Kaikohe’s Tina Broomfield with her new tank, water resilience project leader Hone Dalton (left), and project operations manager Phil Young. Photo / Northland Regional Council
Kaikohe’s Tina Broomfield with her new tank, water resilience project leader Hone Dalton (left), and project operations manager Phil Young. Photo / Northland Regional Council
Almost 100 free water tanks have changed lives and built drought resilience for vulnerable, isolated rural communities in Northland.
The new tanks have been installed in response to the region’s 2019-20 drought, which exposed significant water poverty across Te Tai Tōkerau in vulnerable rural communities without access to public water supply. This resulted in the New Zealand Army being brought in to deliver water to communities without town water supply.
The 100 tanks that have lifted people out of water poverty have been installed since March last year to provide on-site healthy drinking and general household water for homes and marae including from Ahipara, Kaihu, Kaikohe, Takou Bay, Taupō Bay, Tangiteroria, Waimā and Utakura.
Northland Civil Defence Te Kahu o Taonui (Northland Iwi Chairs Forum) representative and project lead Hone Dalton said the water tanks were about effecting positive changes for the community. Their installation had changed lives.
Dalton outlined the project to a record almost-300 people who attended the 14th annual Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Forum held in Whangārei recently.
The 100 tanks were provided through the Northland Regional Council (NRC) water resilience project and Te Puni Kōkiri kainga rua marae emergency water storage project.
Several hundred other tanks have also been installed across the region by a variety of providers since 2021.
Dalton said each recipient in his project was provided with a tank of 8000-17,000 litres capacity and an external lockable, waterproof pumping cabinet with water pump and ultraviolet filter. On-site training is provided and a one-month call back service is offered.
Free water tanks such as this one at the remote east coast coastal settlement of Takou Bay are building drought resilience for Northland's impoverished, vulnerable rural communities one supply at a time. Photo/LDR
He said many people in remote rural valleys around areas such as Kaikohe were travelling into the town to do their washing, evidenced by the number of laundromats in the town.
NRC’s website says the project had prioritised the most vulnerable Northland communities without access to the water basic living needs on a daily basis — a necessity many people took for granted.
It said the climate crisis was this generation’s biggest challenge and was already an issue in Te Tai Tōkerau.
There were predictions of on average a hotter, drier Northland with more extreme events to come.
It said the project had worked towards ensuring communities had enough water to get through challenging times such as these.
Water challenges for affected residents had previously meant facing daily considerations about how best to use limited water over the summer months.
“For some it’s the constant checking of an unfit tank or water source and the ongoing worry and stress of how to provide freshwater for whanau but, sadly, for many it has become a way of life,” the NRC website says.
It says the project used a model that relied on “trusted community champions” to help identify those most in need of water tanks — a system that worked well for the community.
It says the project had enabled hapū to devise their own community-led solutions to get water infrastructure to where it was most needed.
It had provided water tanks of sufficient size, water pumps and filtration systems to comply with drinking water standards, and in some cases the infrastructure such as guttering so that rainwater could be collected on site, the website says.
Dalton outlined to those at the forum the often-significant challenges involved in bringing the project to life.
These included whether the homes being served were consented and considerations around connected water tank provision meeting new drinking water supply quality standards for national water services regulator Taumata Arowai.
Water tanks for 100 isolated rural marae and homes such as this one are building drought resilience for Northland. Photo / LDR
Dalton said those involved in the provision of the water tanks had to approach recipients and their communities with the right attitude.
This was because there was sometimes a sense of whakamā (shame) about having a need for the water tanks.
Dalton said future project improvement opportunities included developing criteria to assess who should get the tanks. Another was consideration of discounted, scaled partial payment for recipients of 10-50 per cent depending on their circumstances.
There was also opportunity for NRC, Te Puni Kōkiri and Health New Zealand-Te Whatu Ora funding to be combined.
