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what's happening to OUR water?

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« Reply #275 on: February 25, 2015, 06:13:23 am »



Opuha Water to cut supplies to irrigators

Home » News » Farming


Tue, 24 Feb 2015
News: Farming

 
Opuha Water will turn off the taps to irrigators tomorrow as drought conditions bite deeper in South Canterbury.

The Opuha Dam serves 250 farmer-shareholders, who have 16,000ha under irrigation.

"We have reached the bottom of the bucket," Opuha Water chief executive Tony McCormick said in circular to members. By Wednesday the lake will be at 371m with a little under 1.5 per cent storage remaining, he said.

As part of an agreement to reduce the minimum Opihi river flows in early February, Opuha Water will cease irrigation and the last remaining storage will be used to try to keep the river flowing for the next 10 to 12 days, he said.

The lake level is falling at just over half a per cent a day, he said.

"There have been several small rain events in the area over the last fortnight but they have had very little effect on inflows to the dam and in the catchment generally," McCormick said.

On February 12, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy officially declared the drought conditions on the east coast of the South Island as a "medium-scale adverse event".

The declaration covered parts of Otago, Canterbury and the Marlborough District and enabled extra government funding to be made available to Rural Support Trusts who work closely with farmers, providing support and guidance.

The Government is also keeping a very close eye on Wairarapa and southern Hawkes Bay which are also suffering from very dry conditions.

By Jamie Gray, NZME. News Service business reporter

NZME.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/farming/334234/opuha-water-cut-supplies-irrigators

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« Reply #276 on: February 27, 2015, 08:06:47 pm »

reminder:



Ground Water Changes Following Quake
9/09/2010 5:17 p.m. 

There have been marked changes in the groundwater beneath the Canterbury Plains following Saturday's earthquake and the continuing aftershocks, says Environment Canterbury.

New springs have been observed, wells have shown marked increases in water level, spring-fed streams such as the Halswell River have risen markedly and increased turbidity (cloudiness) has been seen in some wells, says Dr Tim Davie, Acting Director Investigations and Monitoring.

"It is well known by scientists that earthquakes can and frequently do induce a response in groundwater that can be observed up to several hundred kilometres from the earthquake epicentre."

The changes are due to several different factors including:

•uplift occurring along one side of a fault line which will raise the water level
•the compression of aquifer material which effectively squeezes water out of the ground
•the generation of a pressure wave through the groundwater that will raise water levels in places
•and the reconfiguration of an aquifer through the shaking of its material.
"Of these, only the last mechanism will produce permanent changes. The first three mechanism produce changes that are likely to last for a matter of days or a few weeks at most," said Dr Davie.

In the past four days scientists from GNS Science and Environment Canterbury have been measuring some of the geological changes and the differences in water levels and streams response. This will continue over the next 7-10 days. In particular a large scale monitoring of groundwater bores will be carried out that will give a better idea of how much of the change is permanent.

“The observed changes do not necessarily give us cause for great alarm at present. We expect the groundwater to settle down over the next week to two weeks and the observations of wells over the next 7-10 days will give us a better idea of any permanent changes,”  Dr Davie said.

“We will release the information from these observations as soon as possible to alert water users to potential risks.”

The other factor that may require consideration is damage to well casings and screens.  IrrigationNZ have information on how well owners can check for this type of damage. Their website www.irrigationnz.co.nz

http://ecan.govt.nz/news-and-notices/news/pages/groundwater-changes-following-quake-090910.aspx

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Water quality trial 'helping nature along'

TONY BENNY

Last updated 05:00, February 27 2015
 
A low-tech approach to replenish and improve water quality in Mid Canterbury's over-allocated and polluted aquifers will be trialled soon.

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) has succeeded in restoring the health of aquifers in the US and now one of the scientists involved in that work, hydrologist Bob Bower, is leading a pilot scheme in the Hinds Plains area to see how well the technique will work in here.

"Historically, we put bores in the ground and we take water out and sometimes we take way too much out and the only way to fix it is to take the bores back or turn them off so the idea behind MAR is just helping nature along," Bower says.

Simply, the idea is pour clean water from the Rangitata River, via the Rangitata diversion race and the Valetta irrigation scheme, into an "infiltration basin" and let it percolate down into the aquifer to refill it. Up to 500 litres per second is available from an unused stock water consent held by the Ashburton District Council.

A 1.8ha site at Lagmhor, about 15 minutes inland from Ashburton, has been selected for the trial and half the required funding of $350,000 has been secured. The pilot has the support of Ashburton zone committee, responsible for formulating policy under the Canterbury water management strategy, and Environment Canterbury commissioners.

"We're going to dig a leaky pond, it's kind of the worst pond ever," says Bower. "We go in and strip the top soil to get rid of the pesticide history and we might dig some trenches and fill them with clean gravels so what you're trying to do is really open up that aquifer to get the percolation rate really high."

The zone committee want more water in the aquifer to reinvigorate streams and wells in the area, but more importantly wants water quality improvements. Groundwater under the Ashburton and Tinwald area has some of the highest concentrations of nitrates in New Zealand.

Ironically, pressure on the aquifer has increased as irrigation has become more efficient, with spray irrigation replacing border dyke and piped, pressurised supply replacing leaky open races. Excess irrigation water used to sink into the ground and recharge the aquifers by default but less and less is finding its way underground.

"We know it's worked in the past unmanaged so let's try to manage it. We'll bring some specific tools and we'll track the results."

Sensors placed in existing and possibly specially drilled bores will measure water temperature and the level of the aquifer and a tracer study will reveal just where the extra water is going.

The pilot should reveal the sweet spot, where there's enough water in the aquifer to feed springs, streams and wells but so much that it causes flooding in low lying areas closer to the coast.

Bower says it's not intended to fix groundwater nitrate levels simply by dilution and that it is important to continue with efforts to reduce nitrate leaching from farms, as proposed under the Hinds Plains sub-regional water plan.

"The majority of water in Canterbury is out of groundwater, it represents a massive underground resource of storage and if we can manage that better and use it and complement surface storage and irrigation efficiency and use it as a whole package, that's what the goal is," Bower says.

Canterbury's not the only New Zealand region where MAR is being trialled and Bower is also involved in a pilot study in Gisborne, in partnership with Leader Brands, iwi and the district council. The aquifer there is more confined than those in Canterbury and acts more like a tank but over the past 30 years of extraction it is in decline.

Instead of an infiltration basin an injection bore will be used to feed clean water from a reservoir into the aquifer to try to restore it to a sustainable state.

