21 rostrevor street, po box 9338, hamilton 3240
p
+64 7 839 7966
e
www.
waikatoriver
.org.nz
New home for Waikato
River Authority
The Waikato River Authority has
moved to a new home in Hamilton.
After an evaluation of the business case, the
Authority decided to purchase its own small stand-
alone office building in Rostrevor Street.
Chief Executive Bob Penter says given that the
Authority will be in existence for the longer term
the new building provides an appropriate home for
the Authority.
Some minor alterations have been made to the
riverside offices to accommodate board meetings.
Board membership
The Waikato River Authority expects
to have the composition of its Board,
for at least the next two years,
confirmed before Christmas.
The ten-member board has five river iwi
representatives and five Crown appointees. The
board is co-chaired by iwi and Crown … currently
Tukoroirangi Morgan and Hon John Luxton.
Two changes have already been confirmed with
both Sally Strang (Crown) and John Kaati (Ngati
Maniapoto) standing down from the Board. Weo
Magg has replaced John Kaati for Ngati Maniapoto
while no replacement has yet been announced for
Sally Strang.
Further appointments or reappointments are
expected by both Crown and iwi prior to 25
November, which is the anniversary of the
formation of the Waikato River Authority.
The Waikato River Authority held
its third Annual General Meeting on
October 23, 2013.
The meeting took
place at the Tainui Novotel in Hamilton.
The Authority’s Annual Report that was
presented at the meeting is available on
River the big winner from dairy project Continued...
the Primary Growth Partnership. The project aims
to reduce nutrient and sediment loads going into
the Waikato River as well as improve water use
efficiency on farms.
Free one-on-one advice is available to farmers who
are keen to look at and improve how they can run
their farm more sustainably and do their bit to clean
up the river. It involves the farmer working with a
farm consultant to complete a simple Sustainable
Milk Plan that details a range of farmer-initiated
environmental actions.
DairyNZ’s project manager Adrian Brocksopp
said actions already underway by farmers ranged
from small things like fixing water leaks to
bigger initiatives like fencing off wetlands and
waterways. Already, farmers have committed to
more than 2000 actions. DairyNZ has a robust
science programme in place to model the effects
of the actions on the river as well as on the wider
catchment.
“If we are serious about looking after the welfare
of the river, we all have a role to play,” he said.
To watch a short video about this project, go to:
-
action/8906847/Video-Sustainable-Milk-Project
DairyNZ’s project manager Adrian Brocksopp with Tokoroa
farmer George Moss. More than 350 farmers in the upper Waikato
catchment are already involved in the project which aims to improve
the health of the Waikato River.
