My husband, mum and I moved to Te Awamutu in 2019. Because my husband’s career was in shipping, we had always lived in port cities.
Julie Guest
When we knew we going to become Te Awamutu residents we wondered how we would cope with living away from the sea. Having no knowledge of Te Awamutu or its surrounds, I searched for relaxation opportunities at rivers or lakes.
I was excited to see photos of Lake Ngā Roto showing people walking, biking and jogging the perimeter, sailing and fishing on the lake and picnicking or camping beside it. I anticipated summer evenings of relaxation in the cool breeze coming off the lake, perhaps an evening walk and picnic to follow, just as at the beach. How wrong I was.
Almost since we arrived, the appalling condition of the water quality and environment around Lake Ngā Roto has been in the news. There are frequent health warnings discouraging any visits to the lake because of cyanobacteria growth in the water.
Lake Ngā Roto became a death trap for birds and fish .
We know that the lake’s condition is the result of years of farming practices that have overburdened it with nutrients. The long steady degradation has accelerated now that so much damage has already occurred so that remedial action may take years to have an effect. It seems that even creation’s amazing ability to repair is too stretched. Drastic action may be required.
Brad Ward
Late last month Waipā District Council’s community services manager Brad Ward invited input from Waipā residents to share their vision for the lake and surrounds. What a wonderful opportunity we have to consider what is best for this local taonga, and more importantly how we might contribute.
You might wonder why I am writing about this in a faith column. It’s because Christians believe that God created everything, all humans, all living creatures, the earth and everything in it and further, that all the intricate balances found in nature are part of God’s greater plan which is that everything exists in relationship. We believe that God tasked humans to be stewards of creation, to live in relationship with all of creation, including our fellow humans.
Living in relationship in the case of Lake Ngā Roto perhaps means that rather than blame anyone for the degradation of the lake, we ask what can be done to bring about improvement.
Messing about on Lake Ngā Roto.
We know that farming and other land use practices of the past have contributed or even created the nutrient and sediment that is causing most of the problems. We also know that those practices were carried out in ignorance of the possible damage to the lake.
Assigning blame to those who acted within the understanding and practice of their day for the problems now is unhelpful.
Nothing is achieved and relationships are not restored.
Many of us who blame probably happily consumed the products the land produced – milk or meat. We too were in ignorance of the results of our consumption.
Moving past blame into collective and collaborative action for the lake’s wellbeing has the greatest potential to return it to a condition that we can all benefit from. Can we enact the Creator’s plan so all the relationships within Lake Ngā Roto ‘s environment can be restored?
Ngā Roto .