Bower says he hopes the pilot projects will lead to improved water quality and quantity, but almost as important, he says, is educating people about aquifers.

"It is critical as you develop a MAR pilot that you work with the community to get their ideas and knowledge of an area to ensure it is a success," he says.

"When people think ground water, they think, 'I put a bore in, there's water, what are you talking about?'.

"People don't get ground water, so I see these pilots and the signs and the communications as essential to getting people to think about ground water - it is a resource and how do we manage it better? A healthy aquifer's good for everybody."

  - Stuff.co.nz

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/agribusiness/66532767/water-quality-trial-helping-nature-along

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« Reply #277 on: February 28, 2015, 12:00:04 am »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Hundreds gather to oppose dam project

By VOMLE SPRINGFORD | 7:10AM - Thursday, February 26, 2015

Mangatarere is one of five sites on the radar of the Wairarapa Water Use Project as a candidate for an irrigation dam.
Mangatarere is one of five sites on the radar of the Wairarapa Water Use Project as a candidate
for an irrigation dam.


HUNDREDS turned up at a meeting on Tuesday called to oppose any plans for a dam on the Mangatarere River.

Michael Woodcock, chairman of the Dam Free Mangatarere Society, which organised the meeting, said the Carterton Events Centre was packed out.

“It was literally standing room only. It was really pleasing to see that level of interest.”

Mangatarere is one of five sites on the radar of the Wairarapa Water Use Project as a candidate for the irrigation dam.

Speakers were Mangatarere landowner Mike Bennett whose property could be seized for the project, Dr Mike Joy, an ecology and environmental scientist, WWUP director Michael Bassett-Foss, and Peter Fraser, an economist with Ropere Consulting.

He said Mr Basset-Foss was politely asked questions and there was no heckling.

Mr Woodcock said the “big question” was about how much the total project would cost and whether farmers would be able to afford it.

“By now WWUP should be able to know what the cost of the proposal is, they should be able to tell people.”

Mr Woodcock said Mr Fraser raised the point that New Zealand was not an easy country to build low-cost dams.

After building the dam estimated at $200 million, the cost for farmers to build infrastructure and infrastructure in the region, the price of water would be too expensive, he said.

“After 25 cents a cubic metre, it's pretty much not cost effective for the farmer, it's cheaper to buy feed in.”

He said this had been learned from the Ruataniwha Dam proposal.

The issue of the Public Works Act to seize properties was also raised.

The audience was told WWUP could either negotiate with property owners and buy their land at market value, seize properties under the Act or a combination of the two.

Mr Woodcock said Mangatarere property owners and people living below the possible dam site had been left “in limbo”.

“If they want to sell their property, they can't. Who is going to buy a property that is possibly going to have 30 million tonnes of water above it?”

“What is going to be the true market value even if they do want to sell?”

Questions were also raised about fault lines.

“What does it mean? One, for the dam and two, for the pipes, what is the plan? These are the big questions.”

Another issue raised by Mr Fraser was having the ability to get out of the project. “A lot of these projects should have an ‘off ramp’, where do you get off if it's not looking good?”

Mr Woodcock said the size of the pipes could be 3m in diameter, travelling out in straight lines through properties, whether they were taking water or not. While it wasn't known exactly where the pipes would go, he said a lot of people will be affected.

Mr Woodcock said the society would pose these questions to WWUP and talk to the Ruamahanga Whaitua and Carterton District Council.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11408153
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« Reply #278 on: March 02, 2015, 07:12:47 pm »


from The Dominion Post....

Growing opposition to Wairarapa dam

By CALEB HARRIS | 5:00AM - Monday, 02 March 2015

DREAM HOME: Lee and Andrew Cameron built a home in the Mangatarere Valley west of Carterton and planned to retire there, then pass the equity on to their two children.
DREAM HOME: Lee and Andrew Cameron built a home in the Mangatarere Valley west of Carterton
and planned to retire there, then pass the equity on to their two children.


A WAIRARAPA COUPLE have spent two years cut off from their home, land and retirement dreams by a dam project.

Lee and Andrew Cameron say the Wairarapa Water Use Project's selection of the Mangatarere Valley near Carterton as one of five potential dam sites for an ambitious irrigation scheme led by the regional council has destroyed their lives.

“All I see is the next 25 years here without my things, my home because of this damn dam,” Lee, 46, said. “We can't do anything but live in someone else's home on the minimum wage to pay for a home we can't live in.”

Potential buyers of part of their farm were scared off by the proximity of the proposed dam, leaving them unable to pay debt and forced to rent out the property they had lived on since 1997.

The couple moved to the valley with their two children, building their “dream home” and planning to live out their lives there. Their problems started after Lee had a tumour removed in 2012, sparking a decision to sell part of their farm to pay off their mortgage and travel before it was too late.

With strong interest in the subdivided block, they gave up their trucking business and extended their mortgage, planning to pay it off once the land sold.

But in January 2013 their real estate agent asked why they had not told him of plans to erect a dam up to 60 metres high less than 1,500 metres from their house, saying it was information he should disclose to prospective buyers.

It was the first the Camerons knew of it. Interested buyers walked away and, with no income to cover the subdivision costs, mortgage, rates and insurance, the couple had to rent their home and find work, taking jobs near Queenstown.

“We have a financial noose around our necks with an unsellable home and land that we will be stuck with for the rest of our lives if this project goes ahead,” said Lee Cameron.

While properties under the proposed dams' footprints could be eligible for compulsory sale under the Public Works Act, it is understood sites downstream of the dam will not.


Lee and Andrew Cameron say that potential buyers were scared off by a dam project in the valley.
Lee and Andrew Cameron say that potential buyers were scared off by a dam project in the valley.

The Mangatarere Valley dam site has passed through several preliminary study phases and is on a shortlist alongside sites in the White Rock, Black Creek, Te Mara and Tividale areas. Which will enter the next phase, a definitive feasibility study, is to be announced by June and construction could start by 2018. The project's aim is to increase Wairarapa irrigation from 12,000 hectares to up to 42,000ha, boosting the economy.

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairwoman Fran Wilde has said she offered to discuss the Camerons' situation with them but they declined unless she could promise a solution. “It's a big issue for them and we understand that, but we're working as fast as we can.”

Questions about whether compensation for landowners downstream of the dam could be contemplated were “silly”, as was any suggestion any of the five sites should be ruled out because of upset landowners. “We can't short-change the project because we're partners with the Government on this and we have to go through all the stages of feasibility and examination.”


