Freshwater Quality in New Zealand

“How can we ensure we have healthy and sustainable water in New Zealand for the future?”

NZ has been privileged to enjoy natural freshwater of an abundance and purity equalled by very few places on earth. Water is an essential element of both our natural ecosystem and our social system. All New Zealanders rely on this freshwater for their basic needs of drinking, cooking, bathing and sanitation and waterways generate half the country's electricity. However, water is also of value inherently as an essential part of the natural world and for its more ethereal benefits such as recreation, healing, spiritual fulfilment and relaxation. Most New Zealanders have strong emotional connections to water and to particular waterways where they have in the past enjoyed bathing, boating, fishing or simply sat and observed this passage of water from mountain to coast.

In the Māori worldview (Te Ao Māori) each water body has its own mauri (life force) and usually a strong connection to a particular iwi or hapū. This worldview recognises that water exists in a relationship of mutual interdependence and guardianship with humans and other non-human life as it is constantly recycled to move ‘Ki uta ki tai’ (from the mountains to the sea).

Water may seem robust and infinite, however, our co-existence with this element involves a delicate dance. Seemingly minor changes by humans to water flows or ecosystems can have big impacts on the overall health and future existence of this finite and depletable system and all the life that relies upon it. “All the water that will ever be is right now.” National Geographic

Some human activities are relatively harmless to the overall water system, yet others are seriously detrimental by adding pollutants, extracting water or even modifying entire ecosystems as in the case of dams, drains and culverts. Once a complex waterway ecosystem is disrupted, polluted or tips over to an anaerobic state then it is nearly impossible to restore it to its natural state.

This is an opportunity for you as one of the 4 million guardians of our common water resources to help us find mutually agreeable solutions to the critical task of collectively managing these resources for health and sustainability. We invite you to read and think about the issues, rank some survey statements on freshwater quality and potential solutions and to share your own perspectives.

Original Polis poll: https://pol.is/5psrv8bm2a

Soop article: https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1707/S00042/opening-the-election-hivemind-freshwater-quality.htm

Summary of the Comment Section

This section highlights various methods for selecting a small set of comments that best capture the broader conversation (see the comment section below).

Each method focuses on a different perspective, emphasizing principles such as popularity, representation, or diversity. This leads to different voices being represented. Explore the section below to get a sense of the impact these approaches have.

Show Advanced Controls

Popularity-Based Selection

Selection Method ?
Approval Voting
Chamberlin–Courant
Method of Equal Shares
Method of Equal Shares with Approval Voting Completion
Method of Equal Shares with Increment Completion
Proportional Approval Voting
Eneström–Phragmén
Satisfaction Approval Voting
Sequential Proportional Approval Voting
Phragmén's Sequential Rule
Popularity ?
max. popularity:
Inclusion ?
max. inclusion:
Satisfaction Distribution ?

Representation-Based Selection

Selection Method ?
Approval Voting
Chamberlin–Courant
Method of Equal Shares
Method of Equal Shares with Approval Voting Completion
Method of Equal Shares with Increment Completion
Proportional Approval Voting
Eneström–Phragmén
Satisfaction Approval Voting
Sequential Proportional Approval Voting
Phragmén's Sequential Rule
Popularity ?
max. popularity:
Inclusion ?
max. inclusion:
Satisfaction Distribution ?

Diversity-Based Selection

Selection Method ?
Approval Voting
Chamberlin–Courant
Method of Equal Shares
Method of Equal Shares with Approval Voting Completion
Method of Equal Shares with Increment Completion
Proportional Approval Voting
Eneström–Phragmén
Satisfaction Approval Voting
Sequential Proportional Approval Voting
Phragmén's Sequential Rule
Popularity ?
max. popularity:
Inclusion ?
max. inclusion:
Satisfaction Distribution ?

Highlight Differences

See All 67 Comments

Explanations

Analysis

Popularity

"Popularity" measures how popular is a set of comments for the participants. It is equal to the total amount of positive votes (a.k.a. thumbs-up, or approvals) received by the comments in the selection.

Inclusion

"Inclusion" measures the percentage of participants included in the selection. That is, the percentage of participants who expressed a positive opinion (a.k.a. thumb-up, or approval) about at least one of the selected comments.

For instance, an inclusion of 60% means that 60% of the participants feel positively about at least one comment of the selection.

Inclusion can also be expressed in terms of satisfaction: the inclusion is the percentage of participants with non-zero satisfaction.

Satisfaction

The "satisfaction of a participant" measures the number of selected comments that they expressed a positive opinion (a.k.a. thumb-up, or approval) about.

For instance, a satisfaction of 3 means that the participant feels positively about 3 of the selected comments.

Selection Methods

A selection method is a procedure that selects a given number of comments based on the votes submitted by the users.

The desired number of comments to select is always given up-front.

Approval Voting: Selects the comments who have the highest number of votes.

Chamberlin–Courant: A participant is considered to be represented if their satisfaction is more than 0. This method selects comments to maximize the number of represented participants.

Method of Equal Shares: Each participant receives an equal amount of virtual currency to spend on comments they feel positively about. Comments are considered in rounds. A comment is selected if its supporters have enough budget left to collectively afford it.

Method of Equal Shares with Approval Voting Completion: Applies the method of equal shares. If fewer than the desired number of comments are selected, the result is completed by using the approval voting selection method.

Method of Equal Shares with Increment Completion: Calculates the minimum amount of virtual currency needed for the method of equal shares to select the desired number of comments. Then, applies the method using that amount.

Proportional Approval Voting: Selects a proportionally representative set of comments by using decreasing weight for the participants. The weight of a participant decreases with the number of supported comment that has been selected. In other words, the higher the satisfaction of a participant, the less the selection method tries to increase their satisfaction.

Sequential Proportional Approval Voting: Sequential variant the proportional approval voting method. Selects the comments one by one, each time selecting the best non-selected comment according to the principles of proportional approval voting.

Eneström–Phragmén: Distributes representation load evenly among participants to select a proportionally representative set of comments.

Phragmén's Sequential Rule: Sequentially adds comments while balancing the representation load to maintain proportional fairness.

Satisfaction Approval Voting: Selects a set of comments that maximises the total average satisfaction of the participants. The average satisfaction of a participant is defined here as their satisfaction divided by number of supported comments.