First name Last name Short description of yourself and the reason you care about this issue John Malloy I want New Zealand to have clean rivers and lakes, and I want the Government to enact legislation that enables this goal for our descendants. Hi My name is Stewart Doherty I am NZ borne 43 year old and have worked as a river guide in NZ and Austria. Since I was young I have enjoyed recreation in NZ outdoors. I would like my voice heard in parliament today and for my children Amelie and Xaver to swim in a clean river. It is my birth right. I don't think the we need to blame the farmers we need to support and educate them to get our rivers to a swim-able standard. All of our local and central govt policies must be changed. Right Honorable John Key and Tourism minister what should I tell our educated and informed tourist as I guide my boat past cattle excreting in the river and no fences anywhere to be seen? stewart doherty I should add we are in breach of Te tiri te O Waitangi! I am father of 2, I like to kayak but don't want to worry about splashing or falling into contaminated water. I often drive overseas visitors around the country and would love to say, yes NZ is clean... Craig Hines Hines But... Morrison- I am a 27 year old kiwi from Auckland and having been all over the world I am outraged at the state f our rivers in a country that had such a small population and so many resources, there is Aasha essex absolutely no excuse for us to have environmental pollution issues other laziness and ignorance Marie Thomson Thomson I am only 24 years old, and even so I cannot swim in NZ streams and rivers like I could when I was a kid. Future generations deserve clean water. Clean it up! I spent my youth swimming in the rivers of Hawkes Bay where I grew up. I can't believe that allowing the precious quality of our natural water resources to decline so badly is even up for negotiation. What sort of country do we live in if we can't even take a dip in a local river without getting infected? And who is responsible for the appalling inaction behind this decline in such a fundamental right? Nigel Collins Stop the madness! Jason Barnes Sutherland- Jane Norton I want us to start thinking about the future and stop thinking money. Otherwise this beautiful country is going to be in a very bad state. Sigrid Klein Hi, I don't want to worry about if it is safe or not to swim in NZ rivers. Just because the water looks good or okay doesn't mean that it is. I'm 30 years, female from Auckland. Thanks for sharing! Dean, 27, Tauranga, Student. European Human. Brother. Very simple to not put waste into our rivers. Yet we do it. All shall adopt closed-loop systems. All shall localise. Please consider all those whom will inherit the Earth. Consider you Actions, today. With Love, Dean Webber Your Brother. Sarah Yates I am a 29 year old and I want to be able to swim and drink from our rivers and want this to be possible for future generations. Kymberly Thomasen I'm a 21 yr old from Waikato and I want to be able to continue being in the water with my dogs and family like I have since I was young Im a 23 year old Maori - Primary Teacher from Papakuraand I want our kids to be able to experience actual clean fresh waters and even swim when it comes to summer. My students in class Miri Hori believe dearly about keeping NZ green and clean not for us but their generation to come and our animals!! Whakatika i o tatou nei awa! Hi I'm a 40+ year old mother of a son with cerebral palsy. Kori loves to be in water. It's one of his favourite pastimes. Featured is a photo of him in the river at Bethells Beach. Unfortunately as soon as summer arrives this river becomes too polluted to allow him to do this. How to explain to my son that we allow one of his favourite places to get too dirty for him to enjoy? Would you like to write him a letter saying why your government doesn't support cleaning up his favourite place so he can enjoy the river in the hottest months of the year? Blessings on your decision to support our call for Anna Featherstone swimmable rivers....all over New Zealand! Tangiwai Kohu Water is life.. I am a 57 year old New Zealander who has lived in beautiful, clean and healthy New Zealand all my life. I raised my children here and now have grandchildren who I want to have a safe and healthy as Anita Barltrop well as beautiful country to grow up in like I did. It's a New Zealanders birth rite as paid for by their parents and grandparents taxes. Anne Rowntree GLEAN GREEN. GET ON WITH IT. FOCUS ON NEW ZEALAND Our family spent many happy days at local rivers when I was a child but within my lifetime I have witnessed the majority of previously clean and swimmable rivers in my region become stagnant, polluted or clogged up with poisonous algae. This is heartbreaking and we need to do something about it immediately... ...family trips to local rivers on hot summer days used to be one of the best ways to get everyone engaged with our natural environment, and was one of the special privileges of growing up in NZ. T Judge But our younger generations now have seen nothing but poisoned dead rivers. Shame on us for not voting more considerately, and/or the politicians who ignorantly allowed this to happen. I am an adult male human and so am composed of around 60% water. That water is in constant interaction with water from the environment, therefore I obviously don't want dirty water in the Mike Dee Dee environment, and neither should anybody - thank you. It embarrasses me to accept that we New Zealanders have accepted a standard of living at the expense of our natural waterways.At least on the West Coast here we c and our children and Margaret Weston grandchildren can swim in any river that is physically safe for swimming. Please allow the relevant environmental scientists etc to do more. I'm a 37 year old actor with a 17 month old daughter and a son arriving in Jan next year. They deserve what I and all members of government and indeed parliament enjoyed when they were growing up - water quality that allows them to swim in rivers in classic kiwi summer style. We should all be ashamed that we're casually watching river degradation passively and accepting this most visible Kevin Keys form of environmental vandalism. Please act - for my children and yours. We need to keep our rivers and lakes clean enough to feel safe swimming in them, for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, but also for our tourists. They come to see clean, green New Joyce Robinson Zealand, not ugly, polluted waterways. They could have stayed home for that. Do the right thing: keep the standards high. When I was a kid we used to swim in the lower reaches of the Waimana River. Now I wouldn't even fish it (assuming fish are still there). I now live in Stratford where the best swimming hole on the Alan Thatcher Patea River, just 8 km from the national park, is regularly contaminated with coliforms. Not good enough! First name Last name Short description of yourself and the reason you care about this issue I am a 26 year resident of the Coromandel Peninsula. Our rivers and streams are part of the what attracts our summer visitors which help keep our local business going. We need clean water, to Ruby Powell Powell drink, to swim in and to keep our local economy afloat. rowena walker I am a 49 year old Pakeha from Trentham, I grew up across from the Hutt river and as kids we spent so many hours swimming and playing over there. I want our rivers and streams to go back to Lisa B their earlier glory so future generations can know and enjoy the clean and green New Zealand I was lucky enough to grow up in. Elspeth Preddey I am an active grandmother who loves swimming and taking our grandchildren with me. Last summer water pollution in the Wellington region constrained us. Tina Ranson I am a 43 year old mother and grandmother originally from Canterbury. All my life I have swam in New Zealand's rivers and want this to be possible for all now and into the future. Thomas Guthrie We want our rivers clean before next summer so friends and family can use them again like we use to. I am a 35 year old pākehā woman who loves this land respects that kaitiakitanga of the environment is our duty as people living here so that Aotearoa is a place were all its people, plants and Bell Murphy animals can thrive. Im Maori 52 Atutahi Riki I want All rivers to be clean restord to its glory as it was before, for every one now and the generations to come. I demand here and now this moment forward all laws to allow moderate risk to humanity in our new zealand rivers are BANNED.