Diggers and earthmovers are about to begin the footings of an earth dam to define Matawii reservoir, which will be filled by rainfall from streams and drains in the small catchment when the flow rate is above median.
Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust (TTTWT) is building the dam to retain 750,000 cubic metres of water when full on 18ha of former dairy farm off State Highway 12 near Ngāwhā Springs, in the region locals call the Mid-North.
It will then build the infrastructure to distribute the water to private and corporate users in the district, including augmenting the Kaikohe town water supply.
The reservoir will be the foundation for a much larger scheme of multiple, interconnected reservoirs.
Matawii was the first project in the country to be consented under fast-track central government legislation for covid-19 recovery.
It is expected to fill during winter next year and begin reticulation and delivery the following summer, 2022-23.
Another water storage and supply scheme is about to break ground in the Kaipara region, to form the Redhill reservoir, between Te Kōpuru and Dargaville, on the Pouto Peninsula.
The first stage could be operational within three to four months, the trust says.
Project number three is called Otawere reservoir at Waimate North, adjacent to and northwards of Matawii, storing water from the Waihorotiu Stream.
It is designed to be five times the water volume of Matawii.
When fully developed, the TTTWT schemes in the Mid-North and Kaipara regions will have the infrastructure and the water to develop approximately 7000ha of horticulture.
The potential overall impacts have been calculated at 800 jobs and $400 million of annual regional output, pumping new life into economically challenged districts.
Among the big water users are expected to be Northland iwi and their agencies, providing opportunities for Māori investment, development and employment.
The trust has received inquiries from landowners about potential crops such as avocados and kiwifruit, different citrus varieties, soft berries, vegetables, indigenous foods and what are called future foods, like peanuts, bananas and pineapples.
With more than a degree Celsius of warming predicted by 2040 and three degrees by 2090, Northland farmers will grow more sub-tropical crops, using reticulated water instead of spasmodic rainfall.
TTTWT, under the chairmanship of Dargaville-born former Cabinet minister Murray McCully, has appointed two rural specialists to facilitate the inquiries from landowners.
They are John Proctor in the Mid-North and Ben Craw in the Kaipara, both from rural banking and farming backgrounds.
Proctor says the schemes were the best opportunity for economic growth in the Northland regions for a generation, at least since the Kerikeri and Maungatapere irrigation schemes were built by the old Ministry of Works in the 1980s.
“We have the opportunity, the climate, the soils and the tangata whenua – just add water,” Proctor said.
The trust is forming two new scheme water companies, one for the Mid-North and the other for the Kaipara district, in which landowners will buy shares for their access to stored water.
Indications are at present that Mid-North shares will be $30,000 each and Kaipara $25,000, for access to 3000m3 annually at a daily volume of 30m3.
There will also be annual fixed costs and some variable costs based on seasonal use.
Ownership and management of those companies will devolve to the shareholders as the trust repays the $60m loan received from the Provincial Growth Fund and winds itself up.
The costs of further stages of storage and reticulation development will be funded by successful implementation of stage one.
“The areas were chosen because of their great potential for land development once a reliable source of water is established,” Proctor said.
“That water will bring economic gain to both regions, which in turn will provide employment opportunities that just don’t exist right now.”
For example, an economic study in 2016 showed the Kerikeri irrigation scheme contributes more than $100m a year to the GDP of the region and supports the employment of more than 1300 people.
Proctor is also working with landowners who lack experience in horticultural development, putting them in touch with partners who do.
Shares will be allocated to specific land parcels and will not be transferrable or able to be accumulated.
Water allocation will not be tied to farm or horticultural unit size because water needs of different crops are variable.
The share price is just the start of development costs, which in the case of gold kiwifruit may be $1m/ha or more in Zespri licence and canopy building.
The huge upfront costs can be a barrier to development.
“We are liaising with landowners on types of corporate structure and we have interest from larger-scale horticultural developers,” he said.
“For local iwi and multiple owners, their capital inputs may be structured differently or delayed with the help of government entities.”
For example, Pamu farms land within the boundaries of the third-stage Mangatoa scheme, west of Kaikohe, presently land-banked for future Treaty of Waitangi settlements.
Land values around Kaikohe are beginning to move as farms with a variety of soil types, slopes and locations could be sites for high-value crops.
Horticulture has returns on investment in a range of 8-20%, compared with dairying and drystock farming below 7%.
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Next week: New horticultural ventures take shape
