Springs order ‘would stifle development’

Special protection for Golden Bay’s Te Waikoropupu¯ Springs could stifle the Takaka dairy industry and hurt small family farms, a tribunal has heard.

Submissions against the granting of a Water Conservation Order for the springs were made at a special tribunal hearing in Takaka this week.

Hamama dairy farmers Cherrie and Robert Chubb said they stood to be disproportionately disadvantaged by a conservation order due to their farm’s location, size and reliance on irrigation.

They said future challenges like climate change and flood mitigation had been overlooked by the applicants, iwi Nga¯ti Tama and Andrew Yuill.

The Chubbs said they were concerned about a misconception among submitters that sinkholes were directly connected to the aquifer and that the groundwater levels were close to the surface. On their farm, they had observed otherwise.

The draft order threw doubt over the continuation of pre-existing activities like fertilisers, herbicides and the discharge of effluent, and there was uncertainty around securing a new water consent for their farm, they said.

The Chubbs objected to the suggestion that a large number of submitters in support of the order were representative of the community.

Huge volumes of submissions were a direct result of ‘‘canvassing’’ by environmental activist groups, they said. Many did not understand the implications on primary and secondary industries, which, like iwi, had a deep, personal and historic connection to the land and the Golden Bay community, and deserved the right to be fully considered.

Rose and Philip Windle said they were concerned that the order could stifle employment and development in Golden Bay, and the applicants were not thinking about future generations.

The Windles said Golden Bay had a housing crisis, and an order could hinder their ability to supply water to their planned 25-lot Takaka subdivision development from a bore on their neighbouring property.

Dairying had not intensified in the valley, they said, with over 3000 cows going out of dairying in the last 10 to 15 years.

Irrigation had not increased the average stocking rate, but rather it had been used to grow grass on farms more efficiently and sustainably, so farmers didn’t need to import feed.

The Windles said ‘‘public hysteria’’ had been created by the applicants, who painted a negative picture of farmers while having very little knowledge of actual farm management.

Dairying had changed over many generations, they said. Farms today followed strict scientific means, and irrigation consents were tightly controlled.

Stephen and Daphne Woods, also of Hamama, said Golden Bay had the clearest waters nationally, and this was because of farmers over 150 years. They opposed the order because the springs were ‘‘already being protected’’ by modern farming practices.

But not all Takaka farmers are opposing the order. Many are in support but want to see changes made to the proposal.

Federated Farmers said the order should be placed just over the springs, but not the aquifer and the Takaka and Waingaro rivers.

Golden Bay president Wayne Langford said too little was known about the aquifer and how the hydrology of the waterways worked; therefore, there was uncertainty about what might degrade it.

The draft order created uncertainty about farmers being able to apply anything on the land, he said. A sustainable community was just as important as protecting the springs.

In their personal submission, farmers Wayne and Tyler Langford said they supported the order. But they added that there had been a disappointing lack of consultation done by the applicants with the primary and secondary industries, and this had caused a divide in the community.