Farms use same water as 60m people

Dairy farms in New Zealand use water equivalent to the combined populations of London, New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro, experts say.

Almost all of it is used by about 2000 farms, as the vast majority are not irrigated.

It comes as farmers protested in Morrinsville yesterday against a perceived targeting of rural communities ahead of the election.

Agricultural economist Peter Fraser and farm consultant Dr Alison Dewes said claims of farmers being burdened with huge costs from a water tax were overblown.

Finance Minister Steven Joyce has claimed some farms would pay $50,000 to $100,000 for a water tax. Prime Minister Bill English has cited the $50,000 figure.

Fraser and Dewes, using Dairy NZ figures, said there were 12,000 dairy herds in New Zealand consuming 4.8 billion cubic metres of water.

An average person – based on figures from Wellington, although water use varies nationwide – uses about 80 cubic metres of water, meaning dairy farms alone use the equivalent of about 58.2 million people.

Almost all of the water is used by about 2000 farms, primarily in drier areas such as Canterbury and Otago.

‘‘We’ve had this huge gold rush to go and convert dry areas to these hugely water-intensive uses,’’ Fraser said. ‘‘There’s an issue here with how we’ve gone and used our land. Why have we gone and put these incredibly waterhungry uses such as dairy farming in such water-scarce areas? It’s because the water’s free.’’

The average cost of a water tax on an irrigated dairy farm would be between $10,000 and $15,000, his analysis with Dewes found.

This echoed an analysis by Radio New Zealand and Auckland University’s Public Policy Institute, which determined the cost to an average irrigated dairy farm would be $13,800.

Dairy NZ has disputed that figure. Fraser said some ‘‘mega-farms’’ would pay up to $50,000, but it would mean they were each using water equivalent to 31,000 people, twice the population of Morrinsville.