The Minister for the Environment, Dr Nick Smith, said today that the government will spend money on controlling our fresh water and will make some important laws.
New Zealand is number 3 in the world for the amount of water per person. We have many rivers and lakes. We have 34 rivers which are longer than 100km, and many shorter rivers. The West Coast of the South Island has shorter rivers but they have a lot of water in them. The Waikato River from Lake Taupo in the North Island is 425km long. Lake Taupo is 606 sq km and 162m in its deepest part. The Clutha River in the South Island is 336km long but has the largest volume of water for any river in New Zealand. Both the Clutha and the Waikato have several hydro-electric dams on them. We are very lucky to have so much fresh water.
However, some parts of New Zealand do not have plenty of water and they suffer from drought during a hot summer. Also dairy farmers use a lot of water to irrigate their land for growing grass. Dr Smith said that it is time to look at water storage to make sure there is enough water for everyone, including farmers. He is also worried that irrigation may take too much underground water from the aquifers in places like Canterbury
Water pollution is also a problem in New Zealand although our rivers and lakes are number 2 in the world for quality. Some of the pollution comes from farms – from fertilizer which is washed into rivers, and from cows walking in rivers. Most farmers now have fences around rivers.
Grammar
Note that we say “the Waikato River” and “the Clutha River”. Rivers always have “the” in front of the name but lakes do not. Oceans and seas also have “the” in front of the name: the Pacific Ocean, the Tasman Sea. Also the South Island, the North Island.
Vocabulary:
Aquifers are pockets of underground water. Listen to Christchurch Water for more about aquifers or wells which take water from under the ground.
Drought rhymes with “out”. Drought occurs in hot summers when there has been no rain for a long time.
Irrigation can be just water from a hose. On farms, there are usually big irrigators which spray large quantities of water on the land.
Fertilizer is plant food which is spread on the grass to make it grow.
Listening
Listen for numbers – number of long rivers, length of rivers, size of the lake, volume of water. Check the written text afterwards to see if you got it right.
Questions
Should householders pay for water? Should farmers pay for water?
This is very useful for learning English as a second language.
Thanks.