8. Freshwater Management—Water Quality of RiversCATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) to the Minister for the EnvironmentFreshwater Management—Water Quality of Rivers8. CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Does he stand by his statement that the Government is determined to move 1000 kilometres of waterways per year to a higher swimming standard?Hon Dr NICK SMITH (Minister for the Environment): Yes. The Government's Clean Water package categorises river and lake water quality into five swimming grades from excellent to poor based on four statistical tests of their E.coli data. The Clean Water package requires improvements across all those categories so that by 2040 50 percent are excellent 20 percent are good and 20 percent are fair—totalling 90 percent. This will require 1000 kilometres of river and lake margins be moved to a higher grading each year till 2040.Catherine Delahunty: Will that 1000 kilometres per year include the Selwyn Waikirikiri River which was once a popular swimming spot but last summer was reduced to a puddle and therefore too small to be included in the waterways the Government is promising to make swimmable?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The Government's national targets—and this is the first time a Government has set any targets around national water quality—is focused on the 54000 kilometres of waters that are more than 40 centimetres deep. We are also advising regional councils on those smaller water bodies to also improve those. In fact we are proposing a very specific change to the national policy statement to require all water bodies to be improved for recreational water quality.Catherine Delahunty: Will Lucas Creek Ōkahukura be included in the Government's 1000 kilometres per year given that the Minister wrote it off as a river that nobody has ever wanted or tried to swim in"?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: Lucas Creek is a creek. The policy is about improving lakes and rivers. I do acknowledge there are some smaller water bodies that are significant for communities and it is important that regional councils improve water quality in those as well. The analogy I would make to the member is that central government focuses on State highways; the local communities focus on local roads. In exactly the same way the Government's fresh water policy is focused on those larger rivers and lakes but there is still a very important job for regional councils to improve water quality in smaller water bodies.Catherine Delahunty: How determined can the Government really be when the goal for swimmability applies to only 10 percent of rivers and lakes and the principal scientist involved in the Clean Water package called its standard "less precautionary"?Hon Dr NICK SMITH: The Government's Clean Water package around swimmability focuses on those water bodies that are more than 40 centimetres deep. It is true that there are hundreds of thousands of kilometres of smaller water bodies. Actually 90 percent of them flow into those lakes and rivers so the only way in which regional councils will be able to meet this Government's ambitious targets for improving water quality is to improve it both in those lakes and rivers and in those smaller tributaries that feed into them."