Activist plans fight
Activist Phil Taueki has said he will fight the continuing discharge of stormwater into Lake Horowhenua.
Taueki, a descendent of the Muau¯ poko chief Taueki, who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi on the iwi’s behalf, has spoken out against granting a consent allowing the Horowhenua District Council to continue the discharge.
The polluted lake is a significant site for Muau¯ poko people and used to be abundant with seafood. Taueki told Horowhenua councillors this week about his intentions to fight the consent, and said it was ‘‘culturally, totally unacceptable’’ to continue discharging stormwater there.
He likened it to treating the lake like the town’s toilet.
‘‘My ancestors fought to maintain that lake. It used to be the tribe’s supermarket. We would go to the lake and stream to get our kai. The existence of the lake is under threat.’’
Taueki has a fraught relationship with Horizons Regional Council, which decides whether to grant the consent, over the health of the lake. He told the councillors to stay away from the lake last year after giving a passionate submission to the council’s Long-term Plan hearings.
He is running for the Horowhenua ward spot on the regional council at this year’s local body elections.
District council chief executive David Clapperton said this was the first time the council had been required to get consent from Horizons to discharge stormwater into the lake, which it has done without needing a consent. It is aiming to have the consent granted by December.
The consent application has been put on hold while the district council gathers data about how the discharges affect the lake. It was too early to say how officials would mitigate the effects of the stormwater in the lake, Clapperton said.
The renewal of the consent to discharge Levin’s wastewater will also be up for debate later in the year. Levin’s wastewater is treated then discharged as irrigation to a property called The Pot, on Hokio Sand Rd. The Muau¯ poko Tribal Authority leases half the property and the council owns the other half.
Horizons has received 18 submissions about the wastewater consent, including from the Hokio A Trust, Muau¯ poko Tribal Authority and the Water and Environment Care Association.
The groups will speak at a hearing led by an Horizons-appointed commissioner starting on October 30. It was scheduled to start in August, but Clapperton said the district council had asked for more time so it could meet with submitters to resolve issues outside the hearings process.