HUGE IMPACT

Opponents of a Wairarapa dam scheme say that far from boosting recreational opportunities, it will lower river levels and degrade the region's most important trout spawning stream.

The regional council-led Wairarapa Water Use Project proposes storing Tararua Range rainfall in up to five large dams to double the irrigated land in the drought-prone region. Promoters say spinoff benefits will include new recreational opportunities for other water users such as anglers, kayakers and dragon boaters.

Criticism of the project so far has come from landowners who could see their homes forcibly sold and flooded under the Public Works Act, others who say the dam would scare off potential buyers, and environmentalists worried intensified dairying will increase pollution of the region's waterways. Now, recreational water users have joined in.

Mangatarere valley resident, former Green Party candidate and angler Michael Woodcock has organised public meetings in December and last week to co-ordinate opposition to the dam. The Mangatarere Stream was the main spawning site for Wairarapa's 130-year-old trout fishery and damming it would “set the fishery back ... many years”, he said.

Another resident, Mike Bennett, called supposed recreational benefits a “red herring”, questioning how attractive the 6.5-kilometre-long, 60-metre-deep reservoir would be for boating, since its level would drop by up to 40-metres during summer and leave steep, inaccessible mud-banks.

Regional council chairwoman Fran Wilde said all potential impacts of the proposed dams were being carefully analysed, including recreational aspects.

“No decision will be made until all the evidence is in front of us ... a lot of people in Wairarapa will benefit from this project so we can't shortcut the process.”


http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wairarapa/66816230/Growing-opposition-to-Wairarapa-dam
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« Reply #279 on: April 08, 2015, 01:21:24 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Twin attack on Wairarapa dams

By DON FARMER | 7:06AM - Wednesday, April 08, 2015

NOT HERE: Water sports on Lake Karapiro will not be replicated on a Wairarapa dam, say critics of the irrigation scheme.
NOT HERE: Water sports on Lake Karapiro will not be replicated on a Wairarapa dam,
say critics of the irrigation scheme.


THE viability of a Wairarapa Water Use Project has been called into question with claims the cost of buying water would make it an unprofitable proposition for farmers signed up to the scheme.

Dam Free Mangatarere Society, which is adamantly opposed to a dam on the Mangatarere, is firmly of the view the scheme is pie-in-the-sky anywhere in the wider Wairarapa district.

And the society believes that people promoting it are not fronting up with the facts.

Society chairman Michael Woodcock said instead of telling people, especially farmers, what they needed to know, a tightly controlled group of those behind the project was attempting to entice the public into supporting a dam with fanciful claims of its recreational benefits.

“It's time to stop this bullshit about creating a wonderful recreational lake for summer sports.”

“Any dam will be designed to store irrigation water and it is in summer that water will be drawn from it.”

“So instead of being a nice, full lake for sports it will be a muddy banked, half-full pond which in the case of the Mangatarere would be lined with dead trees,” Mr Woodcock said.

He said the society was especially outraged at comments made by Masterton District Council chief executive Pim Borren in a Wairarapa Times-Age column, that fuelled the “fallacy” of a sporting lake.

Mr Borren was simply a “council employee” who should remember he was responsible to the mayor and committee chairmen and should not be usurping their authority speaking out publicly on issues like the dam, he said.

“In any case he is hopelessly ill-informed,” Mr Woodcock said.

The society had been trying to flush out dam promoters for a public debate but had been turned down.

“It seems most stakeholders have been told to keep quiet and only a handful of project organisers will say anything at all.”

Farmers, he said, had to be aware of the cost to them of buying water.

“That's what the debate should be about, not building a place for rowing or fishing.”

As far as water costs were concerned Mr Woodcock said it was suspected the cost would exceed 25 cents a cubic metre, in which case it would be uneconomic.

“At that price it would actually be cheaper for farmers to scrap the water project and buy in more supplementary feed.”

Schemes elsewhere, including Ruataniwha and Waimea, were troubled and the price issue was the crux of any plan to proceed here, he said.

“If buying the water is not economic for dairying then they will not achieve the land use changes they are relying on.”

“At present Wairarapa is 20 per cent dairy and they see it as rising to 45 percent, at the expense of sheep and beef.”

“For that to happen it would have to be economically viable, so they have to come out and tell farmers the true facts, instead of creating the myth of a boating and fishing utopia.” Mr Woodcock said.

He said that between $2 million and $4 million had already been spent “mainly on consultants” and there had been a lot of talk about climate change and droughts meaning water will “become the new gold”.

“What that appears to completely overlook is that it has got to rain first.”

Mr Woodcock said Wairarapa Water Use Project has signalled it will be settling on one or two dam locations within the next three months, but farmers still had no idea what was involved even in matters like how the water would be reticulated.

“Will it be piped underground, travel through huge pipes overland or be sent to farmers in open channels, we just don't know.”

“It's time to debate the facts, give us the facts not just try to get a rosy headline in the paper.”


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11429283
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« Reply #280 on: April 08, 2015, 01:36:59 pm »

I think they need anything to provide sports and other activities for the young people there, sounds like it has a crime wave comparable to South Auckland....can only imagine what it must be like to live there😳...you have my support😜
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« Reply #281 on: April 29, 2015, 06:32:54 pm »

Nitrate absorption trialled

Home » News » Farming


By Allison Beckham on Mon, 13 Apr 2015
News: Farming


 
Scientists  NZ awter qualityare trialling a filter system which they hope will provide dairy farmers with a simple and cost effective way of removing nitrates and phosphorus before they reach waterways.
A nitrate catcher was commissioned recently near Waituna Lagoon, southeast of Invercargill, and a phosphorus catcher will be built nearby soon.

Dairy cows produce nitrogen and phosphorus in their urine and faeces. Too much nitrogen and phosphorus in the water causes algal growth which affects water quality and decreases the amount of oxygen available for fish and other aquatic life.

The nitrate catcher is a large, 1m deep pit filled with wood chips. As water from a farm field tile drain flows through it, naturally occurring bacteria consume the nitrate and convert it into harmless gas.

Project co ordinator and DairyNZ water quality scientist Dr David Burger said the phosphorus catcher would work on the same principle but without the bacteria, using a pit filled with zeolites _ absorbent minerals _ or possibly limestone, or Southland oyster shells, to absorb the phosphorus.

The pilot studies would each run for a year and scientists would monitor water flows and analyse the effectiveness of the systems, he said.

The $150,000 project is being funded by the Living Water Doc Fonterra partnership, Dairy NZ and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's clean water productive land fund. Niwa scientists are undertaking the science.

