The deal for the dam did nothing to fix the broken pumps on farms reliant on the river water. The forestry management in the hills behind the dam plus the failure of the dam itself are not fixed by a regional park for Wairoa.
Further south, the Havelock North Inquiry is still examining the causes of the disastrous water contamination issue. The likely source has been identified as sheep in the paddocks near the bores in Brookfield Rd.
This issue has faded from the news agenda outside of Hawke's Bay, even though people and their livelihoods are still suffering. Whatever the final outcome of the Inquiry, issues have been raised about how well water was being monitored, and again where was the regional and local leadership to protect water quality?
I find it unbelievable that when families could not trust the water coming from their own taps, they had to depend on bottled water, which, in all likelihood, came from aquifers very much like the one supplying their town with water.
Companies can tap and bottle water from aquifers for the measly price of a resource consent, but not pay for the precious resource they flog off to their own communities and overseas.
We need leadership from our local authorities to ensure that the water quality and quantity in these aquifers are protected from abuse and pollution so that we can all trust the water we drink, and aren't faced with restrictions
And meanwhile, when all this is going on, there is the threat that the Ruataniwha dam poses to water quality.
The Tukituki, already polluted with nitrates from intensive agriculture, will be pushed beyond its limits if this debacle of a water storage scheme goes ahead.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council cannot play regulator and promoter of a dam that will have such dire consequences for water quality in the region. Again, leadership from local authorities that protects our environment from harm is severely lacking
They should look to the example demonstrated by Ngāti Kahungunu who took the Regional Council to court in order to protect the sustainability of the Heretaunga aquifer.
They won the case but it cost many thousands of dollars that they could have spent on sustaining whanau and hapū if they had not had to teach the Regional Council their responsibility to protect underground water.
The connection between underground water and the rivers is poorly understood by the public but suffice to say we must protect all water sources if we want to keep our health.
The issue of water leadership was central to the local government elections last year and the mood was clear, the advocates for water protection beat the water irrigation lobby.
This political change will hopefully bring some long term vision for water into regional government. The droughts in the Bay need this vision as large water storage schemes, which create farmer dependency on irrigation and enable high-water use land uses are not a sustainable model.
The protection of rivers and aquifers in Bay need to be the top priority so that water quality and quantity is sustained.
A price on commercial uses of water and a commitment to swimmable rivers needs to be considered at national level so that people in Hawke's Bay have the tools to look after the most vital thing we depend on apart from the air - our water.
The Green Party is to hold a public meeting on the health of the Tukituki River on Tuesday 28 February at 7pm at Matahiwi Marae. Speakers include Professor Russell Death, freshwater ecologist from Massey University. For more on the meeting, see here https://www.facebook.com/events/501551940048699/
Catherine Delahunty is a Green Party MP and the party's water spokesperson.
