Part 3: The incomplete national picture of freshwater quality
3.1
In this Part, we discuss:
- the difficulties involved in considering freshwater states and trends;
- the work being done to provide a national picture of freshwater quality states and trends;
- the significant gaps that remain in our knowledge of freshwater quality states and trends; and
- how leadership is needed to make progress.
Summary of findings
3.2
A detailed national-level picture of freshwater quality is needed. This will allow for effective national-level planning and decision-making to support the work of regional councils in addressing challenges to improving and protecting freshwater quality.
3.3
Complexities in using data sourced from regional councils to build the national picture and gaps in our knowledge mean that the current national-level picture lacks the detail needed. These issues are well known and work to address them is ongoing, but leadership is needed for meaningful progress to be made.
Difficulties in considering freshwater quality states and trends
3.4
Before discussing what we found from our review of how the four regional councils manage freshwater quality, we want to highlight current problems affecting national-level reporting on freshwater quality. It is an important issue that needs to be addressed if collective efforts by central government, regional councils, and others to improve and protect freshwater quality are to be effective.
3.5
We were interested in how the four regional councils' regional freshwater quality states and trends compared and how their freshwater quality data helps form a national view of freshwater quality.
3.6
Dr Jan Wright, a former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, has stated that the purpose of national-level reports on environmental states and trends should be an "aid to prioritising different environmental issues".13 It is important to present a clear picture of "where different issues are significant and where they are not".14
3.7
We were unable to obtain a detailed national picture of freshwater quality states and trends. This is because currently available data lacks the consistency and breadth needed to build a detailed national picture.
3.8
National reporting of freshwater quality is based on data sourced from regional councils. However, building a national picture of freshwater quality states and trends from that data is complicated by two factors (see Figure 3). First, regional monitoring programmes have been designed in relative isolation to suit local management needs rather than national reporting needs.15 Secondly, regional councils collect and analyse some data differently and the data can be non-comparable.16
Figure 3
The challenge of building a national picture of freshwater quality
| National-level reports on freshwater quality are prepared by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand from monitoring data collected by regional councils. However, regional councils' monitoring networks are designed to support their work in managing freshwater quality only within their respective regions. They meet local rather than national needs. Regional councils tend to monitor areas with known or suspected freshwater quality issues that require environmental management. A higher proportion of monitoring sites are located in pastoral areas and a lower proportion in areas of native land cover. This can mean that monitoring networks do not provide a representative view of freshwater quality within regions. It also means that, taken together, the monitoring networks do not provide a representative view of water quality across New Zealand. Data consistency also affects national-level reporting. Regional councils measure the same range of variables (see Figure 4) but can use different methods and technologies to do so. In other words, although there is consistency in what regional councils measure, there are differences in how they measure those variables. Data produced through different methods cannot always be combined easily to form a national picture. When data is produced through non-comparable methods, some data is omitted to ensure that national-level data is consistent. As a result, the national picture is incomplete and at a high level, and can produce a different picture of freshwater quality than the detailed regional views. |
3.9
Hon Simon Upton, the current Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, has also commented on the coverage and quality of environmental data. Although his commentary on the Our Land 2018 report was specific to knowledge of land, two of his observations are also pertinent to the state of knowledge about freshwater:
- There is a lack of effort and resources. Collecting environmental data – in particular, long-term monitoring data – can be time-consuming and costly, and "is often the first thing to be cut when resources are tight".17
- There is unclear or incomplete mandated responsibilities to collect information. Although New Zealand relies heavily on its natural wealth, management agencies are not obliged to systematically collect information on the state, trend, or functioning of the environment. Instead, agencies separately collect the information they need to carry out their own functions, and there is no "overarching requirement to collect information at the national-level".18
3.10
The four regional councils have been maintaining and investing in their monitoring networks. For example, Taranaki Regional Council doubled its budget for state of the environment monitoring between 2011/12 and 2017/18, while Horizons Regional Council significantly increased the number of monitoring sites.
3.11
However, as we discuss in Figure 3, councils' monitoring can be unrepresentative and non-comparable. Increased monitoring by councils will not necessarily produce the information needed to produce an improved national-level picture.
3.12
The National Policy Statement goes some way to requiring regional councils to collect the information needed to improve the national picture. As we discuss below, guidance on exactly what regional councils monitor and how they analyse and report the results could be strengthened.
Work to improve data to provide a national picture
3.13
A range of initiatives to improve the quality of national data are under way. The Environmental Reporting Act 2015 supports efforts to standardise regional council data quality.
3.14
Under that Act, the Government Statistician and the Secretary for the Environment are responsible for reporting five different environmental domains (air, atmosphere and climate, freshwater, land, and marine) and the cross-domain area of biodiversity. The Act requires the Ministry to publish one domain report every six months and an overarching report on New Zealand's environment every three years. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment can also comment on any aspect of the reporting.
3.15
In 2016, Jan Wright commented on Environment Aotearoa 2015, the first complete state of the environment report prepared under the Environmental Reporting Act. She noted that one of the benefits of the new national environmental reporting system is that it will lead to more consistent monitoring and analysis by regional councils.
3.16
Environment Aotearoa 2019 provides some evidence that progress is being made to address shortcomings in the quality of national data. The Ministry and Statistics New Zealand adopted methods for the trend assessments of freshwater quality for that report that are consistent with approaches used by regional councils.
