Submissions for controversial Aupōuri aquifer consents for avocado production heard next week

The future of avocados on the Aupōuri Peninsula could be determined at Te Ahu next week when the NRC hears submissions around granting 24 consents to take water from the Aupōuri aquifer.

The Northland Regional Council will hear submissions for and against the granting of 24 applications to take water from the Aupōuri aquifer next week.

The hearing, which will be open to the public, is scheduled to begin, at Te Ahu, at 9.30am on Monday, and is due to end Friday.

Aquifer advocate Karyn Nikora-Kerr, who is opposed to the granting of consents, was hoping for a strong display of public interest in an issue that could have far-reaching implications for the peninsula and its communities.

Twenty-four landowners wish to take up to 6.4 million cubic metres of water a year from the aquifer, attracting 113 submissions, most of them in opposition.

Avocado growers claim the water applied for was a fraction of what went into the aquifer every year, and that converting pasture into orchards would create much-needed jobs.

Ian Broadhurst, general manager of Mapua Orchards, which is developing more than 400ha around Houhora and Waiharara, said last month the company had taken a multimillion-dollar leap of faith ahead of consents being granted, and accused the regional council of "dragging its heels".

The consents process was now in its third year, he said, and orchardists were renegotiating smaller existing consents to keep seedlings alive and cutting back expansion plans.

Nikora-Kerr said a host of issues had to be independently addressed.

"Protection of our unique coastal aquifer is first and foremost," she said.

"It is crucial to identify the saltwater interface accurately and closely monitor any changes. Effects on the environment, all of us as people, biodiversity and species that are imperative to the ecosystems must all be fiercely protected.''

She was also critical of the NRC's limited notification process, which had been restricted to those with existing bores between Ahipara and Ngataki. It had also declared that taking the quantity of water sought would have a no more than minor effect on people in the future, which she said was inaccurate and ignorant.

"The effects are simply unknown," she said.

"I am once again asking the question, who will be accountable to this whole community if the risks prove to be more than minor? The commissioners, the NRC, the Environment Court, the FNDC, iwi?''