Re-plumbing Canty Plains will damage clean green

green-party

Mon Feb 25 2008 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Re-plumbing Canty Plains will damage clean green

Monday, 25 February 2008, 1:09 pm
Press Release: Green Party

Re-plumbing Canterbury Plains will damage clean and green

Green Media Release 25th February 2008

The threat to New Zealand’s clean and green reputation, warned about in Chapter 13 of the State of the Environment report, will be exacerbated by the plan to re-plumb the braided rivers of the Canterbury Plains says the Green Party

“Only a fortnight after the release of Chapter 13, here we have a consent hearing into a scheme that does exactly what Chapter 13 warned us against,” says Dr. Russel Norman, Green Co-Leader.

“Central Plains Water (CPW) is a scheme to drain two of the South Island’s most important braided rivers, put the pristine water into irrigation ditches, pollute it with fertiliser and cow effluent, and then let the polluted water trickle into the aquifer of the Canterbury Plains. It’s not exactly clean and green!

“Developing on-farm water storage is an essential part of adapting to climate change, but ‘think big’ dams of this type, which serve to encourage conversion to dairy, is not the answer.

“This kind of agricultural intensification is exactly how we are drying out and polluting our rivers.

“It is also exactly the kind of development that will threaten our economy by damaging our clean and green reputation even further.

“Many politicians at a local and central government level express their concern about declining water quality. If that concern is genuine then we need them to stand up alongside the Green Party and say ‘enough is enough’.”

ENDS

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}

Using Scoop for work?

Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.

Join Pro Individual Find out more

Find more from Green Party on InfoPages.