Ongaonga residents face big costs to access water in bores and wells

PRICE TO PAY FOR WATER: Ongaonga resident Ian Franklin beside a new jet pump he has installed to gain access to deeper water for his household needs.

Some Ongaonga residents struggling with water shortages in their bores and wells again this year are having to bite the bullet and spend thousands of dollars on new pumps to reach the lower water table.

Ian Franklin has lived in the village for three years, and had a 33m deep bore, a standard depth for most of the bores in the
area operating with surface pumps, as when they were built this was sufficient to reach water.

He said he started having problems with his existing pump about two years ago, but on January 10 this year it stopped working completely.

After spending $1500 on investigations to see whether a submersible pump could be put in, it was discovered this would not work in his situation, so he forked out nearly $8000 for a jet pump, which works by pushing the water down one pipe, then forcing water up another pipe to which is pumped to the house.

Another resident, Shona Pye, a single mother who has lived in Ongaonga for 13 years, also had to find $4500 this year to pay for a submersible pump to be put in - this on top of $12,000 she spent on a bore to replace the existing well about eight years ago.

"About 10 days ago that bore stopped working so in the last week I had to find the finance to get the submersible pump and it's not finished yet.

"I was told once I had the bore in I would have no further problems - finding this kind of money is not easy."

Both she and Mr Franklin found the situation hard to swallow when they saw irrigators in the area operating day and night.

"I would like to see the irrigators limited as well and financial support given to residents having to buy extra equipment to cope," she said.

Mr Franklin said the situation was unacceptable considering how much irrigation was happening.

"The experts have to come in and advise in light of the changing land use and changing weather patterns.

"We have to be planning for the future - there needs to be a national discussion so the right decisions start being made - we have to get our acts together."

He said he made the decision to install his pump, as well as a 10,000 litre holding tank at the back of his property, for future owners of his house.

Long-time resident Bill Stevenson, who had a new pump installed this year, after being hit with water shortages in previous summers, said the problems really began in Ongaonga in 2004 when the irrigators started operating.

"Where did the money go that was paid for those resource consents?

"Why can't that money come back to the community to subsidise people who are having to buy water or put in new pumps?

"There has to be a commonsense balance between irrigator demands and people's demands."

Hawke's Bay Regional Council chairman Rex Graham could not be contacted for comment.