2. Question No. 2—EnvironmentHon EUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister for the EnvironmentQuestion No. 2—Environment2. Hon EUGENIE SAGE (Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Will the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management be updated to include a bottom line for dissolved inorganic nitrogen before becoming part of the National Planning Framework through the resource management system reform?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): Last year the Government agreed to reconsider the possibility of a DIN bottom line of 1 mg/l (likely with exceptions)" and in doing so to revisit the environmental and economic implications. When I take a recommendation on a dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) bottom line to Cabinet I will be considering the current requirements of the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management (NPSFM) 2020 and advice of the scientific and technical advisory group. I'd also like to make the point that the periphyton attribute carried over into the NPSFM already effectively provides for a DIN level below 1 milligram for gravel-bottomed rivers. The outstanding issue is muddy-bottomed rivers. I would say that we have to be careful that we don't want a DIN of 1 milligram to effectively become a weaker target for gravel-bottomed rivers.Hon Eugenie Sage: What advice if any has the Minister received on establishing a bottom line for dissolved inorganic nitrogen for fresh water when in May 2020 the Government said that a 12-month delay would allow for a thorough review of its environmental and economic implications?Hon DAVID PARKER: The advice I have is that this has to be taken into account with other measures relating to nitrogen contamination. There are already rules that prevent the decline of water quality or ecosystem health. There are rules to manage nitrate toxicity by directly requiring nitrogen concentrations in rivers to reduce to 2.4 milligrams per litre. There are rules to manage direct nitrogen concentrations in lakes which has implications for upstream environments; targets to manage DIN in rivers to ensure bottom lines for ecosystem health like the macroinvertebrate index and periphyton are achieved; and rules to require that DIN levels are managed to ensure the health of environments downstream like estuaries and wetlands. I think all of those things have to be taken into account together with advice from the scientific advisory group.Hon Eugenie Sage: When does he expect to be able to take to Cabinet a decision as to whether to establish a bottom line for dissolved inorganic nitrogen for fresh water?Hon DAVID PARKER: I expect to be taking further advice for guidance from Cabinet this year.Hon Eugenie Sage: If a bottom line for dissolved inorganic nitrogen is not included promptly in the national policy statement for fresh water how will we achieve stronger regulation to protect water quality and the climate caused by pollution from intensive stocking and overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers?Hon DAVID PARKER: Well in addition to the long list of measures that I've already outlined we also have a cap on the amount of synthetic fertiliser that can be applied to any hectare of pastoral land in any year. It's a limit of 190 kilograms per hectare per annum which knocks off the top of that application bell curve. But sometimes I had reports that over 300 kilograms of nitrogenous synthetic fertiliser was being applied per hectare per annum and that was unnecessarily high.Hon Eugenie Sage: Does he agree that Aotearoa New Zealand needs to reduce the extent of extensive dairying and shift to more sustainable forms of agriculture to better protect water quality soil quality and our climate?Hon DAVID PARKER: I certainly agree that in areas where waterways are degraded through the excessive eutrophication caused by high nitrogen levels we need to do better."