Farming cops blame at springs hearing

Irrigation and farming practices are behind ‘‘almost all’’ of the nitrates detected in Te Waikoropupu¯ Springs, the Environment Court has been told.

Golden Bay resident Andrew Yuill, who was a joint applicant with Nga¯ti Tama Ki Te Waipounamu Trust for a Water Conservation Order to protect the springs, the aquifer that feeds them and associated water bodies, gave evidence yesterday at a hearing in Nelson.

Yuill, who has been collecting water samples from the springs for community conservation group Friends of Golden Bay since February 2016, told the court there was no discernible natural variation in the nitrate levels.

‘‘What we are seeing at the springs is artificial variation,’’ he said.

He stood firm on that point under cross-examination when it was suggested that some variation could be due to natural events such as a mixing of the water within the aquifer, varying flows, and rainfall levels.

Natural levels were ‘‘close to zero’’ in the Ta¯ kaka and Waingaro rivers, while rain did not contain enough nitrates to cause observable variations, Yuill said.

‘‘All the detectable variability, I believe, is as a result of the antigenic sources, because all the other sources are very close [to], sometimes below, detection levels, and – because there is mixing in the aquifer – dispersion will even out ... what changes there are in the natural sources,’’ he said.

‘‘Irrigation on to the ground in conjunction with agricultural practices is what I believe causes ... almost all the nitrate we’re seeing in the springs and its variations.’’

When it was pointed out that Yuill had not identified land use practices that could result in such variation, he said he was not privy to farm management practices.

‘‘For example, I have no idea how much nitrogenous fertiliser they apply, and what the changes of that are from year to year, and I don’t know how long they maintain their milk herds in production.’’

On behalf of Upper Ta¯kaka irrigators, lawyer Bal Matheson said the farming interests in the area would be prepared to accept limitations on any future allocation of water, such as a condition that it not result in any greater nitrate concentrations into the ground than before the take.

He also said any such decisions on allocation would require a resource consent, and could be made via a ‘‘community’’ process.

Yuill said the present allocation of water had noticeable effects at the springs, and ‘‘instead of saying, primarily, ‘Let’s do something about it’, what I’ve heard is, ‘Let’s have some more water’ . . . so, no, I don’t think that it’s OK under the present circumstances to be considering actively taking more water’’.

The Friends of Golden Bay water monitoring programme had provided solid data on the nitrate levels flowing from Main Spring and Fish Spring, as well as the Ta¯ kaka and Waingaro rivers and the karst uplands, he said. ‘‘In this aquifer, where so much is unknown or available only through inference, solid data is of great value.’’

The ‘‘overwhelming majority’’ of people in Golden Bay valued and cherished Te Waikoropupu¯ Springs and wanted a strong conservation order that would protect it, Yuill said.

One of the great pleasures to come from the mahi on the conservation order was the opportunity ‘‘to know and work with [late Nga¯ ti Tama kauma¯tua] John WardHolmes’’, he said. ‘‘Although he no longer lives among us, his wisdom and mana are threaded throughout the application.’’

Judge John Hassan told Yuill he should stand tall and proud for investing so much ‘‘in such an important thing, and in the fact that there will be a recommendation for a Water Conservation Order and so forth. It’s just a question of the details that need to be worked through’’.

The hearing was adjourned yesterday afternoon. A second week is proposed, tentatively arranged to begin on June 27.

‘‘Instead of saying, primarily, ‘Let’s do something about it’, what I’ve heard is, ‘Let’s have some more water’ .’’ Andrew Yuill