Radio New Zealand Interview

Te Ipukarea Society was recently interviewed by Radio New Zealand about the 2011 Rarotonga Water Quality Report Card. TIS is a known contact to Radio New Zealand for supplying comment on Cook Islands development issues from an environmental NGO perspective. The Report Card provides the results of coastal coral lagoon water quality monitoring on Rarotonga for the previous year and is produced by the Cook Islands Ministry of Marine Resources with peer review by NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmosphere in New Zealand). Our comment to Radio New Zealand is that while bacteria levels in the lagoon are measured to be low and the lagoon is safe for swimming, this is no reason to be complacent. “Results show that nutrient levels (that is nitrate and phosphate) are too high for healthy coral reefs,” says Jacqui. “This means we can’t be complacent and must work towards improving wastewater management on land particularly for livestock farming and visitor accommodation, before results begin showing the worst,” says Jacqui.