Dr Burger said concepts of the trial were widely used in sewage treatment applications around the world but this was the first time they had been trialled in New Zealand for treating water from agricultural tile drains.

Tile drains, commonly used in areas such as Southland where soils became saturated in winter, could accelerate the loss of nitrate and phosphorus into waterways, he said.

''Our aim is to see if this is a cost effective option dairy farmers could use. For them, we think creating a nitrate filter would cost less than $10,000 and involve a couple of hours on a digger, a PVC liner and some wood chips or another suitable material.''

The Waituna Lagoon, within the internationally recognised 20,000ha Awarua Wetlands, is regarded as one of the best remaining examples of a natural coastal lagoon in New Zealand.

However, there has been a marked deterioration in water quality in recent years and tests show the water is now dominated by algal slime. Environment Southland is working with other agencies to try to reverse this.

Dr Burger said the nitrate catcher was on the edge of a small stream which fed into the lagoon.

It was more suitable for slow moving waterways with low flows, he said.

''Something like this wouldn't work on a major river or lake. But if the trials are successful we hope it will have potential for widespread use on low lying undulating land in Southland, parts of the Waikato, Hauraki, and maybe the Wairarapa.''

Environment Southland director of operations and environmental information Warren Tuckey said his organisation welcomed the trials and staff would be closely watching the monitoring results for evaluating effectiveness.

He said 73% of all Southland farms had tile drains, a percentage he believed was the highest of any province in the country.

Environment Southland was also looking at ways to reduce contaminants going into Waituna Lagoon and its catchment.

About three months ago a trial wetlands area was built where water from a tile drain trickled through a series of vegetated ponds and through a phosphorus filter of limestone rock and oyster shells, before discharging into a stream.

While wetlands were a useful way to remove contaminants from water, they were costly, Mr Tuckey said.

''We've probably done $100,000 worth of earthworks down there. If DairyNZ can come up with a low cost alternative that is also effective, that's great.''

-allison.beckham@odt.co.nz

http://xtranewscommunity2.smfforfree.com/index.php?action=post;topic=2434.0;num_replies=280
« Last Edit: April 29, 2015, 06:42:00 pm by nitpicker1 » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #282 on: May 04, 2015, 01:37:16 am »


see also  http://xtranewscommunity2.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,2434.msg163533.html#msg163533

Federated Farmers: Project part of solution for nutrient enrichment

By Dr Lionel Hume, Senior policy advisor

5:00 AM Sunday May 3, 2015

A proposal to recharge the shallow aquifer in the lower Hinds catchment of mid-Canterbury is designed to dilute nitrate in ground and surface water.

A managed aquifer recharge (MAR) trial will pour up to 500 litres per second of water from the Rangitata River into an infiltration basin to percolate into the aquifer.

Ironically, the need for MAR is partly because irrigation has become more efficient in the catchment, with the shift from border dyke to spray irrigation and the piping of irrigation delivery systems. This results in less drainage from irrigated areas and delivery infrastructure and, therefore, less aquifer recharge.

MAR will top up the aquifer and provide more water for shallow wells, spring-fed streams and drains.

However, questions remain about the effectiveness of this approach to dilute nitrate-N and there are concerns about adding more water to an area which is low-lying and has a high water table.

Augmenting particular streams through existing irrigation infrastructure might be a more effective approach.

The history of water management in the Hinds catchment highlights the need to manage systems as a whole, rather than focusing on isolated parts without regard for unintended effects.

MAR is often used to recharge depleted aquifers. A pilot project near Gisborne aims to replenish the Makauri Aquifer to sustain ground water yields beneath the Poverty Bay Flats.

The Makauri aquifer is more confined than those on the Canterbury Plains. It is more like a bucket or tank and is therefore more suited to water storage.

Managed aquifer recharge is practiced around the world to store or 'bank' water.

One example is the Meyers Water Bank and Wildlife Project in California's Central Valley. Up to 9.8 million cubic metres of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is delivered into 37 hectares of recharge ponds.

The surface water infiltrates the shallow aquifer for underground storage. Only 95 per cent of the banked water is later allowed to be extracted, so the aquifer is left in a better net state as a result of the project. A wetland wildlife area is another environmental bonus.

Underground storage is an attractive option here because it avoids evaporative loss, which can be up to 30 peer cent in mid-summer.

The much larger Central Arizona Project diverts up to 480 million cubic metres of Colorado River water annually into underground storage.

The Arizona groundwater recharge also diminishes the risk of land subsidence and improves water quality by natural filtration.

- Federated Farmers - The National Farming Review

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/rural/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503421&objectid=11430778
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« Reply #283 on: June 04, 2015, 02:44:05 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Wairarapa eco-group damns the dams

An open letter to Wairarapa Regional Irrigation Trust (WRIT) from
Michael Woodcock, chairman of the Dam Free Mangaterere Society Inc.


7:13AM - Thursday, June 04, 2015

RUNNING LOW: The Mangaterere Stream, photographed in February this year.
RUNNING LOW: The Mangaterere Stream, photographed in February this year.

WE UNDERSTAND a decision on which preferred site(s) you intend to further investigate for the large-scale irrigation scheme is imminent. Ahead of that fateful decision Dam Free Mangatarere Society Inc. (DFM) has some questions and an alternative perspective we believe are in the interest of the wider community.

Firstly, will you, against all common sense, name the Mangatarere as a final site to take to full feasibility analysis? Even though your own point-scoring system rates it as a less desirable site to dam due to the environmental and social impact (that's homes and jobs lost).

Your insistence that the damming and removal of over half of the water from these streams will somehow improve water flows and quality is at odds with current science.

Turning dynamic and variable streams into constant flow races will fundamentally and detrimentally alter ecosystems that have taken thousands of years to evolve.

Nor does it stack up economically. As the independent economist Peter Fraser, experienced with the struggling Ruataniwha and Waimea schemes points out, the cost of the dam, and the piping and infrastructure, will likely mean a minimum water price of 25 cents per cubic metre.

This is a price for water to mainly grow grass, which does not stack up for farmers, who could buy cheaper feed like maize silage with greater flexibility and far less on-farm costs.

Why are you not doing the smart thing and promoting on-farm storage that would see those farmers who have need, get through a drought period with their own stored water? Perhaps water from the current water race systems which criss-cross the valley for hundreds of kilometres could have some of the flow diverted during winter to on farm storage? Or, what of successful modern dry farming techniques of changing the grazing crop and literally storing more water in the soil with deep-rooted plants like Lucerne?

