Delay in dam's delivery of water

VERDANT VALLEY: The site of the proposed Ruataniwha Dam, at the upper end of Makaroro River. PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN

After a drawn-out legal battle, the company behind the Ruataniwha dam is conceding water is unlikely to flow from the irrigation scheme until a year later than previously planned.

The Hawke's Bay Regional Investment Company, investment arm of Hawke's Bay Regional Council, has been aiming to begin construction on the massive water storage project by the end of this year.

The $275 million scheme involves damming the Makaroro River in Central Hawke's Bay to create a 7km-long reservoir which would eventually provide up to almost 100 billion litres of water a year to farmers in the district.

HBRIC has previously said starting work on the project late this year would mean it would be able to deliver water from the scheme for the 2018/19 summer irrigation season.

But in a submission filed yesterday with the board of inquiry responsible for issuing resource consents for the Ruataniwha water storage scheme, HBRIC's lawyers indicated the company was now expecting completion to be delayed by a year.

"It is now likely that the RWSS will not be operational and supplying water before the summer of 2019/2020," the submission said.

The submission was filed after the board of inquiry called for responses to a draft decision it released last month as it works to finalise conditions tied to the dam consents and a related change to the regional resource management plan for the Tukituki catchment, known as Plan Change 6.

In its submission, Hawke's Bay Regional Council said it supported the board's draft decision.

Environmental groups Fish & Game, Forest & Bird and the Environmental Defence Society - who challenged aspects of the board of inquiry's earlier decision through the High Court - filed submissions which included requests for the plan change to include more detail around the water quality monitoring the regional council will be required to undertake after the plan change takes effect.

Ngati Kahungunu said in its submission a recent Environment Court decision, following the tribe's challenge to elements of an earlier HBRC plan change, was relevant to the water quality issues being considered in Plan Change 6.

Yesterday was the deadline for submissions on the draft decision.

The board of inquiry has said it will consider the comments it has received and then make its decision and prepare a final report.

It has not indicated when that final decision - confirming the conditions of the dam consent and the new environmental regime for the Tukituki catchment - is likely to be released.

The regional council has conditionally agreed to invest up to $80 million in the water storage scheme, with HBRIC seeking the rest of the funding from other investors and central government.