Fears water allocation will affect Springs
A campaigner fears irrigation consents could be rushed through before an order to protect one of the country’s clearest freshwater springs is complete.
The process to protect the aquifer that feeds Te Waikoropupu¯ Springs in Golden Bay with a Water Conservation Order (WCO) is underway.
However, a campaigner for Save Our Springs Kevin Moran said he was worried the Tasman District Council (TDC) could grant water consents to dairy farmers before the order was complete.
The TDC has said that Moran’s claims are unfounded and it had received only one consent application, which had been placed on hold.
Te Waikoropupu¯ Springs in Golden Bay are the largest freshwater springs in New Zealand and contain some of the clearest water measured anywhere in the world.
WCOs are put in place by the Government to protect a water body’s outstanding natural qualities.
However, a WCO can only protect what is already there from the date of its commencement, and cannot affect existing resource consents.
Campaigners say if there is more irrigation granted in the Takaka catchment, the increased dairy farm runoff may harm the aquifer that feeds the springs.
This could irreversibly damage the organisms responsible for the springs’ startling clarity.
While WCOs have historically been granted for rivers, this is the first application for an aquifer.
A special tribunal who will decide the outcome is beginning in April. Public submissions are now open, and the deadline has been extended to March 14.
The WCO process is expected to take at least several years to complete.
Meanwhile, the council’s new Freshwater Management Plan will be formally adopted this year and campaigners are concerned it will be a race between the two processes.
Moran said any granting of water consents in the meantime would look like a ‘‘pre-emptive resource grab’’..
The ‘‘logical and fair path’’ would be for the conservation order to be completed before additional water rights were granted.
‘‘This would give dairy interests, environmental interests, and expert witnesses the opportunity to present evidence. Once all the evidence is heard and a WCO granted, water rights could be considered in the light of the WCO.’’
Save Our Springs has an online petition with nearly 13,000 signatures, calling for the council to place a moratorium on the granting of further water rights in the recharge area of the aquifer.
Nelson iwi Nga¯ti Tama Ki Te Waipounamu Trust is a coapplicant for the conservation order with Golden Bay resident Andrew Yuill.
Iwi elder John Ward-Holmes said it had ‘‘serious concerns’’ about current water allocation and the E coli levels in the springs reserve.
‘‘We do not wish to see any more consents granted on top of that, particularly when you factor in over the next two-three years, many existing resources come up for renewal.’’
However, he trusted there would be no new consents granted that could undermine the intention of the WCO, and acknowledged many council staff on the ground were ‘‘trying very hard’’ to find a way through water issues.
TDC spokesman Chris Choat said Moran’s claims that council was rushing to grant water consents were unfounded.
There was ‘‘no evidence whatsoever’’ that council had received any such applications.
There were 11 people on the informal waiting list for water in the area that potentially affected Te Waikoropupu.
However, it had only received one application for water, which had been voluntarily placed on hold by the applicant until the freshwater management plan change was complete.
Legally, consents for water rights could be applied for through the council, and it had no power to stop that.
Council also had ‘‘no legal power’’ to pause the processing of consents until the WCO had been decided.
If council were to seek a pause, this would need to be done through a plan change.
‘‘In effect, there is already a voluntary [pause] by those on the informal waiting list as they have elected either not to apply for consent, or to put processing on hold,’’ he said.
If a consent was applied for, it would likely involve a lengthy process, which would lengthen the timeframe considerably.
‘‘Both the plan change and WCO processes include public notification, submissions, hearings, decisions and rights of appeal to the Environment Court,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot will depend on the rela- tive speed of both processes and what appeals occur.’’
The 11 community members of TDCs Freshwater Land Advisory Group (FLAG) are currently working to complete the plan change.
Last year, controversy erupted as campaigners did not agree on some of its recommendations in its draft plan to council.
There was also a divergence in scientific opinion between TDC’s Cawthron scientists, and those from NIWA employed by the of the WCO applicants, about cease takes and safe river flow levels.
FLAG co-ordinator Lisa McGlinchey said the group was recommending to council in its final draft plan change that it should use government provisions to provide ‘‘outstanding status’’ to Te Waikoropupu¯ and its values.
‘‘This functions in much the same way that WCO status does,’’ she said.
The special tribunal assessing the WCO application needed to consider both the needs of primary and secondary industry, and the needs of the community in its inquiry.
McGlinchey said the FLAG work reflected the purpose of the RMA to promote sustainable management.
She said there were currently no allocation limits in the plan for Takaka, or provisions for things like cease take at low flows. There were also no provisions for land use management to protect or improve water quality.
‘‘The work FLAG are doing is seeking to introduce these kinds of provisions,’’ she said. The process was likely to take until mid-2018 before the freshwater plan change was notified and took legal effect.