Gold kiwifruit vines at Terahu Orchard Ltd with irrigation sprinklers. Photo / Bay of Plenty Regional Council
Gold kiwifruit vines at Terahu Orchard Ltd with irrigation sprinklers. Photo / Bay of Plenty Regional Council
A Bay of Plenty kiwifruit orchard business has been convicted and fined $35,000 for illegally taking more than 18 million litres of water for irrigation.
Whakatāne-based Terahu Orchard Ltd earlier pleaded guilty in the Environment Court at Tauranga to a charge of unlawfully taking water for use at a kiwifruit orchard between November 2021 and February 2023, a written statement from the Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council said.
The regional council’s regulatory compliance manager, Matthew Harrex, said the defendant Terahu Orchard Ltd took almost double the amount it was allowed to as a permitted activity.
Harrex said the regional Council had been working with the kiwifruit industry for the past 10 years to identify and address unconsented water takes.
“This result sends a strong message that the regional council is actively assessing compliance on unconsented water takes and will take enforcement action where required.
“Kiwifruit orchards require large volumes of water for irrigation purposes in the summer and frost protection in the winter. The fact that it was a dry summer, and the defendant needed to take more than was permitted, is no excuse”, he said.
Terahu Orchard Ltd bought a maize farm on the outskirts of Whakatāne in May 2021, converting it to gold kiwifruit later that year, the statement said.
With no irrigation infrastructure in place, the defendant intended to water the vines by drawing up to the permitted 35 cubic metres of groundwater a day, and applied for the necessary resource consent to drill a groundwater bore, but did not apply for a water take consent.
In November 2022, a council enforcement officer did a routine site inspection to assess compliance and a water meter showed excess water had been taken.
Bore pump and water meter. Photo / Bay of Plenty Regional Council
The officer issued Terahu Orchard Ltd with an abatement notice to cease taking more than the daily permitted take.
A further inspection in February 2023 showed that, again, excess water had been taken.
The council calculated that there were seven days when the use volume exceeded 500 cubic meters per day, which was up to 14 times the permitted volume.
Terahu Orchard Ltd has since obtained a water take consent,
In his written sentencing decision, Judge Jeff Smith said a “strong deterrent message” was needed in terms of the sentence imposed that indicated it was “not cost-effective” to avoid obtaining a resource consent for a water take.
“This is going to become more important as the surety of water supply becomes more critical for Bay of Plenty kiwifruit orchardists and others who need the resource.
“The cost of a licence for gold kiwifruit is significant...They have become a significant capital expenditure which requires significant investment to get a significant return. The possibility of not being able to have adequate water to feed these plants defies any commercial sense of reality,” the judge said.
In his decision, Judge Smith also referred to the interests tangata whenua had in the aquifer that Terahu Orchard Ltd extracted water from and the strong views they have in the preservation of the resource.
“The illegal taking of water is an anathema to the tikanga and kawa of how such extractions should be properly undertaken,” he said.
Judge Smith fined Te Arahu Orchard Ltd $35,000 after allowing discounts for the guilty plea, lack of prior convictions and remorse, of which 90 per cent must be paid to the regional council, together with $130 court costs and $113 solicitor fees.
