About 150 students from a Maori school marched to Parliament yesterday to protest about the poor water quality in our rivers and lakes. Their school is on the shores of Lake Taupo in the centre of the North Island. The Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, praised the students for their interest in clean water but said some of the pollution was from volcanic ash near Taupo and from birds flying overhead.
Fish and Game North Canterbury is an organization which has recently decided to ban winter fishing in the lower part of rivers to protect the fish and allow them to breed. Fish numbers are lower than usual. One problem is that there is not enough water near the mouth of the river. It has been a dry summer but Fish and Game is concerned that farmers are taking too much water for irrigation. Another concern is the poor quality of the water. Again, Fish and Game believe this is because of intensive farming. The rivers and lakes are polluted by waste from so many cows and from the fertilizer spread on farms to make the grass grow.
Landcorp NZ is a farming business owned by the government. Landcorp was planning to cut down forests near Taupo to use the land for dairy farming. However, Landcorp has now decided this could pollute rivers and lakes. It is true that dairy farmers are getting low prices for their milk at the moment so this could be another reason.
We like to think NZ is still clean and green and will stay clean and green in the future.
Vocabulary
• shore (n) – land beside the lake
• volcanic ash (n) – from 3 volcanic mountains which are near
• ban (v, n) – not allow
• breed (v) – lay eggs which grow into fish
• mouth of a river (n) – where the river meets the sea
• irrigation (n) – spreading water on the land
• intensive farming (n) – very large numbers of cows on each farm
• fertiliser (n) – nitrogen fertiliser and phosphate
Grammar
Note the sentence beginning “Landcorp was planning …” The past continuous is often used to show a plan in the past which was changed later. It is usually followed by “but” or “however”. Here’s another example. “I was thinking of cutting my hair short but sister told me she liked my long hair.”