Dairy group move for water rights rejected

A bid for major water rights over the Waikato River by companies planning giant dairying conversions has been rejected by the region's water watchdog.

Regional council Environment Waikato has turned down Wairakei Pastoral's bid for 83,000cu m of water a day from the river to irrigate thousands of hectares of commercial forestry land being turned into dairying.

The men behind the company are some of Auckland's best-known and wealthiest businessmen, including Trevor Farmer, Adrian Burr and Mark Wyborn.

But they weren't the only ones to be disappointed yesterday, with another dairy conversion company, Plateau Farms, also turned down in its bid for around half the amount Wairakei Pastoral wanted, taken from both the Waikato River and the Pueto Stream.

Approval would have given the companies rights over more than twice the amount of water pumped to Auckland each day for drinking.

Environment Waikato commissioners' chief concern was over power generation. Power companies Genesis Energy and Mighty River Power voiced strong opposition.

Genesis runs Huntly Power Station, which needs cool water from the river and is then allowed to discharge heated water under strict environmental limits. Mighty River Power must generate electricity while maintaining a specified level in Lake Taupo and said it already had rights to the water.

Yesterday Genesis spokesman Richard Gordon welcomed the decision but did not rule out an appeal.

"We were very concerned that if this was allowed, it would open the gates for a whole lot more applications to take water for farm conversion," he said.

Wairakei Pastoral was planning to link up with state-owned Landcorp, the country's biggest corporate farmer, in the project and yesterday chief executive Chris Kelly said an appeal could not be ruled out.

"While we're not the applicant for the consent, we are an extremely interested party and clearly we were disappointed in the decision," he said.

Granting the water take would not have breached the limit on water take set by Environment Waikato. "We were surprised but now that water is becoming an issue, we shouldn't have been surprised," he said.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth spokesman Bob Tait said granting major water rights could not be allowed while the Government was still discussing water allocation and tradeable water rights.

Wairakei Pastoral planned to create 20 dairy farms of up to 500ha with 1000 cows each in the biggest project of its kind yet seen here.

Plateau Farms planned to add a further 860ha of pastoral land to its present 750ha.


Big spread

* Planned 25,000ha conversion of commercial forest into farmland.
* Needs 83,270cu m of Waikato River water a day, almost twice the take for Auckland's drinking supply.
* Opposed by electricity companies and trout fishers who say demands on the river are nearing limits.