Refreshing Water: Valuing the priceless

Opinion: Dr Eric Crampton, NZ Initiative

New Zealand deserves far better water management. Scores of newspaper articles and rigorous reports lay out the problems in the current system. Too much water is being drawn in some catchments, to the detriment of aquifers and rivers. Management of contaminants flowing into the rivers is haphazard and too-often poor. While agricultural runoff into rivers and streams has drawn much attention, urban areas are far from blameless.

The Land and Water Forum’s most recent advice to Ministers summarised the problem well. Minister for the Environment David Parker in October 2018 committed the government to a two-year agenda for an improved freshwater management system. Read more