Auckland Council wants to take more water from the Waikato River. Photo / Christine Cornege
Auckland Council wants to take more water from the Waikato River. Photo / Christine Cornege
Waikato-Tainui has today called for a tripartite agreement with Auckland Council and Watercare to find a long-term sustainable solution to managing water from the Waikato River.
Executive chairwoman Rukumoana Schaafhausen said the parties needed to find ways to draw water from the river and other ideas.
Speaking at the council's governing body this morning, members of the tribe provided few details on how the relationship would work. Suggestions included a working party to get to the nub of the issues and coming up with solutions within six to 12 months.
"Your problems are our problems and our problems are your problems," said Rahui Papa, Waikato-Tainui chief negotiator for outstanding Treaty of Waitangi claims.
Schaafhausen said the tribe knows Auckland is New Zealand's commercial capital and wants to work with the council and Watercare on water supply issues.
"We want to work in partnership with you. We share your goal of balancing the economic and environmental needs, [including] investing in infrastructure and investing in our environment," she said.
After the presentation, Schaafhausen said the river was the tribe's food bowl and sustenance, as well as a form of economic sustainability for the tribe and to share with the people of Tāmaki Makaurau.
She said the tribe still opposed Auckland Council's plan to use special fast-track legislation to double its water allocation from the river, saying it did not want to be adversarial but would do what it took to protect the awa.
Waikato-Tainui executive chiarwoman Rukumoana Schaafhausen. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Schaafhausen this week said the council's move showed a lack of understanding about the importance of the river and Waikato-Tainui's rights under its Treaty of Waitangi settlement.
This was in response to Mayor Phil Goff asking Parliament's environment select committee for the application to be added to a list of 11 projects being fast-tracked by special legislation to override the Resource Management Act and speed up the post-Covid recovery.
Schaafhausen would not say if Waikato-Tainui supported Watercare taking more water from the river than it already does, saying it is about sitting around the table and identifying priority projects to start a journey to reducing reliance.
Goff said the council would push for its resource consent for an extra 200 million litres a day from the river to be part of the fast-track legislation.
He said the council was faced with not having enough water in six months to meet the needs of households and businesses, and he had to do everything to head off a water crisis.
"How do we help recovery if six or seven months after we have got back to Level 1 we have to close industry for other reasons? What I'm proposing is wholly within the framework of the Covid-19 recovery fast-tracking bill," Goff said.
He said the council and Watercare would minimise the environmental effects of drawing more water and carry out work to preserve the quality of the water and the health of the river.
Waikato Regional Council has also opposed Auckland Council's bid to fast-track its application for more water from the Waikato River, calling it a "back-door approach" to jump the queue.
The Mangatangi dam in the Hunua Ranges showign the severity of the drought. Photo / Simon Runting
Chairman Russ Remington yesterday told the select committee that Auckland wants 80 per cent of what's currently left to be allocated, leaving the remaining 20 per cent for 300-plus applicants.
"What Watercare and Auckland Council should be doing is focusing their efforts on building adequate infrastructure and talking with others who have allocated water available to share," he said.
Last week, Watercare invoked emergency power to take an extra 15 million litres a day from the river to increase production from the river to 165 million litres a day and reduce demand on the city's drought-hit dams.
