Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister for the Environment): Thank you, Mr Tirikatene. During the year under review, this was actually the biggest piece of work that the ministry had on. It was against the background of declining water quality, particularly in our rivers. Sadly, the latest data from the Land, Air, Water Aotearoa data series showed that twice as many rivers are degrading in New Zealand as are improving, according to the macroinvertebrate index, and this is a long-term trend that has coincided with increasingly intensive methods of agricultural production. Not all the problems are in rural areas and some of the most serious problems are in urban areas, but the rate of change has been greatest in respect of rural areas. Ninety-nine percent of rivers, by length, are in those rural areas, so we've got to address those issues. 