Last year, in a classic example of dirty dairying, dairy giant Fonterra was granted resource consent to dump 8,500 cubic meters of effluent per day into the Manawatu River. The decision was imediately challenged by local environmental groups, and today, after several months of mediation, they won. Fonterra will reduce its discharges, discharge to land where possible, and install equipment to clean its waste stream before putting it into the river. It isn't a total victory, but a significant step forward, and one we should all be pleased with.
As for Horizons, its clear they are just a rubber-stamp authority. Hopefully they'll be held accountable for their lax attitudes in the local body elections later this year.
Good news. The original decision was scandalous. I still cannot fathom how NZ can market itself to foreigners as being 100% clean, green and pure (or whatever the bullshit slogan is), while knowing full well that this is quite untrue. As you mentioned in an earlier post, having degraded rivers should be an incentive to clean them up, not pollute them further.
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