A new catchment group with the aim of improving water quality in rivers and streams is being formed in the Ōpōtiki district.

Initiated by environmental consultants Allegrow, the group is being formed in collaboration with Whakatōhea iwi, farmers and growers and the community.

Allegrow project co-ordinator Mel Brown said the catchment would cover the area between Waiotahe River and Torere with a focus on improving water quality and biodiversity.

“We are looking at setting up the catchment group area that aligns with the Whakatōhea iwi,” Brown said.

“We would be looking at bringing back some of our native fish and bird species or increasing the numbers, and it is also about improving swimming water quality in some of the rivers and streams.

“Water quality is decreasing so much that we need to start doing things to start improving it again.”

She said it would most likely require an intergenerational timeframe to reach that end goal.

“But if we start taking small actions now, then it can stop it deteriorating any further.”

Short term goals were around facilitating locals’ ability to feed back to local, regional and central Government about some of the actions being put in place for farmers and growers and the community and educating communities around anything that has an effect on water quality.

Brown has been working on forming the group for the past three-to-four months.

She said it aimed to have three interest groups within it, one for farmers and growers, another for the community and a third for Whakatōhea iwi, each of which would have its own set of priorities, and actions, and would work together toward shared priorities.

“We are in the very early stages of setting it up. So far, we have set up the group with farmers and growers. There is about 12 people in it at the moment, but we have a core committee of people who come along to most of the meetings.”

The interim chair of the group is currently Doug Brown of Riverlock Group, which has interests in kiwifruit and livestock.

The group are in the process of coming up with a formal purpose, goals and outcomes.

“Whakatōhea representatives have been coming to the meetings, working alongside us on that. Next week we have a meeting with the [Bay of Plenty] regional and [Ōpōtiki] district councils to get them on board,” Brown said.

Catchment groups were becoming more common as the Government moved toward funding or supporting biodiversity actions at a catchment group level rather than with individual farmers and growers, Ms Brown said.

“Work done at a catchment group level has a lot more of an impact than an individual farmer or grower so there is definitely a move toward more catchment groups being set up.”

There are already catchment groups running in Waiotahe, Nukuhou and Ōhiwa catchment areas.

Brown is interested to hear from anyone with a vested interest in water quality in the area, who is motivated or able to make a difference and wants to be involved with the group.

She can be contacted via email at mel@allegrow.co.nz.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.