More than 740 people have now signed Waiau Rivercare Group co-chair Paul Marshall’s petition with the House of Representatives calling for more protection of the Waiau River.The petition asks the Government to remove Manapouri Power Scheme from a list of exceptions from new national freshwater management policies due to take effect in about three months time.As of 7pm June 10, the petition had been signed by 744 people.It was published on the House of Representatives website on Friday June 5 and closes on June 28.Mr Marshall said the Waiau River had been “condemned to another 50 years of abuse’’ because the New Zealand Government was keeping the Manapouri Power Scheme on a list of five exceptions from the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM), also known as the “Action for Healthy Waterways package”.The exemption “effectively sounds the death knell for a river already choking to stay alive,” he said.It “removes our community's voice for the Waiau River for the next 50 years. To be heard, hydro must not be exempt,” Mr Marshall said.Otago-Clutha MP Hamish Walker said last week the exception was “disappointing” and “unfair”.It was “yet another example from this Government of one rule for one business, which is 51% Government-owned, and another for the many other people who will have to meet the regulations of this policy,” Mr Walker said.Minister for Environment David Parker respondsMinister for the Environment David Parker told the Southland App yesterday (June 10) that hydro power schemes had not been “exempted” from the NPS-FM “nor from the requirement to maintain and improve water quality”.“[Regional] Councils will still have to set targets for ecosystem health attributes, but their decision is guided by the NPS-FM which requires that they take the importance of the schemes into account. “This policy aims to achieve a pragmatic balance between meeting New Zealand’s climate change obligations, securing its electricity supply and improving the quality of its freshwater,” Mr Parker said.Mr Parker also said of Mr Walker’s criticism about different rules for different people: “He is wrong.”“We are doing this to ensure New Zealand’s ability to produce hydroelectricity is not jeopardised. This policy balances New Zealand’s climate change obligations, security of electricity supply in a dry year and improving the quality of our freshwater,’’ Mr Parker said.Asked how the Waiau Rivercare Group could have their voices heard if the scheme was excepted from the NPS-FM, Mr Parker said Environment South would have to consult.“The council will still have to set targets for ecosystem health attributes in consultation with the communities that maintain or improve these rivers. However, the council will also have to take into account the importance of the Manapouri Power Scheme,” Mr Parker said.The Government had originally listed six power schemes, including the Meridian-owned Manapouri Power Scheme on the Waiau River, as “exceptions” to the NPS-FM. An advisory panel chaired by former Principal Environment Court Judge Shepherd last year recommended the Waikaremoana scheme in the North Island be removed from the list but that Manapouri should remain.That means in the Waiau River’s case, Environment Southland could, in certain situations, decide to maintain freshwater quality below national bottom lines to protect generation capacity, storage and operational flexibility of the scheme.Manapouri Power Station background The Manapouri Power Station is owned by Meridian Energy and is New Zealand’s largest hydro station. Built between 1964 and 1971, with a second tail race completed in 2002, it generates enough electricity to power about 619,000 homes.Mr Marshall said the scheme’s water take had reduced the Waiau River to “little more than a drainage channel", with non-hydro users left with “a mere 5%” of the original flow.The river was often highly sedimented, infested with toxic algal blooms and didymo, unsafe to swim in and “rapidly reaching a point where the river will simply not recover if it doesn’t get more water from upstream,” Mr Marshall said. Returning just 3% of Meridian’s water take would transform the river, Mr Marshall said.The Waiau Rivercare Group formed in 2017, became an incorporated society in 2019 and now has more than 400 members. Members gave feedback to the Government last year on the NPS-FM.Mr Walker said Waiau Rivercare Group members had done all they could to have their voices heard and it was “disappointing they had not been listened to”.“The Waiau Rivercare Group advocated for all Waiau River users, with the science to support its argument, that the Meridian hydro scheme on the Waiau River should not be exempt from regulations... While we are still yet to have the full policy released, we wait with bated breath to see what it contains, and hope our concerns have been listened to,” Mr Walker said.Changes likely before September 19 electionA date has not been set for the NPS-FM to take effect but it is likely to happen within the next three months.Mr Parker told the Southland App the documents, including new National Environmental Standards, were still being drafted.“The intent is for them to be completed, published and in effect before the [September 19] election,” Mr Parker said.Changes had to be made to the policy in response to feedback received during consultation and in light of COVID-19. “They reduced some costs and changed the phasing of some policies to allow central and local government more time to put their systems in place,” Mr Parker said.The public was consulted on the policy package in September and October 2019.The Government received approximately 17,500 submissions and hundreds of people attended public meetings and hui around the country.Environment Southland acting policy and planning manager Alex Morgan said the regional council was preparing to adapt its work to meet the new standards.Mr Morgan could not answer the Southland App’s questions about how the regional council would specifically change its practices relating to the Waiau River, because the council was still waiting for more details to be released.However, he said Environment Southland was “well placed to deal with the changes”.“[They] will mean that we will need to adapt our work, particularly in the regulatory space, to meet the new standards.“Our role as a regional council means that we give effect to this national document through our local plans, like the proposed Southland Water and Land Plan. “Further work to improve water quality in Southland has been well underway for several years. “We’re nearing the completion of work to determine Southlanders’ values, objectives and limits to improve water quality, as is required by all previous versions of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater. “Through this work, members of the public, community groups and businesses alike all have an opportunity for formal and information consultation, whether it be through the Regional Forum, talking to councillors and staff or making submissions.“While we don’t have the full detail of the policy statement, the Freshwater Independent Advisory panel’s report on Essential Freshwater notes that the requirement on councils to maintain or improve water quality applies even where an exception is granted. “This suggests that while limits for water quality could be set below national bottom lines, water quality must still maintained or improved,” Mr Morgan said. Find the online petition HERE