That’s not BayBuzz talking … that’s Regional Councillor Neil Kirton, this week’s Guest Buzzmaker, talking about his own Council’s recent decisions on Tukituki water takes.
Concludes Kirton in his article: “Surely this was an opportunity to mitigate the problems in the Tukituki River. Instead, the Hearings Committee have boxed the Regional Council into an impossible corner. The Council as a whole must now sort out this mess.”
I’m not sure what he has in mind, but I don’t think he’s inclined to see the Regional Council wash its hands of the matter, as it has done by delegating mediation of the matter to staff, with no oversight, and by adopting a neutral position should the matter go to the Environment Court.
Meantime, BayBuzz reader Rikki recently posted this comment on Australia’s water problems, where, as reported by the BBC, it seems governmental mismanagement of water allocations has compounded the disaster caused by drought …
“Australian farmers are facing ecological disaster, not so much because of the ongoing drought there, as due to criminal mismanagement of water resource allocation. The BBC report on this has a very familiar ring. It sounds a lot like what is going on here … I urge anyone interested in this issue to copy the link below and paste it into their browser address field.”
If you visit the link, you’ll find other resources on Australia’s water problems.
Tom