1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:20,800 Clean, fresh water. What a lovely sight. Fresh water provides life to plants and animals 2 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,380 in clean, green New Zealand. 3 00:00:24,380 --> 00:00:31,380 This is not clean. This is not fresh. Is this an example of clean, green New Zealand? 4 00:00:31,380 --> 00:00:37,380 Hi, I am Kayla Leonard and welcome to this exciting episode of Kidwitness News. Today 5 00:00:37,380 --> 00:00:40,940 we are going to talk about the polluted Piako. 6 00:00:40,940 --> 00:00:46,860 The Piako River is in the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the two main rivers 7 00:00:46,860 --> 00:00:53,380 that form the Hauraki Plains. It passes through Ngātia, our town, before entering the Firth 8 00:00:53,380 --> 00:01:00,940 of Thames and the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, the Piako River is very polluted, which affects 9 00:01:00,940 --> 00:01:04,660 the health of Ngātia residents and wildlife. 10 00:01:04,660 --> 00:01:11,420 So is pollution in the Piako River really a problem? What do our local people think? 11 00:01:11,420 --> 00:01:17,300 Going by the colour of it, I think it is polluted. I definitely wouldn't swim in it. 12 00:01:17,300 --> 00:01:21,900 Well, sometimes you see bits of rubbish and dead cows floating down the river, so I would 13 00:01:21,900 --> 00:01:28,740 say that it is definitely polluted. 14 00:01:28,740 --> 00:01:33,260 I used to do rowing at college on the river, and I didn't think it was that polluted, but 15 00:01:33,260 --> 00:01:35,060 now it is. 16 00:01:35,060 --> 00:01:39,460 We don't think it's that polluted. Yeah, when it's hot you've got to crawl somehow. 17 00:01:39,460 --> 00:01:44,460 You get a little bit of rash, but it goes away after a little while. 18 00:01:44,460 --> 00:01:49,460 I drive over the bridge a lot, but I haven't noticed how dirty it is. 19 00:01:50,020 --> 00:01:54,020 So, should those boys really be swimming in the river? 20 00:01:54,020 --> 00:01:58,420 Our studies have shown that the Piako River is one of the most polluted rivers in the 21 00:01:58,420 --> 00:02:05,100 Waikato region. This graph shows dangerously high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, which 22 00:02:05,100 --> 00:02:10,820 comes from fertiliser use. All tests that were taken for phosphorus and nitrogen were 23 00:02:10,820 --> 00:02:17,420 unsatisfactory. These contaminants cause plant and algae growth in waterways. 24 00:02:17,420 --> 00:02:22,980 Tests also have shown that turbidity levels are high. Turbidity is a measure of how clear 25 00:02:22,980 --> 00:02:29,980 the water is. As you can see, 80% of samples taken were unsatisfactory, which is not good. 26 00:02:31,380 --> 00:02:36,060 These three main things are important to the ecology of the river. 27 00:02:36,060 --> 00:02:42,300 This other graph shows dangerously high levels of the bacteria E. coli. E. coli are bugs 28 00:02:42,300 --> 00:02:47,180 that come from cow feces, which can make you very sick. This means you should not swim 29 00:02:47,180 --> 00:02:54,180 in the river. 30 00:02:56,660 --> 00:03:01,180 Why is the Piako River more polluted than any other river in the area? 31 00:03:01,180 --> 00:03:07,180 It's because of farming. The Piako area is heavily farmed because it has such rich soil. 32 00:03:07,180 --> 00:03:11,180 That means there are a lot more cows that produce more effluent. 33 00:03:11,180 --> 00:03:16,180 So, is it the responsibility of the Hauraki District Council to clean up the waterways? 34 00:03:16,180 --> 00:03:21,180 I asked our Mayor, John Tregeda, to see what he is doing to clean up the Piako River. 35 00:03:21,180 --> 00:03:26,180 Well, the Hauraki District Council is not really responsible for the river. It is more 36 00:03:26,180 --> 00:03:31,180 environment-wise responsibility. They are kind of like the boss of the river and it 37 00:03:31,180 --> 00:03:35,180 is our job to police the farmers and make sure they are doing what they should. 