Tribe blocks council water plan

By JO-MARIE BROWN

A Maori tribe is objecting to plans to expand Rotorua's municipal water supply from a spring which it says rightfully belongs to it.

Early this year, Ngati Rangiwewehi successfully opposed the Rotorua District Council's application to increase the amount of water it draws from Taniwha Spring to supply homes at the northern end of the city.

The council argued that the increase was necessary to cater for Rotorua's future growth but the hapu objected, citing its members' cultural and historical links to the spring and claiming the surrounding land was wrongfully taken under the Public Works Act in 1966.

The resource consent that was eventually issued ordered the council to stick to its current limit - 68 litres a second, well down on the 210 litres a second it sought.

The council has since lodged an appeal with the Environment Court but Ngati Rangiwewehi spokesman Te Ururoa Flavell said the tribe would continue to oppose the plans.

"It's not about trying to be stingy or unwilling to supply the town with water. We've done that ever since the spring was confiscated.

"It's about recognising our right and role in controlling and looking after the spiritual and physical needs of our waterway."

Ngati Rangiwewehi has lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal seeking the return of the spring and surrounding land. It wants the council to consider drawing water from Lake Rotorua to meet future needs.

But district engineer Paul Sampson said setting up a new network of pipes to and from Lake Rotorua would be too expensive and would require negotiations with the Arawa Maori Trust Board should the Crown proceed with plans to hand Rotorua's lakebeds back to it.

"There's no certainty there but at the moment, with Taniwha Spring, we have a piece of land that we already own and the infrastructure already in place."

Mr Sampson said the two other springs which supply Rotorua with water were already being fully utilised.

"We're comfortable that with our existing take, we've got enough water to supply the current city. The problem is, we were relying on Taniwha Spring to supply water for any future growth beyond that."

The commissioner who presided over the resource consent hearing declined to approve any increase in order to balance the needs of the council and the concerns expressed by Ngati Rangiwewehi and Fish and Game, which was worried about the impact on trout.

But Mr Sampson said increasing the amount of water taken from the spring would not have any adverse environmental effects and ownership disputes should not influence the Resource Management Act process.

The Environment Court appeal would be raised at tonight's council meeting.

Mr Flavell and other Ngati Rangiwewehi members will be there in the hope of convincing councillors to drop the proceedings.