May 08, 2024
Mana o te wai under threat
Public health experts are warning of another Havelock North-type catastrophe if the Government drops Māori principles for the protection of drinking water in favour of commercial interests.
A campylobacteriosis outbreak in 2016 in the Hawke’s Bay town’s water supply caused widespread illness and at least four deaths.
It helps spur the widespread the adoption of te mana o te wai, the principle that the health and well-being of the water is protected and human health needs are provided for before enabling other uses of water.
Marnie Prickett, the co-author of a the Public Health Communication Centre’s new publication Another Havelock North?, says the Government is proposing to supposedly rebalance te mana o te wai.
“It’s kind of a tricky word really because what they mean by that is ‘we’re going to deprioritise our drinking water. We’re going to say commercial activities have the same priority as our drinking water safety.’ What’s we’ve seen in the past, where drinking water wasn’t prioritised, we’ve seen drinking water contaminated,” she says.
Ms Prickett says te mana o te wai brings a long term view to water management – which can be undermined by things like the proposed Fast Track Approvals legislation.