3.17
These methods meant that more of the data sourced from councils could be used and that trend assessments could be classified with greater certainty. In short, more data was able to be used to produce a clearer picture of freshwater quality throughout New Zealand.19
3.18
We saw evidence that the Ministry is carrying out work to ensure that consistent and representative data is available for future environmental reporting. For example, the Ministry is working with regional councils on the Environmental Monitoring and Reporting project to improve environmental reporting systems. The Ministry notes that this involves "exploring the standardisation of methods and sharing of data collection, management and exchange protocols to allow national scale interpretation of regional data".20
3.19
Regional councils have also been leading work to bring greater consistency to environmental monitoring. Recent work on the National Environmental Monitoring Standards (NEMS) programme is an example of regional councils' work to build consistency in the way environmental monitoring data is measured, processed, and archived on a national scale.
3.20
NEMS is largely the work of regional council staff, with support from NIWA and the Ministry. The documents produced prescribe technical standards, methods, and other requirements for monitoring environmental variables between regions. Specific aspects of these standards still need to be agreed, but it is expected that this work will support better consistency.
3.21
At the time of this report, the Ministry has committed to funding NEMS until the standards are prepared. This leaves the question of how the standards will be reviewed and updated. We commend regional councils for investing in the development of NEMS to date.
Significant gaps remain in our knowledge
3.22
Environment Aotearoa 2019 makes clear that there remain significant gaps in knowledge about freshwater quality (and the environment as a whole).21 For example, although it is clear that water quality is degraded in pastoral areas at the national level, there is a lack of information to identify "exactly where, when, and what specific activities and management practices ... have contributed to (or mitigated) water pollution" at the local level.22
3.23
This problem is partly due to the lack of a national-scale database or map of farm-management practices. A better understanding of the flow of pollutants through catchments is also needed to allow better understanding of the effect of past and current land-use practices on current freshwater quality trends.23
3.24
Knowledge is also lacking about the effect of water pollution on te ao Māori – particularly, on how mātauranga Māori, tikanga Māori, kaitiakitanga, customary use, and mahinga kai are affected. There is poor information on the effects of water pollution on human health. This includes lack of data on emerging contaminants such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and nanoparticles.24
Leadership is needed to make progress
3.25
As Environment Aotearoa 2019 states, the systemic challenges in the country's data collection and management system need a whole team to resolve.25 Once resolved, New Zealanders will have a better idea of regional and national freshwater states and trends, the challenges in protecting and improving freshwater quality, and the actions needed to achieve this.
3.26
We saw positive signs of commitment from the four regional councils and the Ministry to making the kinds of improvements needed. However, this issue needs leadership for rapid progress to be made. We consider that the Ministry and Statistics New Zealand are well placed to take this leadership role.
3.27
Ministry leaders acknowledged to us that underlying data issues need to be addressed. They stated that the Ministry is aiming to take a stronger role in data science leadership.
3.28
Regional councils are also central to resolving these data issues. Any change to the way that freshwater quality attributes are measured and reported on presents risks for councils. As Horizons Regional Council staff explained, adopting nationally consistent methods could result in a loss of historic data if the adopted methods are incompatible with a council's current methods. Historic data is important in determining long-term relationships between factors such as nutrients, water flow and periphyton levels (see Figure 4). A loss of historic data puts such analysis at risk.
3.29
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has recommended that the Secretary for the Environment and the Government Statistician work with other relevant agencies to assess the underlying causes of the gaps in data and information, identify potential solutions, and make the results publicly available. We agree with those recommendations.
Recommendation 1
| We recommend that the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand lead work with regional councils and relevant land and freshwater management agencies to support better informed and co-ordinated management of freshwater by preparing a consistent approach to monitoring, analysis, and reporting of freshwater quality state and trend information. |
13: Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (2016), The state of New Zealand's environment: Commentary by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment on Environment Aotearoa 2015, at www.pce.parliament.nz.
14: Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (2016), The state of New Zealand's environment: Commentary by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment on Environment Aotearoa 2015, at www.pce.parliament.nz.
15: Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand (2017), New Zealand's environmental reporting series: Our fresh water 2017, at www.mfe.govt.nz.
16: Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand (2017), New Zealand's environmental reporting series: Our fresh water 2017, at www.mfe.govt.nz.
17: Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (2018), Commentary on Our Land 2018, at www.pce.parliament.nz.
18: Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (2018), Commentary on Our Land 2018, at www.pce.parliament.nz.
19: Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand (2019), New Zealand's environmental reporting series: Environment Aotearoa 2019, at www.mfe.govt.nz.
20: See "Improving environmental reporting data" at www.mfe.govt.nz.
21: Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand (2019), New Zealand's environmental reporting series: Environment Aotearoa 2019, at www.mfe.govt.nz.
22: Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand (2019), New Zealand's environmental reporting series: Environment Aotearoa 2019, at www.mfe.govt.nz.
23: Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand (2019), New Zealand's environmental reporting series: Environment Aotearoa 2019, at www.mfe.govt.nz.
24: Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand (2019), New Zealand's environmental reporting series: Environment Aotearoa 2019, at www.mfe.govt.nz.
25: Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand (2019), New Zealand's environmental reporting series: Environment Aotearoa 2019, at www.mfe.govt.nz.