38 00:03:35,180 --> 00:03:41,180 But the Hauraki District Council is still putting in an effort. In 1998, they released 39 00:03:41,180 --> 00:03:47,180 hundreds of carp into local drains and waterways. But unfortunately, they all died because of 40 00:03:47,180 --> 00:03:49,180 the water pollution. 41 00:03:49,180 --> 00:03:54,180 So, what are farmers doing to help clean up the Piako River and other local waterways? 42 00:03:54,180 --> 00:03:59,180 We are going to focus on four methods which reduce water pollution that farmers are finding 43 00:03:59,180 --> 00:04:01,180 success with. 44 00:04:01,180 --> 00:04:07,180 Fencing off waterways from cattle, creating planted waterway margins, spreading effluent 45 00:04:07,180 --> 00:04:12,180 away from waterways, and using organic fertiliser. 46 00:04:12,180 --> 00:04:17,180 Kaiheri farmer Reece Jones was awarded an Environment Waikato Prize for the efforts 47 00:04:17,180 --> 00:04:23,180 he has made to reduce water pollution. He is focusing on creating fenced waterway margins 48 00:04:23,180 --> 00:04:26,180 and planting trees around waterways. 49 00:04:26,180 --> 00:04:31,180 Creating a fenced grass waterway margin stops cattle from entering the water, which reduces 50 00:04:32,180 --> 00:04:38,180 faecal bacteria, helps keep banks stable, and filters phosphorus and sediment from run-offs. 51 00:04:38,180 --> 00:04:43,180 As you can see, I'm building a fence at the moment to keep these cows out of the pond. 52 00:04:43,180 --> 00:04:47,180 It costs a lot of money, but it's worth every cent because it's good for the environment. 53 00:04:47,180 --> 00:04:53,180 Reece Jones has also spent a lot of money planting trees around waterways. This has 54 00:04:53,180 --> 00:04:58,180 many positive benefits. The trees create a natural barrier so cattle cannot enter the 55 00:04:59,180 --> 00:05:04,180 waterways, and the roots of the trees suck up any fertiliser that would usually leak 56 00:05:04,180 --> 00:05:10,180 into the water. They also provide a habitat for aquatic life, fish, native birds, insects 57 00:05:10,180 --> 00:05:14,180 and plants. 58 00:05:14,180 --> 00:05:20,180 Controlling how fertiliser is applied to farms can also help prevent pollution in our local 59 00:05:20,180 --> 00:05:26,180 waterways. Nadia farmer Andrew Willis uses organic fertiliser on his farm. He decided 60 00:05:27,180 --> 00:05:32,180 to use organic fertiliser made from fish oil that helps the grass grow better but doesn't 61 00:05:32,180 --> 00:05:38,180 contain nitrogen or phosphorus that pollutes waterways. He uses liquid fertiliser rather 62 00:05:38,180 --> 00:05:43,180 than powder so it doesn't blow into waterways. 63 00:05:43,180 --> 00:05:49,180 Cows do a lot of poos and whees, which farmers call effluent. The question is, where does 64 00:05:50,180 --> 00:05:56,180 it all go? These days farmers use effluent spreaders to spray the effluent over the grass 65 00:05:56,180 --> 00:05:59,180 and away from waterways. 66 00:05:59,180 --> 00:06:05,180 Central Road farmer Brian Purry uses an effluent spreader on his farm. The effluent from the 67 00:06:05,180 --> 00:06:11,180 shed goes through a stone trap before entering an effluent pumping system. It is then pumped 68 00:06:11,180 --> 00:06:18,180 across the farm and sprayed on the farmland away from waterways. 69 00:06:19,180 --> 00:06:25,180 Today the Piako River is highly polluted because of the intensive dairy farming. However local 70 00:06:25,180 --> 00:06:30,180 farmers are doing their best to prevent further pollution. 71 00:06:30,180 --> 00:06:35,180 The task of cleaning up this river isn't impossible but we do need help to make it 72 00:06:35,180 --> 00:06:41,180 work. The children of today are the environmental leaders of tomorrow. Together we can make 73 00:06:41,180 --> 00:06:44,180 the Piako River in New Zealand clean again. 74 00:06:48,180 --> 00:06:53,180 Music 75 00:06:53,180 --> 00:06:58,180 Music 76 00:06:58,180 --> 00:07:03,180 Music 77 00:07:03,180 --> 00:07:08,180 Music 78 00:07:08,180 --> 00:07:13,180 Music 79 00:07:13,180 --> 00:07:18,180 Music