Blenheim public meeting
Wednesday 8 November
Waste policy
Recycling, reuse and community
- The main constraint is space. However, moving out of town may decrease recycling due to inconvenience.
- What would people pay for curb side recycling? $300,000/yr for Blenheim/Picton. Compare this against the cost of a landfill over its lifespan.
- The recycling centre is currently 50-75% subsidised by recycling.
- The council has a project underway to assess waste recovery going into the future and look at options.
- How can the recycling price be stabilised - either store or diversify into other markets?
- Support the Packaging Accord with taxes (for polluters) and subsidies (for recyclers). Is the Accord working? If it is not, it is time for the stick.
- Is glass an environmental hazard? Issues with reusing/recycling glass often outweigh the benefits of recycling it.
- In Marlborough waste includes posts, shrink wrap and piping from wineries. Should wineries be looking at their own recovery operation? The focus at the moment is on minimisation rather than recycling.
- The code of practice for wineries was last updated in 1996. A new version is being prepared.
- MfE’s role is to provide support through leadership, providing information and best practice guidance, rather than paying for long-term recycling. Central government needs to provide incentives. MfE should be taking a stronger lead with industry as councils are stretched as far as they can go working on local initiatives.
National environmental standards
Water
- Quantifying water quality is hard, particularly where there is no control over catchment areas.
- There is increasing demand for water, particularly with the development of local vineyards.
- The LIM record of water quality is a major deterrent for property purchases.
- It would be good to see the government providing funding for small-scale suppliers.
- Water levels need to be maintained otherwise levels of substances such as arsenic increase. Whose job is it to install treatment equipment? What is the practical impact of a National Environmental Standard on water quality? Will it involve a lot of monitoring?
- An application was lodged for a big bore 3.8 km from the water source. The applicant has already planted a large vineyard yet does not have consent to take water out of the ground. How will the council then refuse the application? Who makes the decisions about allocation? Is water allocation a public health issue or an economic issue?
- Even with these regulations, it will still be hard for locals and others to contest well-resourced applications from multi-nationals (e.g. Lion Nathan).
- When levels go beneath set standards, everyone suffers.
- All New Zealand houses should have tanks provided for in their building permits (dual-use) No one really knows the storage levels of aquifers so there is a danger that they are depleted or over allocated. In the meantime, we need to be cautious about over use.
- More attention needs to be paid to high-risk pockets, including local areas where water quality and allocation is a major concern.
- We need to know who is causing pollution as they are the ones that should be paying for any treatment.
- There has been a focus on the environmental effects of dairy farmers. Are we going to see a shift of focus to vineyards?
- Nothing is ever heard about the interface with agencies such as the Food Safety Authority. What is their involvement in fostering best practice on water quality and efficiency?
- Septic tanks are no longer used in Fenwick because of water quality concerns.
- In Grovetown some people are still putting sewage to roadside ditches.
Contaminated land
- There is an old sheep dip site that is now a new vineyard. It is ironic that the sheep dip site has been cleaned up and then vineyard posts were installed that will ultimately leak leachates into the soil.
- The Council is carrying out the second stage of a study on leachates from vineyard posts. Most leachate comes out of the end of posts.
Water
Climate Change
- Climate change is an issue impacting on water in the region.
- Climate change may mean increased rainfall in the Awatere and Wairau valleys – this could be positive. There is a need to start looking at water storage options. A whole valley approach is needed. Water storage will be essential in order to maintain quality of life.
Land use
- There has been exponential growth in the last three years in Blenheim. Water for that development is an issue. There has been land use change from farming to grapes.
- The availability of land and water are the limiting factors for expanding viticulture.
- There have been changes in land-ownership and the type of owner. Corporate land-ownership is a more dominant factor in the region.
- Growth rates are dependant on weather. Drought affects nutrient levels in water for aquaculture.
- Reverse sensitivity is an issue.
- Increased urbanisation correlates with an increase in heavy metals.
- We need to learn from overseas examples.
- Urbanisation of coastal fringes is quite an issue. Their septic tanks are unsuitable and this is polluting our coasts.
- Traditional sewerage systems are not always suitable in coastal settlements
- Some areas are so polluted that aquaculture (e.g. oyster farms) is unable to operate.
- The mussel industry in the region has equalled the income from grapes.
- Sustainable farming systems (land or marine) require sustainable water.
- The unitary authority needs to be more active and take a strong lead in terms of monitoring and compliance.
- The council has a role in helping to avoid disputes between neighbours, but there is also a need for partnerships.
- Septic tanks need to be monitored. There is a need for something like a WOF for septic tanks.
- An “on the ground” solution is needed e.g. Rotorua Landcare groups.
- There are lots of subdivisions in the region where people are farming on the edge of sustainability.
- Dairy effluent is an issue in the Pelorus Catchment but the situation has improved. Over-fertilisation could be prevented through the use of technology.
Water allocation and usage
- It may be necessary to hit people in the pocket. When water meters were introduced in the Awatere Valley, water consumption halved. Water meters should be introduced in residential areas as well.
- We are not ready for tradable water rights at this point as the person with the biggest resource would capture the market. The current situation is good and water should remain as a public resource with the public taking responsibility for the resource.
Education and information
- Water efficiency measures including the use of technology are important. The whole community including the urban population needs to be encouraged to think about the value of water.
- Education is important. Young people need to be encouraged to see primary production as the way forward. We need to look at how to turn out effective primary producers.
- Generally people are becoming aware of the issues, are aware of best practice, and are sharing knowledge and understanding. These factors are very important.
- Peer pressure is an important factor in changing the attitudes of people who are reluctant to change bad practice.
- Community lead initiatives are also important.
