Mohaka RiverA good bad-report on Frogblog about the Upper Mohaka river in Hawkes Bay.
"Iain Maxwell, Regional Manager of Fish & Game NZ. is talking about the upper Mohaka in the Taharua valley. This small area is home to a third of the region’s total dairy herd, some 9,000 dairy cows. Saturate a free-draining pumice soil with that many cows and the situation is right for the increased nutrient levels observed in the upper reaches of the river.
Says Maxwell: “The increase in nutrient is almost certainly the result of concentrated urine patches from 9,000 dairy cows leaching nutrient into the groundwater and then appearing in the surface waters of the nearby Taharua River.”
Maxwell notes that the Mohaka is the only river in Hawke’s Bay supposedly protected by a Water Protection Order, yet it appears to be deteriorating … in part because the Regional Council lacks the appropriate mechanisms in its Resource Management Plan to regulate the land use that is the suspected cause.
We must protect our rivers. They are the veins and arteries of our country. If they are clogged and polluted - guess what? We die - just like when the bodies blood vessels block.
Hattip - Frogblog
"Iain Maxwell, Regional Manager of Fish & Game NZ. is talking about the upper Mohaka in the Taharua valley. This small area is home to a third of the region’s total dairy herd, some 9,000 dairy cows. Saturate a free-draining pumice soil with that many cows and the situation is right for the increased nutrient levels observed in the upper reaches of the river.
Says Maxwell: “The increase in nutrient is almost certainly the result of concentrated urine patches from 9,000 dairy cows leaching nutrient into the groundwater and then appearing in the surface waters of the nearby Taharua River.”
Maxwell notes that the Mohaka is the only river in Hawke’s Bay supposedly protected by a Water Protection Order, yet it appears to be deteriorating … in part because the Regional Council lacks the appropriate mechanisms in its Resource Management Plan to regulate the land use that is the suspected cause.
We must protect our rivers. They are the veins and arteries of our country. If they are clogged and polluted - guess what? We die - just like when the bodies blood vessels block.
Hattip - Frogblog
No comments:
Post a Comment