Otago water rates highly

Otago's lakes and rivers are healthier than those of neighbouring Southland waters, new Ministry for the Environment data has revealed.

Yesterday, the Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, announced a range of measures in the latest attempt to improve New Zealand’s freshwater management.

The package included a target to make 90% of the country’s lakes and rivers swimmable by 2040.

New data  revealed 81% of Otago’s rivers (by length) and 96% of lakes (over 1.5km in perimeter) had excellent, good or fair water quality for swimming based on E.coli and toxic algal level readings.

In Southland, 68% of rivers were above average and 25% were poor, while 96% of the region’s lakes were above average.