The Department of Conservation is appealing to the Environment Court over a Northland Regional Council decision to grant consents for avocado growers to take more than 2 million cubic metres of water a year from the Aupōuri aquifer.
The consents will allow for a total of 2,060,655 cu m to be taken annually across three 'aquifer management sub-units': Waiparera (1,164,325 cu m), Motutangi (566,960 cu m) and Houhora (329,370), by a group of 17 mainly avocado growers in the Far North.
The largest single allocation of 418,000 cu m has gone to an applicant in the Motutangi zone, while the two smallest, both 14,900 cu m, are in the Waiparera and Houhora zones.
The applicants, collectively referred to as the Motutangi-Waiharara Water Users Group (MWWUG), had been seeking permission to take almost 2.5 million cu m annually from a deep shell bed layer of the aquifer to irrigate their avocado orchards.
The applications were notified on a limited basis to more than 1000 owners/occupiers of adjacent properties in October last year, with 42 of the 57 submissions received opposing, eight supporting and seven neutral.