Green Party Coromandel candidate Pamela Grealey says communities across the electorate deserve clean drinking water, healthy rivers and thriving oceans, welcoming the party’s newly announced Drink Swim Fish policy package.
In a media release, Grealey said the policy reflected values shared by many people across the Coromandel electorate, where waterways play a central role in daily life, recreation and the local economy.
“Across the Coromandel electorate, water connects all our communities,” she said.
“Whether it’s drinking water from the tap or a rainwater tank, families swimming in the Waihou or Ohinemuri Rivers, people gathering kaimoana along our coastline, boating on the Firth of Thames or Tauranga Harbour, fishing from our beaches, or simply enjoying our local waterways, healthy water is central to our way of life.”
Grealey said protecting waterways was about more than environmental conservation, arguing that the health of rivers, estuaries and coastal waters was closely linked.
“From the Hauraki Plains to the Coromandel coast, and from the Waihou River to the Pacific Ocean, every drop is connected. If we fail to protect our rivers and streams upstream, we inevitably pay the price in our estuaries, harbours and coastal waters.”
She said healthy waterways also supported tourism, fishing, aquaculture, farming and recreation throughout the region.
According to the Green Party, the Drink Swim Fish policy package would strengthen protections for drinking water by lowering nitrate limits and introducing tougher environmental standards, tighten rules to reduce wastewater pollution entering rivers and coastal areas, and phase out bottom trawling to help restore marine ecosystems.
Grealey said the proposals would benefit waterways including the Waihou and Ohinemuri rivers, the Firth of Thames, Tauranga Harbour and the Coromandel coastline.
She also pointed to challenges facing the electorate, including ageing wastewater infrastructure, sediment entering waterways after severe weather events, declining freshwater quality and increasing pressure on marine ecosystems.
“Clean drinking water, rivers that are safe to swim in and healthy oceans should never be treated as luxuries,” Grealey said.
“They are fundamental to the wellbeing of our communities and to the wildlife that depends on these habitats.”
She said protecting waterways was also about supporting local businesses and ensuring future generations could continue to enjoy the region’s natural environment.
The Green Party says its Drink Swim Fish package forms part of its wider environmental policy aimed at restoring and protecting New Zealand’s natural ecosystems.
This article is adapted from a press release authorised by Miriam Ross, Level 5, 108 The Terrace, Wellington
