Applications for groundwater for irrigating huge avocado plantings in the Far North have been granted by independent commissioners but are likely to face immediate appeal.
The 22 members of the Aupōuri Aquifer Water Users Group (Aawug) applied for 4.6 million cubic metres annually at an abstraction rate of 43,168 m3 a day.
Consents were given for 4.5m m3, for an initial period of 12 years, after which all existing and new groundwater takes in the region will be reviewed using monitoring data.
The Aupōuri aquifer is the largest in the country, about 50km by 10km, from Ahipara in the south to beyond Houhora in the north, and coast to coast under the Aupōuri peninsula.
Applications for water were lodged before 2019 and orchard development and plantings have already taken place over 500ha and more.
The amount of water sought would be enough to irrigate about 1000ha of avocado trees.
Among the applicants are three local hapu that have either started orchard development or intend to use water for other crops.
Avocados have been the main horticultural crop for the Far North since the first orchards around Houhora in the 1980s.
The region now accounts for 20% of the industry in New Zealand, before the new plantings come into production.
An early developer was King Avocado, covering 160ha and containing 100,000 trees, and among the latest applicants for more water.
Another wave of very large plantings resulted in the Motutangi-Waiharara Users Group of 17 applicants in 2017 gaining rights for 2m m3 a year that could be progressively drawn down subject to water level monitoring in bores.
The latest Aawug applications were opposed by about 90% of submissions, including some of the existing growers concerned about their own bore consents.
Hydrological experts gave evidence that the water sought from the huge aquifer would be less than 2% of the annual recharge from rainfall.
It was only 0.16% of the estimated 2850m m3 of groundwater stored in the aquifer.
The commissioners acknowledged the objections on the grounds of long-term effects, water levels in existing bores, threats to wetlands, subsidence, and possible saltwater intrusion.
But they said the amount of water sought was relatively small in comparison to the total throughput of the aquifer.
Opponents to the applications have called on the Department of Conservation to appeal to the Environment Court, as it did to the 2017 group.
Industry statistics show productive Far North orchards have already increased by 60% in total area from the 2019-20 season to the 2020-21 season, 548ha up to 866ha.
These are the first of huge plantings in recent times to come into fruit.
The considerable increase in early-season fruit from the Far North will be produced for export markets that we don’t yet have, said one exporter.
Speculative planting should have considered that seasonality before barrelling ahead.
