Water woes
The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has canned the dam but we still have water problems that need fixing.
Last month the regional council sold the scheme assets to a group of CHB residents. The group has formed a company called Water Holdings CHB Ltd which will start the process by consulting with all interested parties and planning a way forward.
Their aim is to find ways of using those assets to help plan an integrated approach to water management in CHB. The hoped for result will be major social economic and environmental benefits for the whole CHB community.
Water Holdings CHB is already talking with a number of groups and the company will keep everyone informed of progress at regular intervals. The company needs to revisit irrigators, consent holders and interested parties.
It is already talking to possible funders with a preference for local investors. Funding is available from local, regional and national sources and there will be opportunities for the citizens of CHB to invest in the new schemes. Community support will be vital if the company is to succeed.
If the revamped project looks like a goer, the company is emphatic that it will be controlled by the CHB community and its representatives.
CHB needs reliable and secure water for town and country. That requires, amongst other things, winter water storage. A dam, or dams, is a priority and the first step will be to look at smaller dam on the original Makaroro site.
The DoC land would be above the lake and not be needed. This will help solve the problems of low summer low-flows, instream depletion and aquifer recharge. It will maintain year-round water security to town supplies, bore users and irrigators. A dam, or dams, is one of the answers to the question of how we make our abundant water supplies work for all of us through all seasons, for all time. Water Holdings CHB has been formed to help answer those questions and formulate options, remembering that this is not about us. It is about our children and generations as yet unborn.