South from Dargaville by 15km, on a no-exit road down the Pouto peninsula, Te Kopuru will be transformed by horticulture and new jobs for its inhabitants.
The trust has gained consent and started construction on a 270,000 cubic metre stage-one reservoir named Redhill near Glinks Gully, on the Tasman coast side of the peninsula.
This initial reservoir would be expanded to a much larger 3.2 million m3 capacity in future and the trust is presently working on gaining the required consents for this work.
After some excavation and the building of an embankment, the reservoir would be lined and then filled over several winters with pumped water.
This would be drawn from the lower reaches of streams and drains in the low country to the north and south of Te Kopuru, harvesting above-medium flows before they flow into the Wairoa River and the Kaipara Harbour.
This would be enough to support 1000ha of horticulture on the northern part of the large peninsula.
The trust says prospective orchardists want to establish on land next to Redhill reservoir potentially as early as September, but the details are commercially sensitive.
When ownership and control is devolved from the trust to a local water company, water use shares would be $25,000 each, entitling the property to 3000m3 annually at a delivery rate of 30m3 a day.
Shares will be allocated to specific land parcels and will not be transferrable or able to be accumulated.
Users will also have to pay annual fixed costs and some variable costs depending on use. They will be shareholders in the scheme, paying for access to water and its delivery, not buying water.
All water will be harvested from runoff into above-median flows in local streams, not drawn from underground aquifers.
Watertake consents from the lower reaches of creeks and drains have been issued by the Northland Regional Council.
When fully completed the scheme would have the capacity to irrigate 4000ha, promising more than $200 million of annual regional output.
For both the Kaipara and the Mid-North schemes, consents are for 35 years to give certainty to the proposed water companies and their shareholders.
Development of the Redhill reservoir is running alongside the Kaipara Kai programme to utilise location, soils, mild winter temperatures and water for new crops.
Already a fertile location for kumara growing, the Pouto soils could be used for peanuts, soybeans, sorghum, hemp and tree crops like avocados and kiwifruit.
“Water security is the key for economic development in horticulture in new areas of Northland,” the trust’s relationship manager for Kaipara Ben Craw said.
“The schemes we are developing are the best opportunity for economic growth these areas have seen in generations. It’s an exciting prospect.