To us it appears a core group with vested interests has become fixated on a big construction project and despite the growing evidence, cannot say “hey we checked it out but we can already see it does not stack up”.

But of course there are others who are doing very nicely thanks, from the three/four million already spent, with more to come, even before a dam is built.

Regardless of which sites you pursue, when did our community decide that doubling the amount of land used for dairy (your figures) get agreed too? A decision that could see about another 180,000 cows creating vastly increased nitrogen run off and further degradation of the Ruamahanga catchment.

The tens of millions this proposed scheme will cost would be better spent to develop the region in a more environmentally sustainable way.

Maintaining and creating a diverse range of better paid jobs than corporate industrial dairying will deliver.

Perhaps your announcement will galvanise others into action when those on small farms and lifestyle blocks on your coverage map realise whether they want it or not, the Public Works Act will see the pipes coming through or past their or their neighbour's property. Most likely it will be the fact that the economic proposition won't stack up and you may well expect ratepayers to subsidise your dream.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11459628
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« Reply #284 on: June 04, 2015, 02:48:03 pm »


My hairdresser lives in the Mangaterere Valley just upstream of the proposed dam site.

She has lived on her lifestyle block for thirty years, has raised her children on her property and has also helped to raise some of her grandchildren there.

The greedy capitalist fuckers and dirty dairyers living downstream want to use the Public Works Act to force my hairdresser off her long-time family home and land, and submerge it beneath a lake, so they can increase the number of diary cows and pollute Wairarapa rivers even more than the filthy capitalist pigs already do.

The sooner a revolution occurs and those greedy fuckers are lined up against a wall and shot, the better New Zealand will be.

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« Reply #285 on: June 04, 2015, 07:47:05 pm »

ktj....

"The sooner a revolution occurs and those greedy fuckers are lined up against a wall and shot...."


...and will you be leading that revolution from the front.....or hiding in your burrow as per usual Wink
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« Reply #286 on: June 09, 2015, 12:49:45 pm »


from The Dominion Post....

Celebration and dismay as Wairarapa dam options narrowed

By CALEB HARRIS | 6:50PM - Monday, 08 June 2015

The Mangatarere River, west of Carterton.
The Mangatarere River, west of Carterton.

RESIDENTS of a scenic valley near Carterton are relieved it will not be flooded for an irrigation dam, but Fish & Game says the fact two other Wairarapa sites are still on the table is bad news for the environment.

Wairarapa Water Use Project leaders announced on Monday afternoon that the Mangatarere Valley, west of Carterton, and two other areas had been crossed off a shortlist of potential dam sites for an ambitious irrigation scheme led by the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Instead, the Black Creek site west of Masterton, and the Tividale site, to the town's north, have passed into a full feasibility study phase of the project, which aims to increase irrigation in drought-prone Wairarapa from 12,000 hectares to up to 42,000ha, with the aim of boosting economic production and jobs.

The other two eliminated sites are in the White Rock and Te Mara areas.

Mangatarere residents have been among the scheme's most vocal opponents, with some refusing to pay rates in protest against the possibility of their homes being forcibly sold and flooded under the Public Works Act.

Resident Mike Bennett called the decision a victory, which enabled him and his neighbours to pick up “lives that were dropped into a black pit” when they learned the valley could be dammed. “[It] shows just what a united and persistent voice can achieve.”

But Fish & Game Wellington manager Phil Teal was dismayed two sites were still on the table. “If the dam goes ahead elsewhere, the already-polluted Ruamahanga River would cop an additional nutrient burden from the intensive dairying that the irrigation scheme is designed to service.”

The regional council had a conflict of interest as both the dam promoter and the environmental regulator, he said.

Economic consultant Peter Fraser said the scheme was not economically viable since its probable cost, which has not been revealed but which he estimated at between $175 million and $225m, would result in a water price of up to 50 cents a cubic metre — well beyond what farmers could afford.

Matthew and Lynley Wyeth, whose family have farmed in the Black Creek area for many years, have no plans to sell, despite the announcement. “This is something that has been brought upon us, but we're just concentrating on what we do best, which is continue farming,” Matthew said.

Project director Michael Bassett-Foss said independent experts estimated the Black Creek scheme's cost at between $138m and $205m and Tividale between $71m and $105m.

“A great deal more work is needed before the real cost of water is known,” he said.

Regional council chairwoman Fran Wilde said the project's environmental credentials were reviewed by independent scientists.

The project is funded by regional council ratepayers and the Ministry for Primary Industries' Irrigation Acceleration Fund. An initial 243 potential reservoir sites have been whittled down since 2010.

If a site is finally chosen, consent is obtained and once land is acquired, construction could start in 2019. The two sites are entirely privately owned, by a total of 29 landowners.


Two water scheme options advanced in Wairarapa study

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/69131359/celebration-and-dismay-as-wairarapa-dam-options-narrowed
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« Reply #287 on: June 09, 2015, 12:51:18 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Dam: Then there were two

By DON FARMER | 7:30AM - Tuesday, June 09, 2015

TARGET: Black Creek, near Masterton, is firmly in the sights for a lake, along with Tividale (top right).
TARGET: Black Creek, near Masterton, is firmly in the sights for a lake, along with Tividale (top right).

BLACK CREEK and TIVIDALE have been narrowed down as the last remaining possible sites for dams to store and distribute irrigation water in Wairarapa.

At a special media conference in Masterton yesterday, it was revealed Wairarapa Water Use Project water was knocking out Mangatarere, Te Mara and White Rock Road as dam sites.

The selection of the two remaining sites was made as the pre-feasibility phase of the project comes to an end, which involved a lengthy investigation of all options.

Mangatarere, in particular, was hotly disputed as a potential site and Dam Free Mangatarere was set up to fight it.

Its chairman Michael Woodcock said he was delighted that Mangatarere “is permanently off the list”.

“It has been a long, hard-fought campaign by residents of the Mangatarere Valley, and hopefully it demonstrates that collective action can influence an outcome,” he said.

According to the project organisers, Black Creek and Tividale between them could irrigate almost 30,000 hectares in an area north of Masterton and southwest of Greytown to the north of Lake Wairarapa, and provide water for other uses.

Storage reservoirs would be in the Kaituna area, west of Masterton, and the Taueru catchment, northeast of Masterton respectively. Black Creek incorporates a smaller option, Wakamoekau, which has the potential to be a standalone scheme.

The Black Creek dam would be built on land in the vicinity of Falloon Settlement Road, west of Masterton, which was once bought up in anticipation of a dam for electricity generation that never came to pass.

It is now all back in private ownership.

