Friday, March 29, 2024

ALTERNATIVE VIEW: Water issues bring people together

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Every now and then an event happens that restores my faith in human nature. It is happening in Wairarapa on the subject of water storage.
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God knows, we need it but in the past it seems that we had an army of antis. Now it appears most, certainly the important people, are very much prepared to discuss the issue in a calm and unemotive manner. It is good to see.

In Wairarapa we have three MPs. National’s Alastair Scott is the electorate MP, Ron Mark is a NZ First list MP based in Carterton and Kieran McAnulty is a Labour list MP based in Masterton.

They all support water storage as do the area’s mayors, local iwi and farming and business leaders.

Everyone seems willing to consider the project. 

That’s a rare occurrence in New Zealand today and a credit to the broader Wairarapa community and it’s leadership.

The initiative comes after retired cabinet minister Steve Maharey developed a Wairarapa Growth Strategy. It is a document I totally support.

At the launch Maharey said the area’s economy is based on agriculture but there is enormous interest in adding value to the agricultural commodities and exporting to the world.

Water storage is a major feature of that.

From a farming perspective the use of that water is not for dairying but crops. There is a push to develop new cropping options but that won’t happen without water.

In addition, local industries need a solid, reliable water supply.

Timber company Juken Nisho contributes $300 million to the local economy and directly employs 200 people. It needs 300,000 to 350,000 litres of water a day to operate.

NZ’s largest ham and bacon supplier needs 51,000 cubic metres daily. It directly employs almost 300.

If companies can’t get regular, reliable and cost-effective water they will inevitably move elsewhere, taking their jobs with them.

Wairarapa is additionally fortunate in having Dame Margaret Bazley as Growth Strategy chairwoman. She is committed to the area and legendary in her ability to get things done.

Her aim is to improve the standard of living and keep our young people here.

So far the water initiative has been largely funded by local and regional government. A fortnight ago we received a huge boost with the announcement by Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau of a $7.1m investment from the Provincial Growth Fund.

Announcing the investment Tabuteau said the money is designed to unlock environmentally sustainable economic growth opportunities in Wairarapa.

How can you argue with that?

The money will go to the pre-construction development of the storage infrastructure as well as the development of a water resilience strategy. 

It is a massive boost for the region.

As they say, there is a lot of water to go under the bridge before the scheme is up and running but its completion is vital for Wairarapa’s future wellbeing.

After all, the proposed scheme ticks all the boxes.

Climate change is making the province a lot drier. Not trying to mitigate that would be criminal negligence.

There are domestic water restrictions across the area. Having a storage facility would prevent that.

The Wairarapa Water Resilience Committee is also chaired by Bazley. She is passionate about having a resilient province.

“We’ll get there and to get there we’ll have to work together. It’s about everyone pulling together to get a strategy which should have been done years ago,” she said.

Local Feds president William Beetham is also on the Water Resilience Group. 

“It’s crucial to the future of our communities that we have water resilience. It shows there is a much better alignment between the urban and rural communities than people give us credit for.” he said. 

While Wairarapa is getting on top of its climate change issues it seems other parts of the country aren’t so lucky.

Hawke’s Bay has a major problem with river flows. You probably won’t see many opponents of the condemned Ruataniwha Dam today.

Tasman has a major issue and remember the shrill opposition to the Waimea storage scheme.

Northland is in crisis.

Auckland has major issues with water. The council is pleading with people to limit showers, among other things.

That will surely create more of a stink than normal in the Queen’s City.

Maybe they could move to Wairarapa, the intelligent ones anyway.

I said the community has supported the Wairarapa growth strategy and the water storage investigation.

As with all things there is always one.

Local Fish and Game supremo Phil Teal told us the water strategy provides a short-sighted focus on economic issues.

So, F&G will ignore the prosperity of the entire province so someone can kill a fish.

Rocks are made for crawling under.

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