Wise Water Use HB claims plans for a 27 Mm3 dam on a tributary of the Ngāruroro River are another nail in the coffin for the Ruataniwha Dam v.2.

“The promoters of Ruataniwha v.2 know that its predecessor never achieved the volume of sign-up to make the dam financially viable, and so are now claiming it will deliver water into the Heretaunga catchment to make up volume; although, have yet to present a technical plan showing how they would achieve this,” said Wise Water Use HB spokesperson Dr Trevor Le Lievre.

Sign-up for Ruataniwha dam v.1 only reached 43 Mm3 water sold to 196 farms (from a pool of 450) despite an intensive 2-year marketing campaign, less than half the dam’s 100 Mm3 stored water capacity and not enough to generate an adequate return on investment.

“This new prospect for water delivery into the Heretaunga catchment means that Ruataniwha v.2 can’t compete for supply, and will never meet the sales volume threshold needed to underwrite a project that with inflation will cost over $1 billion dollars,” said Le Lievre, adding: “the dam promoters should take a reality check, this project (Ruatanihwa v.2) is now completely unworkable.”

Wise Water Use HB reserves comment on the merits of the proposed Whanawhana dam until more details are released; however, see it as the lesser of two evils if a dam is to be built in Hawkes Bay.

“Wise Water Use HB does not endorse any large-scale dam that will disrupt a river’s ecosystem without first running the test as to whether our precious water resource is being used in the most environmentally sustainable and economically efficient way,” said Le Lievre, asking: “has the Regional Council dedicated resources to investigating how we’re currently using our water in the Heretaunga catchment?”.

Wise Water Use HB is highlighting the differences between the Whanawhana dam proposal and Ruataniwha v.2.

“Certainly the Whanawhana proposal appears to be a very different prospect to Ruataniwha v.2.

“It does not require pillaging our conservation estate for the required land, and would be built on a tributary rather than on a main river stem, as with Ruatanihwa v.2.

“At 27 Mm3 this dam is much smaller, almost a quarter of the size of the 103 Mm3 Ruataniwha v.2 dam and so will have less environmental impact, plus moves away from the high risk strategy of placing all our water supply eggs in one basket.

“Nor does the Whanawhana proposal appear to be promoting land use intensification, but will rather keep the Heretaunga catchment productive in the face of the justifiable water restrictions that will come into force under the TANK management plan,” said Le Lievre.

Wise Water Use HB is critical that the new governance entity does not include representation from any environmental group.

“A glaring omission from the proposed governance entity is the inclusion of any environmental groups. Wise Water Use reminds the Regional Council of their vision statement, “A healthy environment, and a resilient and prosperous community”, which places the environment ahead of development needs.

“Our supporters subscribe to the principle of Te mana o te Wai ahead of security of supply, and look forward to the inclusion of a strong environmental voice on the governance entity as investigation of this proposal advances,” finished Le Lievre.

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