The Tividale dam would be east of Masterton, on land in the vicinity of the old Bideford School.

Project chairman Bob Francis said no major flaws had been identified in any of the options that had been investigated and all of them would have been affordable.

“But some schemes had large overlaps in their distribution areas and choices had to be made based on that.”

The Wairarapa Water Use Project spent four years investigating how water could be collected, stored and distributed for irrigation, power generation, municipal water, and environmental, recreational and cultural use. It aims to improve long-term regional prosperity while promoting sustainable management of land and water.

The pre-feasibility phase broadly compared schemes on financial, engineering, social, environmental and cultural criteria in order to narrow the options down.

The three other schemes considered — Te Mara, Mangatarere and White Rock Road — have been discounted. Three others previously kept in reserve have also been discounted.

Mr Francis said that since 2010 the project had involved wide community interests through several dedicated advisory groups, representing iwi, business, environmental and recreational groups, as well as local and central government.

“Their feedback and input into project design and decisions has been hugely valuable.”

An independent study last year concluded that irrigating an extra 30,000ha would add $157 million of GDP to the greater Wellington region a year and create 1,200 jobs. A further $90 million in GDP would be added and more than 1,100 jobs created for one year as a one-off result of farmers converting to irrigation.

The one-off effects of scheme infrastructure construction and any spin-off from new processing of primary produce would be additional.

“We understand the environmental challenges of increased irrigation and changing land use, and also how to make a scheme affordable to users.”

“On the other hand, there are opportunities to help improve the resilience, efficiency and reliability of the Ruamahanga catchment water resource.”

“These and other questions are highly complex but that does not mean solutions can't be found by working as a community, and that is the approach we will continue to take,” Mr Francis said.

Wairarapa Water Use Project director Michael Bassett-Foss said construction costs had been estimated within a range that reflected the “pre-feasibility” stage of investigation. Independent experts estimated the net present cost of building the Black Creek scheme at between $138-$205 million, and Tividale between $71-$105 million.

“Importantly, these cost ranges do not translate directly to the price of water to users or the cost of a scheme to investors.”

“We have provided the cost estimates for transparency purposes but a great deal more work is needed before the real cost of water is known,” Mr Bassett-Foss said.

He said there was more work to be done and it needed to be determined in an 18-month study whether the schemes were feasible.

The study will cost about $4 million and will be funded jointly by Greater Wellington Regional Council and the Government, through the Irrigation Acceleration Fund.

In a separate project the Wairarapa community, through the Ruamahanga Whaitua Committee, is working on values and needs around freshwater.

Over the next year, a legal framework will be created for management of freshwater, which will become part of Wellington Regional Council's natural resources plan.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11462117
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« Reply #288 on: June 09, 2015, 12:55:15 pm »


That's excellent news for the residents of Mangaterere Valley, including my hairdresser.

It means their private properties are safe from the greedy dairy farmers who want to take their land to store water, so they can pollute Wairarapa's waterways even more.

However, the battle isn't over yet....landowners in two other locations are under siege from the greedies & polluters who always want forceably to take somebody else's land for their hair-brained water storage schemes instead of flooding their own land.

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« Reply #289 on: October 03, 2015, 07:26:16 am »


Submitters back river protection

Home » News » Regions


By Mark Price on Sat, 3 Oct 2015
The Regions: Otago

 
Plans by the Otago Regional Council to limit the amount of water that can be taken from the Lindis River has drawn more support than opposition.

However, most of the 81 groups and individuals who have submitted on the council's plan change 5A, which would establish minimum flows for the Lindis, want parts of it amended.

The plan applies to the Lindis catchment in the Bendigo-Tarras Basin, including the Ardgour Valley, Bendigo and Lower Tarras aquifers.

Many of those supporting the council's overall approach in setting a minimum flow level and restricting irrigation take referred to the river drying up in the summer.

Esther Whitehead, of Queenstown, submitted that irrigation had become ''so detrimental'' there was little left of the natural ecosystem in summer months.

Tania Seward, of Christchurch, said a minimum flow would ensure the ''longevity of this vital river system''.

''To have the Lindis not able to flow the whole way along its length in summer is negatively affecting the environment.''

Hugh van Noorden, of Christchurch, said there was a need to ''sustain the environmental integrity of the river as a living corridor, not as a mere seasonal drain''.

Christine Rose, of Kumeu, said the minimum flow should be a ''conservative limit'' that maintained the river at levels ''sufficient to protect and enhance its life-supporting capacity''.

''Lindis has a special and rare quality in an important ecological setting and landscape.''

And Ian Cole, of Wanaka, said the full fish-spawning potential of the Lindis had been ''historically compromised'' by depleted flows.

''The local and wider communities of the area have an historic opportunity to restore river flows to more environmentally sustainable levels.''

The Department of Conservation supported a minimum flow and irrigation limits.

Its submission noted longfin eels and common and upland bullies were present in the main stem of the Lindis, with the ''nationally critical'' Clutha flathead galaxias in some tributaries.

Contact Energy supported the plan change, saying water from the catchment was ''severely over-allocated''.

Those the council considered in ''general opposition'' to the change included the Point Partnership.

It called for amendments, saying the change ''will not achieve the purpose'' required by the Resource Management Act and other regulations.

The Point Partnership submitted the plan change was inconsistent with the Government's national policy statement for freshwater management, which ''supports the use of reasonable adjustment timeframes and requires the use of the best available information and scientific and socio-economic knowledge''.

John Davis, of Wanaka, wanted to amend the plan to provide ''a much more holistic approach''.

The plan change ''will not enable people and communities to provide for social and economic wellbeing, as provided for in the RMA.

''The effect of this change to the Tarras district and community will be severe and long-lasting.''

Timburn Ltd submitted the Lindis played ''a huge part'' in farming, and a ''fair outcome'' of the plan change should enable

farmers to carry on without being ''pushed into financial hardship''.

Malvern Downs Ltd submitted the council had not met its planning responsibilities.

''Full consideration of the community's identified values must be provided for, specifically those relating to the availability of water for irrigation during the growing season.''

Tim Davis, of Cromwell, said the Otago Fish and Game Council and the Lindis Catchment group had been involved in a series of ''think tanks'' where flow-management solutions were talked about.

''None of these provisions and transitions has been inserted into [the proposed plan],'' he submitted.

''The Otago Regional Council should look at all options to increase the values, not just a blunt instrument such as a minimum flow.

''The Lindis catchment is one of the driest catchments in the country and needs a flow-management regime that recognises this,'' Mr Davis said. Some farmers in the Tarras district take irrigation water from the Lindis River under historic mining privileges, or ''deemed permits''.

