Lakes Taupo and Rotorua are important to New Zealand, but declining lake water quality is increasingly becoming a problem. Primary producers are said to be impacting heavily on the lakes' water quality through discharges that reach them through streams and ground water. The paper discusses the results of ongoing social research in the lakes' catchments. Data gathering was through literature reviews, interviews and workshops. The views, farming goals and perceived mediocre to poor adoptability of new environmental practices and technologies by primary producers in the lakes' catchments indicate that policy instruments encouraging voluntary change are unlikely to positively impact on water quality.