Despite New Zealand’s global success as the largest dairy products exporter, concerns are becoming loud that many of its serene rivers, including Waitaki River, will be facing the brunt of pollutants being emptied from Mackenzie country's dairying activities in the South Island.

According to New Zealand's longest-serving Fish & Game officer, Graeme Hughes, who recently retired from his service, the hazard of nutrients flowing down from the dairy farms and getting into rivers via the soils and aquifers is more than real, reports Stuff.Co.Nz. Hughes has been closely attached to the landscape of the Waitaki Basin during his 49 years stint as an officer. He said, "You can't have all that water from irrigators and all those nutrients from cows going into the ground and have things stay the same.”

According to Hughes, there is a looming threat of nutrients and pollutants getting into the river stream. He noted lots of water is required to dilute the dairy pollutants, but not enough water is there to do it. The water available is being used for in-river purposes such as feeding animals, birds and fish habitats and for farming, leaving very little water to spare. He said the “spare water is our water, and bit by bit it is being taken from us.”

Mackenzie Country

Hughes said the situation going past the point of no return. He said the developing situation is a bit alarming with farms expanding from the coast to the Alps with pivots and flashing lights. He recalled the charm of Mackenzie Country, remembered as sparse, brown with shades of yellow and orange. It was an iconic high country. But now it is all big circles and the stock is sectioned into tiny paddocks. The expert also bemoaned the loss of wetlands and said preserving them was a tough job.

Farmers do not want unproductive swamps and bogs on their land. He noted that 90 percent of wetlands in New Zealand have either been destroyed or modified. In his view, the paradox is that on the one hand people are seeking water rights, and the other, they are draining out the precious wetlands. Many of the dairy farmers have either fenced off or planted their wetlands.

On a positive note, Hughes said he is still hopeful of lower Waitaki, as it has the best in river fishery as it is controlled by dams, by which the fish resources have not been disturbed by floods or the water has not been discoloured.

Dairy Company Fined

Meanwhile, a New Zealand based dairy company has been fined more than NZ $25,000 ($24,593) for damage to a Waikato stream. J and J Watt Limited was charged for disturbing the beds of a stream and parts of a wetland on the Cambridge farm between 2010 and 2013. The company had sought resource consent to carry out earthworks to an erosion-prone area, where a small area of wetland was present. According to the Waikato Regional Council, the company breached the conditions of that consent, reports Radio Nz. The violations resulted in a significant amount of sediment flowing into the stream then further into the Waikato River. Hamilton District Court Judge Craig Thompson ordered the company to pay the fine.

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