By the end of Monday evening (September 19), Slime the Nitrate Monster was getting pretty hot under the collar at the Cromwell ‘Meet the Candidates’ meeting. 

Not from any animosity from the audience or candidates but from wearing a heavy rubber suit in a warm building for two hours.

Slime (aka ecologist, mother and environmentalist Jennifer Shultzitski) is standing for election in the Dunedin Constituency of the Otago Regional Council. 

She is one of two Slime Nitrate Monsters residing in the South Island. The other is Canterbury-based and associated with Cut SNF Canterbury. This is a group “concerned about the harms of intensive dairy farming on Canterbury waterways”, according to their social media pages.

Otago’s Slime monster, who stays in character at all times when in the suit, said she didn’t know or associate with any other Nitrate Monsters. “I only associate as a multi-celled algal organism.”

Originally from Taranaki, Slime has visited fertiliser works, the Otago Farmers Market, Otago University and various other places in the build-up to the election. According to University of Otago magazine Critic, she hopes to be the first non-human elected to the ORC.

In Cromwell Slime was an audience member at the Rotary and Lion Club’s well-attended event on Monday and her tentacle waving presence caused few ripples aside from some polite groans when she stood up for a second go-round at question time.

A determined campaigner against nitrates in waterways, Slime has been busy on the campaign trail in Otago

Using reverse psychology, her pitch is all about supporting fertiliser companies and those that she says allow synthetic nitrates to run-off from farms and other land into rivers, making ‘slime’ grow and thrive.

“As the climate warms up, I will grow and expand. I might even outlive you humans. Bring it on. Vote Slime!”

Prior to the meeting Slime told the Central App some ORC candidates had vested interests in allowing nitrate-containing fertilisers to be used.  

All elected members must declare interests and these matters are legislated through the Local Government Act 2002. Complaints can be made through an Ombudsman.

“I do not know of this Ombudsman,” Slime said.

During question time she asked the four ORC candidates present (Alexa Forbes was absent due to illness) to raise their hand if they had a young person or child they were fond of in their lives.

Only Gary Kelliher obliged and the question that followed pertained to what condition rivers like the Lindis, near Tarras, would be in when handed down to the next generation.

Gary responded by saying that through the Environment Court and “a lot of science” a good outcome had resulted for the Lindis River.

A health ‘report card’ for the period from July 2015 to June 2020 shows the Lindis River at Ardgour Road exceeding the ORC’s quality limits for nitrogen. Another report with data from 2016 to 2021 rates general water quality there as ‘Good’ but still shows excess nitrogen.

Twelve monitored sites in Central Otago have data spanning a decade, according to ORC manager of science Tom Dyer.

That data shows that “six sites were unlikely to have had a nitrate trend indicating improvement and three sites were likely to have had a nitrate trend indicating improvement.”

Tom said from the 2016 to 2021 report it was evident that 11 of the 29 sites monitored in Central Otago had nitrite-nitrate nitrogen(NNN) concentrations above the limit set in the ORC’s Regional Plan: Water. 

Water Plan consultation announced

Meanwhile the ORC has set dates for a second round of consultation for its Land and Water Regional Plan.

In a media statement the council announced that ORC and Kāi Tahu representatives will visit 19 communities between late October and early December to discuss environmental outcomes and management options with the public.

“Now more than ever, people need to tell us how they want their waterways to be managed to safeguard all of the values that need protected – not only landowners and environmental groups, but the wider public of Otago,” ORC Policy and Science general manager Anita Dawe said.

“The first round of consultation occurred in late 2021 and early 2022, where communities throughout Otago told ORC which river, lake and stream values were most important to them - the ability to fish and swim in clean waterways being very important.

“In round two, at community meetings all over Otago starting at the end of October, we’re seeking feedback around the options we put forward to achieve the values people have told us are important. “

She said Otago water bodies are in varying states of health and in some parts of the region more effort was required. 

“A new land and water plan will set boundaries and expectations, making decision-making processes easier and clearer. For example, if we reduce the amount of sediment that enters waterways, we reduce the potential for smothering aquatic life or losing habitat for native fish species.”

Feedback from round two consultation will be incorporated into drafting of preferred options to manage land and freshwater, including limits such as minimum flows and levels and allocation limits. These will then be presented back to the community in 2023. 

Meetings, all starting at 7pm, will be held at the Tarras War Memorial Community Centre on Tuesday, November 8, Cromwell & Districts Presbyterian Church on Wednesday, November 9, Clyde Memorial Hall on Tuesday November 15, Roxburgh Service Centre on Wednesday, November 16, and Millers Flat Hall on Thursday November 17. 

A livestream of the Cromwell event showing all candidates presentations can be viewed on the Presbyterian Church’s youTube channel. 

More news coverage, profiles supplied by all Central Otago and Dunstan Constituency candidates and general election information can also be found on the Central App’s Election 2022 Button.