The Resource Management Act allows this situation to continue, unless compensation is made, until they expire in 2021.

The permits can, however, be converted to resource consents voluntarily before they expire.

mark.price@odt.co.nz

http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/otago/358063/submitters-back-river-protection

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« Reply #290 on: December 10, 2015, 03:51:04 pm »


"  ...New Zealand's security of electricity supply is entering a crunch period with three major generators being decommissioned from the national grid by 2019.

The loss of the three major electricity generators is raising concerns with national grid operator Transpower, which says in three years there was increased risk of meeting the country's energy demand.

As had been the case for the past two years, the future of Rio Tinto-owned Tiwai Point aluminium smelter at Bluff also complicates supply and demand forecasts - given it soaks up about 14% of the country's energy output, all from Manapouri.

In Transpower's ‘‘security of supply'' report released yesterday, in response to generator closures, Transpower chief executive Alison Andrew said there were a number of challenges facing the industry during the coming decade.

‘‘It is becoming increasingly difficult to predict what New Zealand's 2019 energy environment might look like,'' she said.

Read the rest@
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/366363/concerns-over-electricity-security

Not forgetting their obligation to supply water for irrigation....

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« Reply #291 on: December 10, 2015, 04:13:54 pm »

Wont matter soon, This government intends to transfer ownership of all our water to Maori.  Lakes, rivers and dams.
Once that happens, hydro power will be priced out of existence anyway.
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« Reply #292 on: December 10, 2015, 04:20:48 pm »

Wont matter soon, This government intends to transfer ownership of all our water to Maori.  Lakes, rivers and dams.
Once that happens, hydro power will be priced out of existence anyway.

Maybe we should all go and get our DNA checked
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« Reply #293 on: December 10, 2015, 04:51:22 pm »

yak.."Wont matter soon, This government intends to transfer ownership of all our water to Maori.  Lakes, rivers and dams.
Once that happens, hydro power will be priced out of existence anyway."

..really...it that actually going ahead...have not heard much about it lately Roll Eyes
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« Reply #294 on: February 09, 2016, 06:50:26 am »

Wont matter soon, This government intends to transfer ownership of all our water to Maori.  Lakes, rivers and dams.
Once that happens, hydro power will be priced out of existence anyway.

 nemmind - soon there won't be any fit to drink anyway

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ORC blocks Doc, Fish and Game
Otago Daily Times‎ - 1 day ago


...public confidence in the hearing process for Otago's new water plan could be undermined by restrictions that prevent Fish and Game from making submissions on a key consent hearing.
That is the view of critics who take issue with a decision by Otago Regional Council staff, denying ‘‘affected party'' status to Fish and Game and the Department of Conservation over tomorrow's hearing.....


....That ORC decision means that despite having some statutory powers over Otago water quality-related matters, neither of those public interest bodies can make submissions on an application to exceed permitted nitrogen discharge guidelines, in respect of three farms near the Kakanui River.

http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/otago/372390/orc-blocks-doc-fish-and-game

Three new discharges to land!

What will that do to the water table ?

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« Reply #295 on: February 17, 2016, 05:03:29 pm »


LAKE MISSING
(click on the picture to read the news story)
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« Reply #296 on: March 14, 2016, 11:02:29 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Can the dam: Fish and Game

6:00AM - Saturday, March 12, 2016

A CLAIM the Wairarapa Water Use Project (WWUP) is dead in the water is being made by Wellington Fish and Game which yesterday threw its support behind independent economist Peter Fraser who has called on it to be shelved.

Fish and Game wants future investigations to focus on smarter ways to farm and grow the regional economy. Manager Phil Teal said the latest dairy payout which saw Fonterra lower its sights to $3.90 per kg of milk solids is “the final nail in the coffin for the large-scale irrigation project which was never compelling from both an environmental and economic standpoint”.

He said it was increasingly clear that a prudent approach to growth in Wairarapa was needed instead of “continuing to pour millions of dollars of taxpayer and ratepayer funds into an irrigation scheme, especially when independent analysis clearly rejects its viability”.

Mr Teal said the Ruataniwha Dam in Hawke's Bay has cost ratepayers “many tens of millions of dollars, and counting" and that it was and is dubious as to whether a sod will ever be turned on the controversial project.”

“The last thing the Wairarapa community needs is to be saddled with significant rates hikes to fund a project that wasn't even a goer when the dairy payout was in the $6 [per kg of milk solids] range. Now, with all indications pointing to low dairy returns being the new normal, the regional council really has no other option than to wisely use this as an off-ramp.”

Mr Teal is calling on WWUP backers — Greater Wellington Regional Council and Government through the taxpayer-funded Irrigation Acceleration Fund — to be fiscally responsible and look at more economically and environmentally sustainable options.

He said rather than waste more rates and taxes on uneconomic dams, the regional council and Government should be backing future farming initiatives such as low-input farming systems.

“These are much better suited to dry areas and are proven to be more profitable than high-input, water-intensive industrial farming operations. Better for farmers and better for the environment; a win-win.”

Wellington Fish and Game has had concerns about WWUP for some time for going well beyond its brief and acting as an irrigation advocate, rather than providing the Wairarapa community and its leaders with balanced, objective information.

“WWUP is supposed to be conducting a feasibility exercise.”

“Instead it is acting as a pro-irrigation lobby. The quality of the debate in the community about the merits of irrigation is suffering as a result.”

He said Wairarapa and civic leaders were being "promised the world", but WWUP was failing to put in front of them the many downsides to schemes, “not least of which are the huge costs that are inevitably borne by the community and the environmental impacts”.

Mr Teal said despite what WWUP would inevitably now try to claim, the project was always predicated on intensive dairy expansion.

“WWUP has always been a dairy-heavy project. Their own figures show an expected doubling of intensive dairying. No other land use could, or can, afford the water.”

“It's time to can the dam and concentrate on assisting struggling farmers convert to more profitable, sustainable systems.”


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11604193
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« Reply #297 on: March 14, 2016, 11:02:48 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Big injection of government cash for Wairarapa irrigation scheme

$804,000 funding boost

By GERALD FORD | 6:00AM - Saturday, March 12, 2016

TOP UP: Nathan Guy (centre) with Wairarapa MP Alastair Scott and landowner Barry Kempton of Greytown, at the announcement of an $804,000 funding boost to the Wairarapa Water Use Project. — Photograph: Gerald Ford.
TOP UP: Nathan Guy (centre) with Wairarapa MP Alastair Scott and landowner Barry Kempton of
Greytown, at the announcement of an $804,000 funding boost to the Wairarapa Water Use Project.
 — Photograph: Gerald Ford.


