Taupō District Council to guide Lake Taupō Protection Trust into the future

Taupō District Council is taking the reins of a trust which has played a crucial role in a groundbreaking project to safeguard the water quality of Lake Taupō.

The Lake Taupō Protection Trust was set up in February 2007 to administer an $81.5 million fund to protect Lake Taupō's excellent water quality, which was under threat from the effects of land use activities.

The trust was charged with developing a project to reduce the amount of manageable nitrogen leaching into the lake through the ground by 20 percent. The target 170 tonnes a year reduction for the future was secured through land purchases and 27 agreements for land use change, each with a 999-year life.

Since its inception the project, a joint effort between the Crown, Waikato Regional Council, Taupō District Council, and Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board, has resulted in leading edge policy and the funding to facilitate the nitrogen reduction.

The trust was initially set up for 14 years, with the expectation that at the end of that period the nitrogen reduction target would be achieved, and the trust would have no assets remaining.

However, while the reduction target was reached, in June 2019 the trust still had significant assets, meaning to wind it up would be a complex process which could take years. The trust period was extended to allow for proper consideration of its future.

Last week, the trust settlors (the Crown, Waikato Regional Council, and Taupō District Council), agreed that Taupō District Council would retain and become the sole trustee of the Lake Taupō Protection Trust.

This decision allowed the efficient transfer of functions and responsibilities without losing the gains associated with the trust such as reputation, landowner relationships, and administration processes.

Taupō District Mayor David Trewavas says Lake Taupō is a precious taonga and Council takes its protection very seriously.

“I’m glad we have come to a decision which supports further initiatives that will encourage better environmental practices and protect our water quality,” he says.

“It was important to us that this decision retain all the benefits gained by the trust so far, while also being a cost-effective solution.”

Waikato regional councillor and governance committee member Stu Kneebone says: “My father, John, was a founding trustee and its first chairman, so it’s really wonderful to see the project achieve what it was set up to do.

“This has been about the protection of the beating heart of New Zealand, Lake Taupō, for future generations and it’s reassuring that its environmental legacy is in safe hands.”

In a statement, the Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board recognised the Tūwharetoa land trusts and incorporations who were a critical part of the success of this kaupapa.

“The Trust Board also wishes to acknowledge the successful efforts of the Lake Taupō Protection Trust, alongside those who did their part to ensure the reduction of nitrogen levels in Taupō Moana. It is important not to lose sight of those targets as we progress into this next phase.

“We must present the lake to our descendants in the same, if not a better state than when we inherited it.”

Background information

In the late 1990s, Waikato Regional Council monitoring showed that water quality in Lake Taupō was deteriorating and losing the clarity it was famed for.

Nitrogen emissions, which stimulate algal growth, were identified as the cause and farming was established as the major source of manageable nitrogen emissions.

The regional council introduced a variety of measures under Variation 5 to the Waikato Regional Plan, including caps on nitrogen emissions from farms and limits on wastewater discharges. The regional council also developed a world-leading scheme allowing the trading of rights to emit nitrogen. All farms within the Taupō catchment now have resource consents to operate within the cap placed upon them.

But to just maintain water quality, a total 20 per cent reduction in the amount of nitrogen coming from farmland and urban areas was needed to restore 2001 levels of water quality and clarity by 2080.