Fight for the Waiau River
Will the Waiau River survive for future generations? Damian Rowe reports.
Taking on a large power company and the Government is a large task for a small community group tucked way in the south-west end of the country and it may not have a happy ending just yet.
It’s the fight of a small rivercare group taking on the Government but it may now be all over for a group of Southland residents who want to save the Waiau River.
Western Southland resident Glenys Steele, who lives near the river, remembers it from 40 to 50 years ago before the Manapouri Hydro Scheme was commissioned in 1969.
‘‘It was fierce. If you threw a stick, I wouldn’t be able to follow it. It was gone that fast, what it once was to what it is now is a trickle.’’
The group believes the Manapouri Hydro Scheme, which takes water from the river, should not be excluded from the guidelines in the draft national policy statement for fresh water management.
The group has already lodged extensive submissions on the draft policy and is trying to raise public awareness about the state of the river caused by low water flow and have also petitioned the Government.
They also want 3 per cent of the river’s original flow returned to the Waiau instead of being dumped in Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound, as part of the hydro scheme.
Increasing the minimum flow of the Waiau from 12-16 cubic metres per second to 35 cubic metres per second would significantly improve the health of the river, helping to prevent toxic algae blooms that made the river unswimmable, Marshall said.
They see this is vital for the long-term sustainability of the river and its eco-system.
But Environment minister David Parker, yesterday, said that the exception for the Manapouri Hydro Scheme under the policy would remain.
‘‘The new National Policy for Freshwater Management will require Environment Southland to set targets for ecosystem health attributes that maintain or improve the Waiau River in consultation with its communities.’’
‘‘The different treatment is to ensure New Zealand does not jeopardise its ability to produce hydroelectricity.’’
‘‘This policy attempts to provide a pragmatic balance between meeting our climate change obligations, securing electricity supply and improving freshwater quality,’’ Parker said.
If Environment Southland choose to maintain water quality below the national standard, it would still have to improve the water quality to the extent possible without affecting electricity generation, Parker said.
Waiau Rivercare Group co-chair Paul Marshall was disheartened by Parker’s response.
‘‘It does not sit well that the legacy of David Parker would be on the destruction of the lower Waiau River.’’
By not being included in the draft freshwater policy it means the hydro scheme is exempt from national water limit restrictions, and Environment Southland will be able to set water limits below national regulations.
Meridian Energy generation and natural resources general manager Guy Waipara said a planning process was under way which would set flow and allocation limits for the catchment.
The process allowed for public participation and independent assessment for all evidence, Waipara said.
The current minimum flow was agreed in resource consents with stakeholders and Environment Southland in 1996 and reconsidered in 2010, Waipara said.
The mean flow for the river including floods and flushes was 70 cubic metres per second, he said.
Environment Southland acting chief executive Vin Smith said it retained the jurisdiction to enforce minimum flows on the Waiau regardless if the Manapouri Power Scheme was exempt or not.
The minimum flows would be set through the People, Water and Land work programme with regional forum assistance, Smith said.
The plan change would be set no later than December 2023, but he understood the Government might extend the notification date to December 2024.
Responding to concerns the group had raised about toxic algae on the river, Smith said toxic algae could arise from stable low flows in waterways, so it is possible that low minimum flows were a contributing factor to algae blooms in the Waiau River.
Members of the rivercare group met at the Clifden suspension bridge, 13km north of Tuatapere, this week, where they say that the river level changes can clearly be seen.
They estimate that 95 per cent of the river’s original water no longer flows beneath the bridge.
Group member Claire Jordan said the group was fighting against groups that had more resources than them.
‘‘We’re up against people who do it for a job, and who are walking the corridors of power up in Wellington, and we are at the bottom corner of New Zealand where people are easy to forget.’’
Marshall said the hydro scheme’s exception would strip away the last protection for the river and it was also a cop out by Parker to pass the responsibility on to Environment Southland.
One of the most moving experiences Marshall had was standing by the side of the tailrace at Deep Cove and watching water taken from once what was known as the Mighty Waiau River just being dumped.
Another member Christina Vaughan said the water that was pouring into Deep Cove was the life of the Waiau River.
‘‘That’s our whakapapa flowing out into that cove.’’
Steele questioned why her community had to suffer for the perceived good of the country’s electricity supply.
‘‘It’s just wrong that it is allowed to be sacrificed for the good of the country we just need a little back we are not asking for much.’’
‘‘It’s just wrong that it is allowed to be sacrificed for the good of the country we just need a little back we are not asking for much.’’ Glenys Steele Western Southland resident