PLANS for a Wairarapa irrigation scheme received a boost yesterday with the announcement of $804,000 in fresh Government funding.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy announced the support at a meeting in the 100-plus-year-old woolshed of a historic Greytown property belonging to the Kempton family.

The funding comes from the Ministry for Primary Industries' Irrigation Acceleration Fund (IAF), which helps kickstart projects around the country.

The Wairarapa Water Use Project hosted the meeting at the Kempton farm near Greytown.

Mr Guy also announced a boost of $575,000 for the Ruataniwha scheme in Hawke's Bay, which he said he was “close to sending the diggers in” — and $250,000 for the early stages of another irrigation scheme in Gisborne.

Mr Guy said irrigation was “not just about dairy”, but horticulture and viticulture also need access to water.

The Kempton Farm has been operating for the past 162 years and with Barry Kemp and his son Sid is now in its sixth generation.

It is one of three trial properties being used to model the potential advantages of an irrigation scheme under different land uses.

The 220ha farm is currently mainly used as a runoff with 32ha as a milking platform and about 69ha for beef farming.

Sid Kempton said, at full use, the property might need one fulltime labour unit, but it has been estimated that if it were converted to an apple orchard about 15 new jobs would be created.

Wairarapa Water Use Project chairman Bob Francis said Government support was “critical” to the scheme. Mr Francis said the governance group had met in Wellington on Thursday and signed off on the next stage of the scheme.

This involves recognising a primary site from the two which are currently being drilled to test geotechnical considerations.

These are Black Creek, in the Kaituna area west of Masterton, and Tividale in the Taueru catchment northeast of Masterton.

The scheme is at a “crucial phase”, at the “start of a major farmer engagement process”, Mr Francis said. After that, the next steps would be to create a governance set-up and then move towards consenting applications.

Mr Francis said 1150 new jobs could be created in Wairarapa due to intensified land use, with an extra $152 million added to the region's GDP (gross domestic product), with $52 million of that going to benefit Wairarapa households.

Wairarapa Water Use Project project director Michael Bassett-Foss said people “usually join the dots that irrigation equals intensified land use equals degraded waterways”.

But Mr Bassett-Foss said new governance goals for waterways around New Zealand mean any change in use must “maintain or improve water quality”.

He said “20 of the best modellers” of river ecosystems in Australia and New Zealand are running scenarios to ensure this goal is met with any irrigation scheme.

Mr Bassett-Foss said stored water could be used to flush Masterton's Henley Lake and alleviate its toxic algal bloom problem, or feed the urban supply.

The project now has to “assess farmer demand”, preceded by “a huge engagement process to inform [farmers] about the opportunities and challenges”.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11604196
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« Reply #298 on: March 14, 2016, 11:03:20 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

Wairarapa dam grant irks critics

By GERALD FORD | 9:49AM - Monday, March 14, 2016

A proposed irrigation scheme for Wairarapa has drawn fire from critics.
A proposed irrigation scheme for Wairarapa has drawn fire from critics.

OPPONENTS of a Wairarapa irrigation scheme are continuing to speak out in the wake of last week's $804,000 grant from the Government.

In Carterton last week, at a 2016 Farming for the Future seminar, economist Peter Fraser called the latest dairy forecast an “enormous off-ramp” for the dam proposal.

The conference on Tuesday coincided with Fonterra's announcement of a further downgrade to the forecast farm gate milk price for the 2015/16 season to $3.90 per kg of milk solids.

“Given I labelled WWUP's [Wairarapa Water Use Project] proposals ‘dud dams’ when the milk price assumption was well above six dollars, I don't think a milk price below four dollars is going to make them any better.”

Mr Fraser predicts a farmgate milk price in future of $5 plus or minus $1 — “not the $6.60 plus or minus $1.80 seen between 2007 and 2014”.

Mr Fraser claimed excessive debt and irrigation had "fragilised" farming systems, leaving many dairy farmers and share milkers with high cost structures and exposed to the risk of lower milk prices.

He agreed with the comment of one farmer that because Wairarapa has a comparatively small dairy sector, the region should escape the worst fallout from the price plunge.

“I think Wairarapa has dodged a bullet.”

Wellington Fish and Game Government grant ignites irrigation controversy

manager Phil Teal weighed in with more opposition in a story which appeared in Saturday's Wairarapa Times-Age, saying the Wairarapa Water Use Project is “supposed to be conducting a feasibility exercise” — not advocating for the project to go ahead.

Forest & Bird's Wairarapa conservation manager Amelia Geary slammed the Government's “plans to subsidise a large water storage scheme with $804,000 of public money” — citing water quality and economic concerns.

“Wairarapa already has significant environmental problems from current land use practices.”

“Lake Wairarapa is classed as 'supertrophic' and is one of the most polluted shallow coastal lakes in New Zealand,” Ms Geary said.

“The Ruamahanga River also suffers significant faecal contamination from agricultural and urban areas.”

Ms Geary said work with landowners to improve water quality around Lake Wairarapa “could be undone by plans to further intensify land use in the upper catchment”.

Ms Geary said intensive dairy operations are suffering most with low milk solid prices “so it's hard to understand why the Government is prepared to spend so much taxpayer money to encourage more of these struggling operations”.

“The case for flooding significant areas of QEII covenanted land, on behalf of an industry that's undergoing a major crisis, is questionable to say the least. However the dam project may progress, Forest & Bird is determined to see the region's environmental standards maintained and improved.”

Labour's water spokesman David Parker said the Government needs to consider whether projects like Wairarapa are a waste of money, especially in the light of falling dairy prices.

“The Wairarapa projects have all the hallmarks of another white elephant. Four million dollars of ratepayers money has already been spent on the planned dams with little to show for it,” Mr Parker said.

Mr Parker said a crash in dairy prices highlighted concerns over economic viability of water schemes.

He claimed that “unwise subsidies of irrigation projects have pushed many farmers into bad investments”, and that farmers with high-cost systems are going broke.

“More intensive farming is also the main cause of our rivers getting dirtier,” Mr Parker said.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11605247
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« Reply #299 on: March 15, 2016, 11:44:27 pm »


I've got friends living near Kaituna where one of the proposed irrigation dam sites and the dam would be literally only 100 metres from their house. Although they are on the downstream side, their property is in the firing line to be compulsorily purchased under the Public Works Act if a dam is built there. They are pissed off!!
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