Dirty Rivers and Lakes Tour heads to West Coast
Channel: NZ Green Party
Date: 2012-04-11

Lake Brunner is the Jewel in the Crown of the West Coast's natural environment but its water quality has steadily declined for the past two decades. Green Party Water Spokesperson Eugenie Sage hears from community leaders out on the lake .

Transcript of Lake Brunner video, March 2012

ES - Eugenie Sage MP, Green Party
DK - Dean Kelly, West Coast Fish and Game
DR - Dave Ritchie, Tai Poutini Polytechnic
DM - Dave Mason, Ngāti Wae Wae

0.13  ES    It's a beautiful day on Lake Brunner and it's an amazing lake, a jewel in the crown on the West Coast, but water quality is declining from increased farm runoff. 
0.30  ES    We're in this small mucky pond, what's happened here?
0.35  DK    Yeah, you can certainly see the evidence of the sludge coming down here but this area here was itself subject to some unconsented, well, activities beyond a consent in humping and hollowing or land development. 
0.50  DK    It released a large amount of sediment into a small drain which then got inundated and ended up in the lake.
1.03  DR    Increasingly for us the story is one of degradation and mismanagement and really we need help with keeping this place the way it is.+
1.10  ES    So how many students are you bringing here, and what do you do with them?
1.12  DR    We'll bring students here several times a year, we have a group of about 40 or 50 depending on the year, and they are sea kayaking here. 
1.18  DR    We use this venue to train our students to look after other people outside as well so all the high schools on the West Coast bring their students here so our students can take them on camps, and they'll spend up to a week here moving around the lake.
1.32  ES    And how have you noticed the lake changing over your lifetime?
1.35  DM    Well as a young child I used to kick here all the time, you know, kayak around and so forth. 
1.40  DM    I guess changing around, I mean as you can see here a lot of the trees around here, the willows, have been killed off.
1.46  DM    And just in general I suppose, you know the quality of it. I wouldn't say I used to drink it as a kid but it's definitely changed.
1.55  ES    So what's your vision, Ngāti Wae Wae's vision for the lake?
1.58  DM    Well obviously from a kaitiaki (caretaker) perspective you know, definitely looking after it for our future generations, 'cos the idea is if we can't do that today then there's not gonna be anything here for future generations.
2.25  ES    How do you think water quality on the West Coast can be improved?
2.29  DK    Well for a start, in this lake, water quality is considered good but it is declining.
2.35  DK    More enforcement by the regional council of regional rules, and enforcement of those through prosecutions.
2.41  ES    What do you think need to change to do that?
2.43  DM    Well, obviously the water quality, you know, stronger restrictions on the whenua (land) on the outside of it you know, the tributaries coming in and so forth. Council need to up the game a bit, and I think so do our people.
2.57  ES    The West Coast Regional Council needs robust rules, we need to enforce those rules, and we need strong national policies and rules to protect fresh water.