City clinches deal for more river water

Goff confirms 25m litres day to come from Waikato plus 50m via unused consent

Auckland has secured access to more water from the Waikato River in a bid to ease the region’s drought crisis.

An agreement in principle was reached yesterday at an urgent meeting in Hamilton, attended by Environment Minister David Parker and Waikato and Auckland authorities.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff last night said he was working to secure an extra 50 million litres a day for the city before next winter.

“We’ve got support from all of the parties for the 25 million litres a day that we will take over from the Hamilton allocation,” he said.

“We’re taking 15 million of that already under emergency powers and we’ll take another 10 million litres a day when our water treatment plant is upgraded to cope with that.

“We’ll look at another 50 million litres a day before winter next year, when we’ve done further upgrading on the water treatment plant. That means a big investment of money . . . in excess of $100 million.”

The extra 50 million litres would be hopefully accessed through a consent already allocated to another party which hadn’t used it, he said.

Goff said all other parties involved would agree to the consent transfer.

“We’re also looking to get another 100 million litres a day if we need it during the winter months,” Goff said.

Were that to happen, water for Auckland would be drawn during the winter in order to replenish the region’s storage lakes in the Waita¯kere and Hu¯nua ranges, he said.

In return, a trust would be set up through Watercare to ensure the ongoing health of the river, Goff announced. “If we’re taking a lot more water from the river, we want to put something back . . . in terms of improving its water quality,” he said.

“It helps the Waikato and it helps us, too, because the quality of the Waikato river is pretty bad.”

Several million dollars had been earmarked for the trust, though the final amount would be negotiated, he said.

All five parties had entered yesterday’s meeting with differing views, but all agreed on two things, Goff said: the need to protect the health of the Waikato River and the health of the people living in the Waikato and Ta¯maki Makaurau.