General comments
- We need to be proactive now and look at overseas experience, so we do not repeat mistakes.
- The quality of both marine and fresh water is equally important. Water needs to be available to everyone.
- There is a hearing underway for the Trustpower Wairau River hydro scheme which has got people thinking about Integrated Catchment Management (ICM).
- An advantage of having only one local authority in the region is that they work well together as a team.
- There is some way to go towards getting the Long Term Council Community Plan and the Regional Policy Statement to work together. At the moment they are in conflict.
- A lack of knowledge of the environment, especially aquifers, is an issue.
- Lots of councils and councillors think their role is to fix roads etc. rather than the environment.
- Solar water heating equals energy savings. Government should provide incentives to encourage energy efficiency. It is possible to get a subsidy for installing solar-powered water heating systems but the application process is very complicated and needs to be simplified.
Climate change
Adaptation and mitigation
- Climate change impacts are of such pressing importance that if we do not deal with them, nothing else is going to matter. We need to understand the inter-relationships between all the systems.
- Marlborough is active with forest sinks and is trying to keep carbon trading and benefits in the region.
- There is a sense of urgency with the increased intensity and frequency of storms.
- Climate change momentum has died down over the last 2 years. There has been a loss of funding and support in the region.
- All Ministries should lead by example through actions such as offsetting their carbon emissions. Government needs to advise that this can be achieved quite easily. Flights, for example, are cheap to offset.
- More time needs to be spent on measuring emissions accurately, e.g. compare emissions from concrete and other materials used in buildings.
- The biggest challenge is the short-term thinking in New Zealand. Thinking 50-80 years out is not high on our agenda
- Attitudes change slowly – but we can do it.
- There is a lot of potential for planting on farms, though encouragement from government is needed. There is currently no encouragement so no-one is planting trees.
- Marlborough is the only region in New Zealand to have determined its carbon footprint.
- It is important to look at life cycle analysis when choosing building products. Engineers building luxury apartments used to use concrete but had problems with rust. They are now using wood as pre-fabricated window frames - this lasts much longer.
- The Marlborough Regional Development Trust is trying to involve as wide a range of people as possible in tackling climate change.
Education and information
- Consistent messages from government are needed to raise public awareness and empower those that want to make a difference.
- There is a lack of consistent messages. Those in the field need support from government.
- Better information is a necessity.
- The public needs information in simple terms. A simple event should be held to publicise climate change messages. The Time magazine article in March was good.
- Get information out there in little bites.
- Communication needs to get beyond “preaching to the converted”.
- A free screening of “An Inconvenient Truth” was suggested with messages before and after.
- The public awareness approach needs to be different depending on the perspective of the target audience.
- New Zealanders have a strong sense of stewardship and will act without being told to. It is innate in most kiwis. This sense of stewardship should be appealed to.
- Hard scientific facts not always good. ‘Soft’ stories should be used to capture hearts and minds.
- Capture imaginations with different stories. Find people who are zealous to act as champions and tell the story again and again until it gets out. Run a campaign similar to the drink-driving campaign.
- The campaign encouraging cyclists to wear bike helmets is a good model. A mother whose son was severely injured visited schools using a “this is how bad it could be” approach.
- Landcare Research is working to weave climate change in to the curriculum. A good example is the Queen Charlotte Aquaculture Academy. Use “real live examples”, have field visits, projects etc. and enable students to apply their knowledge.
- Students could do exercises such as calculating a trend line showing the average temperature at local observation points over the last 100 years.
- Climate change should be incorporated in to subjects such as maths and integrated into entire curriculum.
- Getting farmers involved with climate change will help farming to become more sustainable. Show people they can make a difference without it costing them.
- People are planning to develop an “environmental issues” based diving weekend. This is a great opportunity to educate young people – it is fun and a good chance to get the climate change message across.
General comments
- To quote Barrie Dale, “the uncertainty with the measurements is no excuse to continue to waste resources”.
- People’s immediate focus is on providing for their children. People need to realise that climate change might lead to them not having food to put on the table.
- Local case studies and examples from workshops should be used. – need to get this information out
- Professor Bob Vale was involved in the autonomous house project in the UK. The house is self-sufficient in energy, water supply, sewage treatment and waste water disposal. The house was designed and built within the budget of a traditional house. It would be easy to do something similar in Marlborough, providing there was the will.
- Strong economic opportunities have been identified locally for Marlborough. Once these are properly measured, they can be better managed.
- People really fought to get climate change on the council agenda here.
- Using rates discounting or tax rebates would be a good incentive and gets people thinking about the choices they are making.
- Finland is a good model. Around 400,000 people have a patch of forest, and therefore a strong connection to the land. This makes people more aware of their actions.
Environmental reporting
General comments
- Local information is important
- Big fat publications are no good as they are too cumbersome. Small pamphlets are very useful.
- The people who need to know do not receive the information. There is little dissemination of the information.
- CDs work well. The RMA information is great.
- Bring together all organisations that are doing environmental reports to prevent duplication of effort.
- There is little relationship with what happens at the coal face. Responsibility is very passive.
- Reporting should be on an issue-by-issue basis with regional application.
- We need to throw the information in people’s faces.
- Reports must come with solutions. What can individuals do?
General interest
Water
- There is concern about large allocations of water to individuals whose real intent is to on sell the water (“water banking”).
- There is concern in relation to the Wairau River Hydro proposal that objections are at a disadvantage in relation to a resource applicant.
Resource Management Act
- The RMA is too complex for lay people to understand and get involved with. It is also very difficult for reporters to understand and report on.
General comments
- How should the process of long term planning for the urban form of Blenheim be undertaken? Business parks should be located on less valuable land, further away from the existing town.
Last updated: 27 February 2008
