Deteriorating water quality within New Zealand is a significant issue. This report focuses on the policy problem of deteriorating freshwater quality caused by non-point source discharges associated with the farming industry.[1] Essentially the problem is that there has been a significant increase in land use intensification, with more stock discharging dung and urine onto land and more nutrients being added to the soil which leach into the waterways causing serious degradation.[2]
This problem is important as many New Zealanders identify with and derive benefit from our streams, rivers, groundwater and lakes. As noted in a recent report from Cabinet declining water quality “threatens biodiversity, community and cultural values, the coastal environment, and freshwater and inshore fisheries.”[3] Deteriorating water quality also has direct economic costs. Nearly $450 million has been set aside to restore Lake Taupo, Rotorua Lakes and the Waikato River.[4] The significant tangible and intangible costs associated with permitting water quality to deteriorate are simply unacceptable. New policy solutions are necessary to ensure that farming practices are sustainable.
The report is structured by first discussing the evolution and nature of the problem. This background section includes a review of the relevant literature. The analytical framework will then be set out to provide the reader with an understanding of how the competing policy alternatives are to be assessed. This is followed by analysis and findings. The analysis draws on four criteria: effectiveness, equity, cost and externalities and risk. The final sections are a discussion of the implications of the findings and formulation of conclusions.
Background Information
Historically the quality of freshwater in New Zealand has not been an area of concern. The first review of the effects of agricultural on water quality was thought to have been undertaken in 1986 and by 1993 it was conclusively established that agriculture had the potential to adversely affect water quality.[5] Recent Regional Council documents suggest that increasing degradation of water bodies is a common situation in all catchments where land use intensification is occurring.[6] The relevant literature supports the hypothesis that non-point source discharges are causing the degradation of many waterways within New Zealand.[7] These discharges include dung and urine from stock, effluent and fertiliser.[8] Initially the key issue was framed as what policy was necessary to address declining water quality. It soon became apparent that the measures to address non-point discharges were clearly established within the scientific literature, and a combination of many of them would be necessary.
The mitigation and restoration measures that are required to address non-point discharges comprise of three categories: reduction at source, interception of pollutants on land, and interception or processing of pollutants in water.[9] The recognised mitigation measures are: management of fertilizer to match plant requirements which means less is used, avoidance of overstocking, not using inappropriate land like erosion prone hills, using feed pads to keep stock off wet land during winter, fencing and planting stream banks to keep stock out and to transform pollutants before they enter waterways, and use of artificial wetlands.[10] The key question to address is what policy vehicle would be most appropriate to deliver these mitigation and restoration measures. This task is significant as there has not been any previous assessment of the policy vehicles that could be used to implement mitigation measures for non-point source discharges.