Advice on protecting N.Z. environment

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32541, 26 February 1971, Page 10

Advice on protecting N.Z. environment

A prominent American ecologist considers New Zealand is well on the way to protecting its environment, but should ensure there are pollution controls estab* lishedfor new industries.

He is Dr D. A. Spencer, an authority on wildlife biology and for more than 30 years a career scientist with the Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States Department of the Interior.

Now employed by the National Agricultural ] Chemicals Association,. he has just completed an i extensive 3100-mile tour, of New Zealand on holi- j day by car and, in places, by chartered plane. 1 1 Keenly enthusiastic about i the country, he maintains | that it has not suffered unduly through 100 years of i stocking and that there is ’ abundant evidence of good I husbandry. ] But when pressed, he does have some ideas on what sort of action New Zealand should 1 take in the future to avoid I pollution and environmental 1 problems. i New Zealand, he said, was i entering a phase of develop- 1 ment in which some of its j raw materials now being exported would be turned into , manufactured goods for a , greater return. i New industries 1 “Every time you begin a i new industry, review from < the start whether it can be < conducted so it will not de- ' value its own land and the land round it,” Dr Spencer 1 advised. i

“Can you, for example, establish a paper mill without seriously polluting the stream into which the effluent is discharged? “Can you mine an area without leaving it scarred, bleak and unsightly? "Can you remove an overburden in mining coal and then progressively replace it and smooth it out as you go? “Wherever you establish a new industry ensure from the very start there are controls for air and water pollution," Dr Spencer said. “Cheapest way” “This is the cheapest way to do it—once the plant is built and you have to go back and correct for an undesirable effluent this is costly. But if it is designed for from the very start this is sucessful. "The builder of any new plant in the United States would not think of designing it without providing for return of the water it has to use, for cooling or for processing, in a state at least equal to that which it was when drawn out” Most new plants did not release water used, but cleaned it and re-cycled it —it would

be too expensive to release, Dr Spencer said. “This is a wonderful country with so many possibilities. You are finding new mineral resources to bring into the picture; and you have only relatively recently come up with some new gas wells off the North Island coast,” Dr Spencer said. These could be used to 1 produce some of the electricity needed to relieve the demand on hydro-electric resources.

“You have to balance your resources out,” he said. “If you recognise the fact that you must maintain the quality of the environment in New Zealand, it will be done.”

As to whether New Zealanders are aware of the need to preserve their environment, Dr Spencer replied: “A good farmer here has the most beautiful fields and pastures you could look at anywhere, because he recognises that the loss of that topsoil and over-grazing hurts him and the paddocks he produces.” Manapouri Asked what he feels about the proposed raising of Lake Manapouri, he said this was something only New Zealanders who knew about the requirements of their people could resolve. “You know how precious that water is and how many uses you have for it; it has to be proportioned wisely. And one of the uses will always be a need for recreation and open space,” he said. But New Zealand had nothing to be ashamed of in the setting aside of national forest and national parks. These were well distributed and everywhere there were small reserves. Rotorua

Of the pollution problem at Lake Rotorua, Dr Spencer said he suspected a sewage disposal plant was the answer, but this could be costly. It might be possible to control the algae growth by some selected chemicals so the nutrients could be used by fish. Too much pollution could, of course, be toxic and cutting down the amount was the only solution here. But large volumes of fish were being produced in the United States by aquaculture —in one area the equivalent of 60,0001 b of fish per acre of surface water were being produced in long tanks. Perhaps the principle could be adapted to meet the problem at Lake Rotorua, he suggested.