But too late: the sluice gates were already blocked by silt and the system seized up, and water supplies were polluted. Councillor Rick Barker called for an internal investigation at HBRC on the mishandling of that issue. What has happened to that investigation?
In 2014 the Environment Court judge criticised HBRC for attempting to undermine council guidelines which required HBRC staff to ensure that our town supplies were maintained at the highest quality and did NOT require treatment. Ngati Kahungunu spent $100,000 fighting the Regional Council in order to keep that safeguard in the Council's regulations. We are fortunate that Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Inc is such a diligent watchdog on our behalf.
I sat in on the hearing and was dismayed to hear HBRC scientist Dr Stephen Swabey trying to make the case that "some degradation" of our drinking water was expected because of the intensive land use which has developed in Hawke's Bay over recent decades.
At the time I couldn't help wondering if HBRC staff were just too busy on other projects like the Ruataniwha Dam and couldn't cope with the "extra workload" required in carrying out their role as guardian of our drinking water.
Fortunately the Environment Court ruled in favour of NKII. The judge slammed the regional council for shirking its responsibility to protect our town supplies from any potential contamination. Two years on and we've had the disastrous contamination of Havelock North's water supply.
The warning by the Environment Court has not been heeded. It is clear that priorities at our Regional Council need to change. It is truly shocking that more than 5000 people have become ill simply from drinking the water which comes out of the kitchen taps in Havelock North.
What is the Regional Council planning to do? Apparently HBRC is thinking of suing Hastings District Council - for failing to maintain water quality. We are going round in circles - an increasingly divided and dysfunctional Regional Council has set a poor example of governance for Hawke's Bay.
Back in 2008 HBRC allowed the Ruataniwha Aquifer to become over-allocated. Councillor Christine Scott was one of the RMA commissioners involved in making that decision - against the advice of council staff and scientists.
Alan Dick was chairman of HBRC at the time. That year was when newly appointed CEO Andrew Newman devised the Ruataniwha scheme to provide irrigation water for intensified dairying and cropping in Central Hawke's Bay. The dam has sucked council time, money and energy away from the rest of the region ever since.
Napier councillors Scott and Dick appear to have been wedded to the idea of a dam for Central Hawke's Bay since day one.
They gave unquestioning support to CEO Andrew Newman while he was on secondment to HBRIC effectively having a foot in both camps and pulling the strings to ensure the Ruataniwha irrigation project got approved before a new council could be elected.
The most recent example of short-sightedness by some councillors at HBRC occurred on 3rd August this year. Councillor Graham had lodged a motion for a Plan Change to prohibit petroleum drilling in our water catchments throughout Hawke's Bay, but that notice of motion mysteriously disappeared from the council's agenda.
Councillors Scott and Dick banded together with Fenton Wilson and Debbie Hewitt and succeeded in blocking the attempt by Rex Graham and Tom Belford to discuss the Plan Change which would have protected our water supplies from potential contamination from fracking, oil and gas exploration.
Paul Bailey and Neil Kirton are committed to ensuring we can safely drink the water that comes out of the kitchen tap. They provide a new majority on HBRC, and we should expect all five councils in Hawke's Bay will want to work together on water issues from now on.
Pauline Doyle is a spokesperson for lobby group Guardians of the Aquifer.
