Professor Jacqueline Rowarth expects some creative thinking when a conservationist, a farmer, an economist and a cultural consultant get together to discuss the state of this nation's waterways on Saturday, May 31, at the Escape! festival in Tauranga.

'Getting different approaches to the problem is a great way to sort out the way forward,” says Jacqueline, who will chair the ‘Cry Me a River' event.

'The panellists are all leaders in their fields and while I'm sure they'll want the audience to be entertained, they will also want to present cogent arguments.”

The panel comprises of Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills, economist Rod Oram, conservationist Craig Potton and Tauranga cultural consultant Antoine Coffin.

Jacqueline, professor of agribusiness at Waikato University and a media commentator, says research data shows rivers in New Zealand are frequently better now than they were in the 1950s – while last year Lake Rotoiti hit its water-quality target for the first time in decades, thanks to remedial work.

However, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright released a report in November warning New Zealand's water quality could get worse by 2020 if the dairy industry continued to boom without implementing new technologies. In February she also warned Government proposals for minimum standards in freshwater management were not adequate for protecting water quality.

It is through this thicket of information, claim and counter-claim, that Jaqueline will attempt to guide the panel and inform the audience.

'We all want a good outcome,” says Jaqueline.

'We are Team NZ with an environmentally-protected and economically-productive New Zealand as the goal.”

Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills, who farms sheep and beef in Hawke's Bay, jumped at the chance of appearing on the panel.

Bruce says water quality is 'a critical issue” for Federated Farmers. 'It may not seem like it in the political miasma water can create, but new systems of farming, new pasture varietals, better stock genetics and even insects, like the dung beetle, present the means to meet our nitrogen challenge.”

But it's not only water quality that's occupying Bruce, it's also water quantity.

'What keeps me awake at night is the uncertainty around whether we are able to keep up our food production with a world population expected to hit 9.3 billion in 2050. 'Water is a key part of New Zealand meeting this growing demand for food.”

Last year he attended the World Water Week conference in Stockholm, probably the only farmer among 2700 delegates, 'who looked at me in complete disbelief when I said that we let 95 per cent of our rainfall run out to sea unused”.

Escape! is the first off-year event from the Tauranga Arts Festival and has a focus on books, featuring writers and performance.

Cry Me a River is on 7.30pm Saturday, May 31, ASB Baycourt, costing $25. Tickets on sale from April 30 at the ASB Baycourt box office, www.ticketek.co.nz or phone 0800 842 538. Find the full festival programme at www.taurangafestival.co.nz.