In the summer of 2011, Russel once again toured the country to highlight the need for clear rules for clean water. During the summer, good clean water rules were ready to go in the form of a National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management (NPS). All they needed was Environment Minister Nick Smith’s signature, but he was sitting on his hands. Russel's visits to our dirty and threatened rivers showed why we couldn’t affort to delay any longer.
On 9 May 2011, Nick Smith released the finalised version of the NPS. Unfortunately, he pulled the teeth from the policy so it won’t cause the real changes we need.
Below are Russel's stories, photos and videos from the tour as he documented unfenced streams, cows in rivers, overgrown willows, and industrial discharges, and non-pollution threats like dams and irrigation projects. These stories demonstrate the need for further water reform so that we can achieve a New Zealand in which our rivers are once more full of birds and fish, and are safe for our kids to swim in.
Russel's tour highlights some of the worst practices of industrial dairying, but there are plenty of examples of great farmers doing fantastic work for the environment. You can read about some of these in our Good Farm Stories feature.
