The Hutt River clean up kicks off New Zealand's campaign to clean up its waterways...

The Hutt River clean up kicks off New Zealand's campaign to clean up its waterways...

The Hutt River clean up in the Hutt Valley district of Wellington kicks off New Zealand's national campaign.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman, plans to raft and kayak down some of NZ's most polluted rivers to raise water quality issues

A New Zealand national campaign to clean up the country's waterways gets underway at the Hutt River this morning.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman is planning to raft and kayak down some of the country's most polluted lowland rivers to raise awareness of water quality issues.

He says the Hutt River is a special part of the landscape but it is badly polluted by stormwater, agricultural and urban run off.

"Our rivers are those wild places held in common for everybody in the lowlands. Everyone can get access to the Hutt River. You just need to make sure it's clean enough so that everyone can use it."

Mr Norman says the Hutt River is a classic example of the problems waterways are facing as it starts out as one of the cleanest rivers in the country but ends up ranked in the bottom ten for water quality.

Hutt River clean up