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National | Funding

Govt contributes $72 mill to Rotorua lakes clean up

Water quality in the Rotorua lakes area has been given another boost by the government.  But the total costs of the project will be covered over 24 years with a price tag of $144.2 million.

Chair of Te Arawa lakes Trust, Sir Toby Curtis says that the government should fix the problem that they created in the first place.

The government has set aside 24 million to help improve the water quality of lakes in this area, it's something that Bay of Plenty Environment regional councillor Arapeta Tahana supports.

In 2008 the government agreed to contribute $72million to the lakes water quality project, according to Sir Toby Curtis that $24million is part of that.

Monitoring the water quality in the lakes of this region began 23 years ago.  There were four main lakes that they set out as high priority, Rotoiti, Okareka, Rotoehu and Rotorua.  The problem they discovered came from the off shoots into these lakes.

The total project cost to clean up the lakes of Rotorua is $144.2 million half of this money is from the government and the rest is picked up by our regional councils.