Friday, March 29, 2024

Water schemes gather momentum

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Water Wairarapa has welcomed funding from district councils to investigation specific community areas of interest in the region’s proposed water scheme.
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With an interest in how the scheme could provide wider community benefits, Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa councils have fronted with a total of $35,000.

The money would be used to investigate the scheme’s social impacts and the benefits of community infrastructure, including supplementing flows in the Waipoua River and Henley Lake.

It would also help identify opportunities, risks and options stemming from possible local government financial support for the scheme, project director Michael Basset-Foss said.

“This is a significant way of councils getting on board and showing their support for what will be a game-changer for the region.”

Michael Bassett-Foss

Water Wairarapa

“This is a significant way of councils getting on board and showing their support for what will be a game-changer for the region,” he said.

Wairarapa’s district councils also provided valuable input through Water Wairarapa’s governance, leadership and stakeholder advisory groups.

Irrigated land use options had been case-studied to identify opportunities that could be provided by water and what they could mean for farmers.

Using three Wairarapa dryland farms, industry experts tested eight different scenarios under irrigation for financial viability, environmental impacts and the management and lifestyle implications of converting to the irrigated land use.

Sheep milking, dairy farming, apple orcharding, livestock finishing and a mixed use of livestock, specialist seeds and cropping were chosen for the study given they were already successfully established in Wairarapa.

Many other possibilities existed, Bassett-Foss said.

“The studies are just a useful starting point for farmers to consider whether irrigation could work for them.”

Recent geotechnical investigations into the two proposed dam sites at Black Creek and Tividale found both locations were suitable for further assessment of viability.

The drilling programme had provided valuable information into the geological make-up of the sites and assessments of the materials extracted found both sites were viable to be taken to the next stage of investigation.

Work was underway to model various scenarios to test how different factors would affect the financial viability of the proposed scheme.

Factors to be considered included farmer and community demand for water, rates of uptake, cost ranges and investor mix opportunities such as farmers, councils, government, private and bank.

“The scenario modelling will help us understand appropriate scheme ownership structures and potential price ranges for water,” Bassett-Foss said.

Meanwhile, farmers have applauded the green light given by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s confirmation of investment in the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme.

HBRC has approved its $80 million investment with a 7-2 vote, agreeing all four of the conditions required for investment had been met.

The investment followed more than 190 Signed Water User Agreements in support of the scheme.

Federated Farmers Hawke’s Bay provincial president Will Foley said the Ruataniwha Plains were highly vulnerable to drought and the dam would ensure a reliable water source to preserve the family farming traditions in the area.

“This decision is a positive step towards the region receiving true tangible benefits while maintaining the community’s environmental values.”

Farmers had signed 35-year contracts for the scheme and would make adjustments from traditional dryland farming to irrigated farming.

“It’s been a long time in the making but there’s a real sense of excitement around how positive this is for the region,” Foley said.

In the south the proposed $200 million Hunter Downs Irrigation Scheme in Canterbury has had a change in ownership and restructured its company as it reached its closest point in 15 years to having an economically and technically viable irrigation scheme.

Meridian Energy, which held a 50% stake in the Hunter Downs Development Company had transferred its shares to Hunter Downs Irrigation, extracting itself from the project.

Meridian’s main contribution to the Hunter Downs scheme was in obtaining the water consent, a key asset and significant to the future viability of Hunter Downs Irrigation.

The scheme had reached the stage where it was time for those who stood to benefit most from the project to progress it further, former Irrigation chairman Andrew Fraser said.

In line with new ownership the two Hunter Downs firms had merged to form Hunter Downs Water as a way of entering the new phase of the project, which was planning for construction.

“While the current, short-term economic outlook presents a challenging environment for farmers we have no doubt that this irrigation project remains the most viable for the region,” Fraser said.

The consent to take 17.5 cumecs of Waitaki River water had been extended until November 2021 and would remain jointly owned by Hunter Downs Irrigation Scheme Trust and Meridian.

The scheme was now in the design stage and innovative elements had been included to lower the cost of the project with the gravity-fed main race delivery, storage ponds and a piped system likely to save millions of dollars.

While the scheme costs were tracking under $10,000 a hectare for 21,000ha of uptake, significant reductions were expected on both scheme costs and annual charges for uptake beyond that.

Final costing were expected to be ready for shareholders by September.

The scheme could irrigate up to 40,000ha from the Waitaki River to as far north as Timaru.

It would provide opportunities for land use diversification, including horticulture, sheep, beef and dairy farming.

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