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Polluted Piako - Nueva Zelanda
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Video ganador del concurso Jóvenes Reporteros 2006-2007 en Nueva Zelanda.
Clean, fresh water. What a lovely sight. Fresh water provides life to plants and animals
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in clean, green New Zealand.
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This is not clean. This is not fresh. Is this an example of clean, green New Zealand?
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Hi, I am Kayla Leonard and welcome to this exciting episode of Kidwitness News. Today
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we are going to talk about the polluted Piako.
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The Piako River is in the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the two main rivers
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that form the Hauraki Plains. It passes through Ngātia, our town, before entering the Firth
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of Thames and the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, the Piako River is very polluted, which affects
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the health of Ngātia residents and wildlife.
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So is pollution in the Piako River really a problem? What do our local people think?
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Going by the colour of it, I think it is polluted. I definitely wouldn't swim in it.
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Well, sometimes you see bits of rubbish and dead cows floating down the river, so I would
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say that it is definitely polluted.
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I used to do rowing at college on the river, and I didn't think it was that polluted, but
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now it is.
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We don't think it's that polluted. Yeah, when it's hot you've got to crawl somehow.
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You get a little bit of rash, but it goes away after a little while.
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I drive over the bridge a lot, but I haven't noticed how dirty it is.
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So, should those boys really be swimming in the river?
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Our studies have shown that the Piako River is one of the most polluted rivers in the
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Waikato region. This graph shows dangerously high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, which
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comes from fertiliser use. All tests that were taken for phosphorus and nitrogen were
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unsatisfactory. These contaminants cause plant and algae growth in waterways.
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Tests also have shown that turbidity levels are high. Turbidity is a measure of how clear
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the water is. As you can see, 80% of samples taken were unsatisfactory, which is not good.
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These three main things are important to the ecology of the river.
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This other graph shows dangerously high levels of the bacteria E. coli. E. coli are bugs
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that come from cow feces, which can make you very sick. This means you should not swim
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in the river.
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Why is the Piako River more polluted than any other river in the area?
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It's because of farming. The Piako area is heavily farmed because it has such rich soil.
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That means there are a lot more cows that produce more effluent.
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So, is it the responsibility of the Hauraki District Council to clean up the waterways?
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I asked our Mayor, John Tregeda, to see what he is doing to clean up the Piako River.
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Well, the Hauraki District Council is not really responsible for the river. It is more
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environment-wise responsibility. They are kind of like the boss of the river and it
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is our job to police the farmers and make sure they are doing what they should.
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But the Hauraki District Council is still putting in an effort. In 1998, they released
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hundreds of carp into local drains and waterways. But unfortunately, they all died because of
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the water pollution.
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So, what are farmers doing to help clean up the Piako River and other local waterways?
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We are going to focus on four methods which reduce water pollution that farmers are finding
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success with.
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Fencing off waterways from cattle, creating planted waterway margins, spreading effluent
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away from waterways, and using organic fertiliser.
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Kaiheri farmer Reece Jones was awarded an Environment Waikato Prize for the efforts
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he has made to reduce water pollution. He is focusing on creating fenced waterway margins
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and planting trees around waterways.
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Creating a fenced grass waterway margin stops cattle from entering the water, which reduces
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faecal bacteria, helps keep banks stable, and filters phosphorus and sediment from run-offs.
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As you can see, I'm building a fence at the moment to keep these cows out of the pond.
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It costs a lot of money, but it's worth every cent because it's good for the environment.
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Reece Jones has also spent a lot of money planting trees around waterways. This has
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many positive benefits. The trees create a natural barrier so cattle cannot enter the
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waterways, and the roots of the trees suck up any fertiliser that would usually leak
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into the water. They also provide a habitat for aquatic life, fish, native birds, insects
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and plants.
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Controlling how fertiliser is applied to farms can also help prevent pollution in our local
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waterways. Nadia farmer Andrew Willis uses organic fertiliser on his farm. He decided
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to use organic fertiliser made from fish oil that helps the grass grow better but doesn't
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contain nitrogen or phosphorus that pollutes waterways. He uses liquid fertiliser rather
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than powder so it doesn't blow into waterways.
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Cows do a lot of poos and whees, which farmers call effluent. The question is, where does
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it all go? These days farmers use effluent spreaders to spray the effluent over the grass
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and away from waterways.
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Central Road farmer Brian Purry uses an effluent spreader on his farm. The effluent from the
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shed goes through a stone trap before entering an effluent pumping system. It is then pumped
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across the farm and sprayed on the farmland away from waterways.
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Today the Piako River is highly polluted because of the intensive dairy farming. However local
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farmers are doing their best to prevent further pollution.
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The task of cleaning up this river isn't impossible but we do need help to make it
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work. The children of today are the environmental leaders of tomorrow. Together we can make
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the Piako River in New Zealand clean again.
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- Valoración:
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- Idioma/s:
- Autor/es:
- Alumnos de Ngatea Primary School
- Subido por:
- EducaMadrid
- Licencia:
- Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
- Visualizaciones:
- 1156
- Fecha:
- 20 de diciembre de 2007 - 16:31
- Visibilidad:
- Público
- Enlace Relacionado:
- Alumnos de Ngatea Primary School Hauraki, Waikato) de Nueva Zelanda
- Descripción ampliada:
- Children discover the causes of the Piako River pollution and how local farmers' efforts are helping to prevent pollution.
- Duración:
- 07′ 18″
- Relación de aspecto:
- 4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
- Resolución:
- 448x336 píxeles
- Tamaño:
- 36.87 MBytes