Farewell to a native species dying in the lake?

Older Kakahi/freshwater mussels show only sluggish growth – with almost no juveniles to replace them.

By Martin Freeth

Freshwater kākahi – native mussels once a key food source in Lake Wairarapa – face potential extinction as they pay the cost of urban discharges and farm run-off. 

Lake Wairarapa’s supertrophic water quality is pushing kākahi towards extinction and the ecologic future of the lake and its precious wetlands is highly uncertain despite the efforts of various stakeholders.

(Supertrophic: a trophic level greater than 5 means water quality is rated “very poor.” Lake Wairarapa is saturated in phosphorus and nitrogen and has poor water clarity. It has been officially classified as supertrophic since 2012).

Kahungunu Iwi, the lake’s kaitiaki/guardians, told The Star earlier this year that “the lake is dying.”

Urban discharges and farm run-off have long been recognised as causing serious decline in the water quality of Wairarapa Moana – the North Island’s third-largest freshwater body and part of the globally-recognised Wairarapa Moana lakes, wetland and river environment.

The science-based, official LAWA (Land, Air, Water Aotearoa) website records Lake Wairarapa as supertrophic because of its persistent high nitrate and phosphate readings, and levels of algae and sediment. 

There’s been little change since water quality monitoring started in 1994 – despite a Water Conservation Order placed on the lake for its ecological value and despite a 2020 declaration of

Wairarapa Moana’s international importance under the Ramsar (UN) Convention on wetlands.

Kākahi are a key bioindicator of ecological health and the plight of this species is highlighted in a new research report from NIWA marine and freshwater ecologist Mark Fenwick after 10 years’ systematic monitoring at two Lake Wairarapa sites.

The research has shown relative abundance of older kākahi but their growth is slow and there’s an almost complete lack of juveniles in the monitored populations. 

“It is possible that the effort required by adults to extract food from the sediment rich water leaves them without the necessary strength for growth and reproduction,” Fenwick said in a report. … Continue Reading

Green energy buffs living Off the Grid

Frank Cornelissen, lord of all the solar panels he surveys.

By Lyle Griffiths 

Up on the heights of Martinborough, Frank and Lisa Cornelissen have built their new home. Wanting to conserve energy and be as self-reliant as possible, they have installed solar panels, a wind turbine and created a battery storage area in a separate building.

“To begin with we didn’t know where to start,” says Frank. “We knew it was going to cost us $27,000 to link up to the transformer up at the top of the hill and then of course there would be charges for the power. We decided to pursue other options.

“We investigated solar panels and decided to purchase 12 x 315-watt Photovoltaic solar panels which could be ground-mounted. They could also be shifted if necessary.

“Our initial plan was to place them facing the Northeast to capture the most sunlight. But large trees on our boundary shaded the panels until 10:00 a.m. in winter.

“Eventually we realised that to gain the maximum amount of sunlight we would have to position the panels for both midwinter and mid-summer sun on the shortest and longest days. The panels are now set to latitude 40 degrees, but we have accepted the fact that there will always be some shading.

“The other dimension we had to consider was the angle at which to position the panels.

“Having tested the system, we have since installed another 11 panels each producing 400 Watts.”

The DC electricity generated by the panels is then sent to an Inverter Conversion unit which is housed with the batteries. This stores electricity in the batteries and converts to AC electricity to use in the house. … Continue Reading

From the Mayor

By Martin Connelly

Water services have been a political football for some time. We associate “Three Waters” with the last Labour government, but it had been started by the John Key government, following the Havelock North deaths and carried on by the next two governments. 

Now that National is back in power “Three Waters” has been replaced by “Local Water Done Well” (LWDW). It can be a bit hard to describe LWDW in simple terms. 

Under recently-passed legislation, local councils have less than a year to develop plans to manage and fund water services, to the point where they are financially sustainable and government-approved.

Although not legally required, it has become obvious that the only way for most councils to ensure financial sustainability, is to set up Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs) to operate those water services. This is because a CCO will be able to borrow money more favourably than a council.

For those not familiar with CCOs, they are entities set up to conduct activities on behalf of councils.

They are governed, managed and operated at arm’s-length from councils through an independent board of directors. 

Our water services are currently managed by a CCO called Wellington Water.

This CCO is owned by the four Wellington Cities and us. The shareholding councils appoint a board of directors who then appoint a CEO.

Our Council has been exploring two different types of CCO to deliver future water services in the South Wairarapa. One would involve four shareholding councils, ourselves, plus Carterton, Masterton and the Tararua Councils. The other CCO we are considering is one that would include all the councils in the Greater Wellington Region plus the Horowhenua District. … Continue Reading

Considine Park family friendly summer destination

By Angela Brown 

It has been exciting to finally see the Pump Track becoming a reality – which I am sure will be well used by our children. This, together with our free swimming pool and Story Walk, makes Considine Park the perfect summer destination, pack a picnic, sunscreen and sunhats and pop on down.

With more visitors to the park a friendly reminder – this is not an off-leash exercise area.

What do you like about Considine Park and our other green spaces? How could they be improved? Please pass on your thoughts to the Community Board – we would love to hear from you, and this would help any future developments.

The Pump Track is a wonderful example of community fundraising – there are so many positive benefits for getting involved with raising funds collectively to achieve a common goal. Shout out to the Martinborough Community Market who run tea rooms with all the proceeds going to support local initiatives. There is a team of supporters who supply goodies and who work in the tearooms to make this possible.

We are extremely fortunate to periodically have funds available for distribution via the Pain Estate.

There is understandably continued interest in the future of the Estate, and we can share the following update:

The Martinborough Community Board and South Wairarapa District Councillors were recently invited to attend a workshop to discuss the Pain Estate. Legal representatives from Simpson Grierson provided an overview of the legal status and potential implications relating to future use of the farmland, and this information remains Legally Privileged for the time being, so we are unable to provide details. … Continue Reading