Study Tour Around Rotorua

The Rotorua District Council hosted a group of us here for the meetings this week to a study tour Wednesday around the area with a conversation focus.

There are many lakes in the region, but two of the largest are Lake Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti (pictured). Rotorua welcomes over half a million international visitors each year. Lake Rotoiti is a key tourism asset for Rotorua, but its water quality has been deteriorating over many years, and this deterioration has become significantly worse in the last few years. Excessive nutrient inputs from septic tanks, livestock and other farming practices is the main cause of the lake's degradation. As well as affecting the lake's use for tourism, the lake's algal blooms are also becoming a public health concern.

In March 2008, the New Zealand national government committed $72.1 million over ten years to see the Rotorua Lakes Protection and Restoration Program implemented – this amounts to 50 per cent of the total cost. The Rotorua Lakes Protection and Restoration Program aims to restore four priority lakes: Rotorua, Rotoiti, Okareka, and Rotoehu. The program includes measures to address the different sources of nutrients entering those four priority lakes. Key components include sewerage works, treatment or diversion of nutrient-rich streams, capping lake sediments to lock up nutrients, construction of wetlands, and land management changes.

After a brief lunch at the District Council offices we went to Scion which is a Crown Research Institute dedicated to building the international competitiveness of the New Zealand forest industry and building a stronger biobased economy. Scion has partnered with the Rotorua District Council on basic research on how best to recycle the sludge created from the waste water treatment process. The District Council is funding a project to help Scion determine the best ways to convert this sludge into energy. More info on project here. Another team is working to develop methods improve lake water quality with pilot programs inserting minerals into lakes to change their chemistry to improve overall water quality.

The big take away from these visits is the importance of using local research resources nearby to solve local problems. Especially important for us city managers who serve in University communities.