In 2006, Environment Waikato surveyed people living in the Waikato to find out their awareness of, attitudes to and actions about environmental issues and what they valued about living in the Waikato region. Find out what the Waikato community thinks about the region's water resources - lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands.
People living in the Waikato region think that water pollution is the most important issue facing the region today. Amongst the 43 per cent who mentioned water, the issues included:
- water pollution (in general) - 18 per cent
- water quality and supply - 13 per cent
- effluent disposal/runoff - 5 per cent
- water pollution of the Waikato River - 3 per cent
- fertiliser/nitrogen runoff - 2 per cent
- marine environment - 1 per cent
- water pollution of Lake Taupo - 1 per cent.
One out of four people also think it will be the most important issue in five years time. Check out the top three environmental concerns of people living in each district council area of the Waikato region.
The pie graph shows that one-third (32 per cent) of those surveyed thought that the water quality in local streams, rivers and lakes has become worse in the last few years (down from 47 per cent in 2003). Almost half of people thought it had stayed the same.
Associated with that, almost half of rural residents believe that fencing off of streams, rivers and lakes was better than it had been in recent years. One third thought it had stayed the same.
In addition:
- Three out of four Waikato people disagreed with livestock being allowed to enter streams and waterways on farms.
- Nine out of ten people agreed that water quality in streams and rivers should be protected even if that means businesses have to bear the expense of meeting environmental standards.
- Nine out of ten people disagreed that farming agricultural land at maximum productivity is acceptable to them even if it results in polluted waterways.
Waikato people were asked how concerned they were about water pollution from industry, towns and city areas, and farmland. Levels of concern are greatest for water pollution from industry (89% are either slightly or very concerned) and water pollution from towns and city areas (87%). Three-quarters of residents (78%) express concern with water pollution from farms, with 46% being very concerned.
Although people expressed high levels of concern, those surveyed were not completely aware of what the main sources of pollution in Waikato's waterways are:
- Just over half of Waikato people knew that pollution in the region's rivers and streams comes mainly from farmland.
- But two-thirds of people were not correct when they agreed that most oil in our lakes, rivers and harbours gets there from spillage from industry. Most oil in our waterways gets there from non-point sources such as stormwater drains and run-off from roads.
- In this region, discharges of treated human sewage are not a major cause of pollution in our waterways. Forty per cent of people knew this.
What people are doing
People told us they do a range of activities to help the environment. Below are the activities people are doing that help protect our water:
- saving water - 4 per cent
- fencing off native bush/rivers/streams - 2 per cent
- improving drainage - 1 per cent
- looking after the watercourse - 1 per cent.
People’s environmental attitudes
Our survey shows that Waikato people generally have strong positive attitudes towards the environment:
- There is strong community support for regulations and for the protection of the environment over the economy.
- Most people support the statements that 'government restrictions on the use of private property are necessary so that the environment will not be harmed' and that 'council should enforce its rules and laws to make sure that the environment is well looked after'.
- Fifty-three percent of Waikato people do not believe that landowners should be able to do what they want on their land.
More information
Find out more about the views of Waikato people on the region’s:
For more results from this survey check out our indicators of communities and their views or contact us if you’d like more information about our survey.
Check out our rivers, lakes and wetlands pages which includes information on water quality in the Waikato River and our other rivers and streams for contact recreation (for example, swimming) and for the plants and animals that live there.
You can also find out the river levels, flows and rainfall in our region. This information is updated every three hours.