Abstract
Protection for Aotearoa New Zealand’s (NZ) drinking water sources will be alarmingly weak under the Government’s Resource Management Act (RMA) replacement, should its two proposed bills go ahead as written. The Bills signal further degradation of the country’s freshwater will be allowed, with serious implications for communities’ drinking water sources. Trade-offs between undefined "economic aspirations" and environmental limits that should protect human and ecosystem health mean neither are likely to be sufficiently protected.
The Government seems to be denying the work of the Inquiry into Havelock North’s outbreak, which recommended drinking water sources be written into resource management law as "a matter of national importance". From public health and environmental protection perspectives, the proposed bills need to be sent back to the drawing board.