Lake Okareka's Action Plan, the first to be completed, was signed off in mid-2004. The catchment hosts a village, about 10 large farms, and large areas of native bush on private land, public land and Maori Trust land. Though its water is reasonably clear, the lake shows early warning signs of deterioration.
20 tonnes of Phoslock was applied to Lake Okareka in August 2005, August 2006 and March 2007. The aim of this application was to absorb the 30 kg of phosphorus per year that is released (on average) from the lakebed sediments. The 2005 application removed about 20 kg-P. While some initial concerns for fish health were raised after the first application, no negative effects were recorded for the second and third applications. This could be because a coarser Phoslock granule size was used, which spends less time in the water column.
Rotorua District Council has completed the wastewater reticulation network design. The plan is to pipe the community’s wastewater over the hill to the Rotorua central Wastewater Treatment Plant. Unfortunately this has been held up because the Ministry of Health has no funding available for a 50% subsidy. Rotorua District Council are considering other options for community wastewater treatment.
Negotiating one-on-one with three landowners in the catchment to reduce nutrient loss through land use changes. The aim is for 200 ha of pastoral land use to change to another land use with low nutrient loss.
Compilation of a nutrient management ‘toolbox’ to give advice to landowners on how they can offset their nutrient loss.
Lake edge plants to remove nitrogen.
New nutrient discharge rules have been tailored for Lake Okareka. They are currently “proposed” and will not take effect until fully operative – mid-2008 at the earliest. The rules include:
Nutrient reductions to accompany subdivision.
Nutrient Management Plans for rural land, including nutrient management practices specific to the property.
2018 deadline for Lake Okareka Catchment Management Action Plan targets to be met, including the land use change target, otherwise compulsory nutrient reductions take effect.
Chance for landowners with low nutrient loss to get more land use flexibility if Lake Okareka improves long-term beyond its water quality goal.
A to Z Page Index
Contact Us
Print Version