Top politicians travelled to a remote, windswept South Canterbury marae yesterday to announce a hefty handout for a water project.
Environment Minister Nick Smith and Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox led a delegation to the Waihao Marae, southeast of Waimate.
There they revealed funding of $517,000 for further restoration of the Wainono Lagoon, a 480ha coastal lake and wetland to the north.
It was a traditional source of mahinga kai, but sedimentation and water quality degradation from erosion and intensified land use put an end to that.
The Wainono Restoration Project, which began in 2010, was funded by Environment Canterbury alongside $800,000 in 2012 from the Environment Ministry.
It involved collaboration with iwi, farmers, the Waimate District Council, and the Lower Waitaki-South Coastal Canterbury Water Zone Committee.
The latest grant came from the Te Mana o Te Wai Fund. Wainono met its criteria of internationally significant wetlands, Dr Smith said. According to the trophic index, the lagoon had the second-highest level of nutrients in New Zealand.
Although it was difficult to achieve pristine water in lowland, shallow estuaries close to the sea, "Wainono is not good enough'', Dr Smith said.
He acknowledged the efforts already made to improve it, especially through community co-operation.
The next two years of improvements, including fencing streams, planting native species and controlling weed, would be led by Te Runanga o Waihao with support from ECan, Mrs Fox said.
She hoped future generations would again be able to use it as a source of food.
