Now in their seventh year, the awards aim to highlight rivers and catchments making major steps to improving water quality along with individuals who have raised the profile of water and rivers through public commentary.
This year the Waihopai River in Southland took out the Supreme Award for the most improved river in New Zealand while ecologist and farm environment adviser Dr Alison Dewes was awarded the Reo mo te Awa (River Voice) award for raising the profile of rivers through public commentary.
Dewes has been a vocal advocate for cleaning up waterways, pushing for greater action from the dairy sector and most recently taking a place on Landcorp’s environmental advisory board.
Past recipients include other outspoken advocates Dr Mike Joy of Victoria University and Massey graduate Marnie Prickett who headed up the Choose Clean Water campaign.
Dewes said she owes much of her award to her family background that comprised doctors, nurses and a physio. Her father Harry Dewes was a Waikato veterinarian who died in 2007.
In a Farmers Weekly Rural Champion article in 2016 Dewes said her father taught her and her six siblings to argue the point not the person and always back up claims with applied science.
“I am quite inspired by my sister number three, Kate, who led the fight to the World Court to get nuclear weapons made illegal. When I was 10 she was quite an inspiration to me.”
Dewes also acknowledged the tribe she has had supporting her professionally since returning to NZ from Australia. The included Joy, Dr Russell Death, Prickett and Professor David Hamilton who helped her face up to criticism when singled out by media. She also appreciates Landcorp having her on board, with its 165,000ha of land, 1.4 million stock units and 120 farms providing a chance to explore what she describes as a difficult pathway in the face of new environmental limits.
Most recently Dewes has also been active on the Health Research Council examining the interaction between human health and environment, the Freshwater Leaders Group and the Molesworth steering committee. That group aims to better integrate NZ’s largest station with farming and tourism.
“I just want to be inspired and innovate and work towards continual work to get NZ into a better place,” Dewes said.
The most improved river award recognised the river that had the greatest improvement in a pre-determined measure of ecosystem health at a specific monitoring site.
It was based on the most improved trend observed on a water quality parameter over 10 years, rather than simply on its latest condition.
This year’s parameter combined E coli and macro-invertebrate community index (MCI), both measurement parameters proposed in the Government’s water quality package recently closed for submissions.
The award went to Waihopai River with an E coli level that has declined 6% a year over the past decade and a 2% a year improvement in the MCI index.
The improvement in the river’s condition has been attributed to a Living Streams project led by Environment Southland that involved farmers establishing farm environment plans alongside upgraded urban and industrial wastewater systems.
Farmer-led improvements included 90km of river bank fencing, riparian planting, stock crossings and reticulating stock water systems.
Several farmers had also identified some areas of their farms were better in wetlands than pasture, working with community groups planting out riparian areas.
Septic tanks in 60 homes had also been removed and replaced with a wastewater network three years ago.
Judges cautioned that while improved, there is still considerable work to do to make the river swimmable and MCI levels are still low.
