An Environment Waikato hearing committee has granted new resource consents to Matamata-Piako District Council (MPDC), allowing the operation of an upgraded wastewater treatment plant at Morrinsville for another 15 years.
Environment Waikato is welcoming significant progress towards having the Crown recognise its obligations to act as a "good neighbour" under regional pest management strategies. The council hopes this will ultimately mean that the Government pays a fairer share of regional pest management costs.
A Pukekohe poultry farm manager has been sentenced to 360 hours community work after pleading guilty to unlawfully discharging chicken effluent to land and breaching an abatement notice requiring him to stop unlawful practices.
Environment Waikato has welcomed the Local Government Commission’s proposal to adjust Auckland’s southern boundary to enable better management of the Waikato River and the Firth of Thames.
Many farms around Lake Taupo look as though they will cope comfortably with new Environment Waikato rules aimed at protecting water quality in the iconic lake, a key national tourist attraction.
The signing of the Waikato-Tainui Raupatu Claim River Settlement Bill is likely to mean Environment Waikato will need to tighten its regulatory processes to protect water quality in the Waikato River, says EW chairman Peter Buckley.
The special qualities of Kawhia and Aotea harbours are now a step closer to being preserved, with a number of actions to manage change in these catchments to be implemented.
Environment Waikato is strongly encouraging people to have their say over how development occurs in the Future Proof area of Hamilton city and Waipa and Waikato districts.
Ideas for new water quality objectives in a working draft on Environment Waikato’s next Regional Policy Statement (RPS) reflect community expectations for the health of the region’s lakes and waterways. The council today agreed to start circulating the working draft to iwi partners and key stakeholders next month as part of an ongoing discussion about significant resource management issues to be addressed in a formal proposed RPS next year.
Coastguard Raglan, with support from Environment Waikato, is helping to educate boaties on how to cross the notorious Raglan bar and to be generally safer at sea.