Rotorua geothermal system: Draft ‘care plan’ now out for public feedback

There are 1500 recorded geothermal surface features in Rotorua, which is New Zealand’s last remaining major geyser field. Photo / NZME

A draft “care plan” aimed at protecting Rotorua’s geothermal system has been released for public feedback.

The draft Rotorua Geothermal System Management Plan was approved for consultation by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s Strategy and Policy Committee last month.

The system, underlying much of the city, is the result of volcanic activity over hundreds of thousands of years.

Its resources are also drawn for heating, geothermal energy and other uses.

Rotorua’s geothermal activity was the only example in the world of a system “dying from overuse being healed through a sustainable management approach”, the plan stated.

The plan focuses on the taking and use of the city’s geothermal activity and proposes ways to better protect the mauri (life force) of the geothermal system by suggesting restrictions on how much of its resources can be taken.

There are 110 consented takes of geothermal water, heat and energy in Rotorua, and of these, 80 per cent are for commercial use.

In a statement today, Bay of Plenty Regional Council said the plan contained “important information, guidance and actions about management of the geothermal system to help protect the taonga for future generations” and had been developed over the past five years with tangata whenua and the community and backed by decades of scientific monitoring and research.

The draft will inform a formal plan change to the Regional Natural Resources Plan next year which will set out policies and rules to ensure the system is sustainably managed, now and into the future, the council said.

The plan stated there were 1500 recorded geothermal surface features in Rotorua, which was New Zealand’s last remaining major geyser field.

The plan is open for feedback until December 8, 2023.

There are two ways for the community to have their say:

• Online through the regional council’s participate portal: www.participate.boprc.govt.nz/rotorua-geothermal
• At a series of public drop-in sessions held throughout October 2023: Rotorua Yacht Club, Thursday, October 12, 10am-2pm; Mokoia Community Association Hall, Tuesday, October 17, 10am-2pm, and Arawa Bowling Club, Thursday, October 19, 2pm-6pm.

Feedback will then be considered by a joint panel of Bay of Plenty Regional Council and haukāinga representatives before the plan is finalised and adopted next year ahead of the formal plan change process.