Submission on Environmental Reporting Discussion Document (MfE)

A not for profit incorporated society, Water New Zealand promotes and enables the sustainable management and development of the water environment. With 1500 members Water New Zealand‟s membership is large and diverse, including Territorial Local Authorities, Council Controlled Organisations, water and wastes services providers, the major consultancies involved in providing engineering, planning and research services to the industry, Crown and other research institutes involved in the water and wastes environment, academia, members of the legal fraternity and training providers.

Water New Zealand supports the move toward a more consistent and independent regime for reporting on key environmental areas. We have noted previously, as have others,1 that in reference to water issues the highly devolved and fragmented delivery system is resulting in a growing level of unintended consequences, not least in developing a nationally consistent and comprehensive set of indicators in reference to water quality.

Our comments below focus on water issues, but could, in the main, apply to the other environmental domains defined in the discussion document.