28261 (2025). Hon Rachel Brooking to the Minister for the Environment

28261 (2025). Hon Rachel Brooking to the Minister for the Environment: What advice, if any, by title and date, has she received identifying areas where water quality has improved since 27 November 2023?

Hon Penny Simmonds: My office received information about Land, Air, Water Aotearoa's (LAWA) World Rivers Day data release in September 2024. This was based on results from more than 3,000 monitoring sites at rivers, lakes and estuaries across New Zealand. Although the evidence pointed to widespread pressure on freshwater systems, there was evidence of improvement in some areas. I also received a three-yearly update on the state of New Zealand's environment in April. Our Environment 2025 did not include water monitoring data after November 2023. The exception was a new groundwater quality report which provided data up to 2024. However, one year of data is not enough to confirm a change in groundwater quality. Our Environment 2025 therefore made no statements about water quality since 2023.