Friday, March 29, 2024

ALTERNATIVE VIEW: The issue with water

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I spoke to Marlborough Federated Farmers recently, and I appreciated the opportunity to talk to grassroots farmers from another province. They were a great group to talk to. They were focused on the industry and passionate about farming.
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Interestingly, the issues facing farmers in Marlborough were similar to those in the Wairarapa.

Before I headed down I spoke to president Phillip Neal about the important issues in Marlborough. Unsurprisingly, he came up with water storage.

“We have the climate to grow anything but not the water,” he said.

That suited me as I passionately believe in water storage.

What surprised me was that there are no plans for water storage in Marlborough even though parts of the region are suffering drought. Here in the Wairarapa we’re working on it, albeit at a glacial pace, but we do have a plan. I was surprised Marlborough didn’t.

The issue with water is that it doesn’t just affect agriculture it affects everyone, and we desperately need a national plan and a level playing field for water storage.

Our biggest city, Auckland, has major water issues. The dams just aren’t big enough so they’re taking a lot of water from the Waikato. If farming wanted that water, there would be byflow and fish issues – but it seems it is okay for Jaffas to have it. I feel humbled that the good people up North prefer using water to drink and wash cars as against food production.

We’re trying to go green with renewable energy but in dry years our lakes are down and we burn coal. 

The Government has moved to reduce the use of coal because of its effect on the climate so they need to start leading by example. We let 97% of our water run out to sea, so having more dams is both logical and good for the climate.

Ridiculously, we’re burning 250,000 tonnes of coal a month at Huntly after carrying it from Tauranga. That makes burping cows’ contribution to climate change insignificant by comparison.

Climate change is a reality with the east coast of both islands predicted to become much drier. We can irrigate to mitigate the effects of climate change if we’re allowed to do so, otherwise our land becomes largely unproductive.

I find it iniquitous that on one hand the primary sector is being urged to do its bit to save the planet from the perils of climate change. On the other, there is a swag of the largely uninformed hell bent on stopping us mitigating the effects of that changing climate.

The opponents of water storage are incredibly well resourced and have the endearing quality that they never let facts get in the way of a good story. The opponents of the Ruataniwha Dam in Hawke’s Bay was an example of a well-resourced campaign running on emotion. I’d suggest that it would be difficult to find opponents of irrigation in Hawke’s Bay now.

For the record, I’d describe the arguments used by the opponents of irrigation as specious.

“Irrigation will mean more dirty dairying” is a classic anti-irrigation argument. While that could have been true in the past, it certainly isn’t going forward. The national dairy herd is declining and we have considerably more cropping options than we had in the past.

“Irrigation means more pollution of our waterways” is another. With cropping you analyse your soil, the needs of the crop and adjust accordingly. In that scenario pollution is less. There are considerable environmental benefits with irrigation.

Sediment runoff is another, which is ridiculous. I was in Hawke’s Bay in July and as a result of the drought, there wasn’t a blade of grass to be seen. It started to rain and there was certainly sediment runoff. With irrigation there would have been a cover crop and that runoff wouldn’t have happened.

So, what’s the answer?

Currently we have the Government promoting a three waters project. Why not broaden that to include water storage?

To provide long-term sustainable water supply, as is the case in Auckland and our future power needs, there will need to be considerably more dams. Why not make water storage a national issue and not one on the periphery that can be picked off by the misguided?

It is going to cost between $70-$90 billion to fix urban water woes. Adding water storage to that would involve minimal extra cost but have a massive impact on the country’s income and resilience to climate change.

I strongly believe that the agriculture sector needs to develop a single, national, rational, scientifically-based discussion. We know the arguments, let’s put them together in a single document. Farmers could lead that process.

Finally, I thoroughly appreciated the Marlborough Feds hospitality and witnessing their passion for the sector. They run a tight ship with some strong leaders.

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