recommended framework for roles and responsibilities
The Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Health have agreed on the following recommended framework for roles and responsibilities in relation to recreational waters.
- The regional council co-ordinates the monitoring and reporting strategy.
- The regional council implements surveillance and alert-level monitoring.
- The Medical Officer of Health reviews the effectiveness of the monitoring and reporting strategy.
- The regional council informs the Medical Officer of Health and territorial authority if alert or action levels are reached.
- The Medical Officer of Health will ensure that the territorial authority is informed.
- The territorial authority will inform the public when the action level is exceeded – the Medical Officer of Health will ensure the public is informed within agreed timeframes.
- If the action level is reached, the territorial authority will undertake nuisance monitoring and cause all proper steps to be taken to abate or remove the nuisance. On occasion it may be more appropriate for the regional council to undertake this duty. The Medical Officer of Health will provide advice and ensure that proper steps are taken by the territorial local authorities and/or regional councils.
- It is the responsibility of the Medical Officer of Health to ensure that sites with modified grades are audited in accordance with these guidelines.
- The regional council will collate the information for state of the environment reporting and a review of management policies.
See Note G(viii) for the legislative basis for these recommendations.
See Note H(xii) for an explanation of modified beach grades.
The Medical Officer of Health has a lead role, given his/her responsibilities under the Health Act, to ensure the proper steps are taken by the territorial local authorities to protect public health.
In some situations it may be more appropriate for the regional council to abate/remove the nuisance, as when the source of contamination has been identified as being within its jurisdiction (e.g. discharges of farm dairy effluent). Although the guidelines advise investigation of the nuisance, they do not require that steps be undertaken to remove it. However, taking proper steps to abate or remove the nuisance is a Health Act requirement, and it is an RMA requirement to remedy and mitigate, so removing the nuisance is a logical next step.
A legal opinion on legislated roles and an outline of the current monitoring and reporting scenarios around the country provided the background for the recommendation on roles and responsibilities.
See Note G(ix) for details of the legal opinion.
The Explanatory Notes also present a number of alternative roles and responsibilities frameworks that are applied by some councils around the country (see Note G(vii)). These illustrate that there are a range of options for ensuring that the public are able to make informed choices about their recreational activities. They are provided for agencies that do not have an effective roles and responsibilities framework in place and wish to use an alternative to the recommended framework. Regional councils, territorial authorities and health authorities must decide what best suits their circumstances, taking into consideration what has previously proven to be successful.
B.3 Regional protocols
The Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Health recommend that local government and public health services develop regional protocols that clearly identify a lead agency, which develops a monitoring protocol that specifies the details of:
- the agreed roles and responsibilities protocol, including who is accountable [At the time of writing, such protocols have been suggested for inclusion in the proposed Public Health Bill. The protocols outlined in the Bill relate to all matters of public health, of which recreational water quality is one.]
- how the programme will be implemented
- what the management and communication/ education responses will be to exceedance events.
Each agency involved in the monitoring programme should also be consulted to ensure there is agreement on how each site is assessed.
These protocols should be based on the agencies’ respective legislative functions relating to recreational water-quality monitoring and reporting, with the aim of:
- reflecting and clarifying local/regional conditions and arrangements
- enhancing collaboration, operational co-ordination and the performance of their respective roles and responsibilities.
Consideration must be given to the role of non-regulatory groups, such as community groups and or iwi. Interactions between communities, authorities and organisations are a key requirement in monitoring, reporting and resolving water-quality issues.
When developing the protocols, consideration should be given to the expertise and resourcing generally held within the regional councils, territorial local authorities and by the Medical Officers of Health. For example, Medical Officers of Health have expertise in the implementation of health regimes, and regional councils generally have the technical expertise in water issues.
These protocols should detail who is responsible for each of the roles (i to ix) outlined in B.2, and copies should be held by each of the participating agencies. Protocols may also be needed when reviewing an event, or to justify actions during an event. In extreme circumstances they may be necessary as supporting material for litigation.
B.4 Abating the nuisance
Investigating, identifying and remedying a nuisance should be based on the expertise within the agencies and the functions of these agencies within their jurisdiction. How the problem is mitigated is at the discretion of the council, although the course of action taken should meet the approval of the Medical Officer of Health.
The guidelines do not specify that the cause of failure to meet the specified levels must be rectified. They merely require that the public is informed when beaches are not suitable for contact recreation. However, once a problem is identified, many councils – and, indeed, the public – will want it fixed. Some causes (e.g. broken sewers, illegal sewer–stormwater connections) are easier to fix than others, but are still difficult. Aged stormwater systems and rural run-off will require long-term planning and solutions, and may never be fully fixed. In these situations the territorial local authorities, regional councils and Medical Officer of Health may develop a strategy for reducing or eliminating the problem.
B.5 Legal implications
Failure to notify the public of a known health risk, which then results in damage to members of the public, may lead to legal action being taken against the agency responsible (regional council, territorial local authority or Medical Officer of Health) by affected groups or individuals.
All agencies involved in monitoring water quality should be aware of their legal obligation to protect the public health, and that failure to meet these obligations may result in legal action. Legal action can be avoided by notifying the public as soon as a health risk is identified.
