Regional Council Notes

It’s amazing how a spell of hot weather turns our minds to water.  Whether it’s water to swim in, water for the garden or simply a glass or two to quench your thirst, summer sees our need for water skyrocket.  It is the time of year when we most need plenty of the wet stuff yet also when restrictions are most likely to bite.

For hundreds of years mankind has used stored water.  Initially nature provided the reservoirs by way of lakes and aquifers and the challenge was to reticulate the water to where it was needed.  Then man hit on the idea of building artificial storage where it was needed to supplement what nature could provide.

At one end of the scale we have private household supply by the way of rainwater tanks right through to Auckland’s large water storage lakes in the in the Hūnua and Waitākere ranges. Of course there are steps in between.

In Wairarapa we have little or no major storage for water at all which seems odd given we have east coast weather well known for hot dry spells.  All our towns rely on either bores or stream/river takes which are subject to low flows in summer just when we have an increased need.  Water is taken from these sources, treated and pumped into tanks for distribution to our towns as needed but these tanks, typically, only hold enough to meet the need for two or three days at most.  That’s not very long if we have a major emergency.

When we look to our food producer’s needs the situation is even worse.  Some have on site storage but typically water used to grow food also comes from bores, rivers and streams.  Tough new rules dictate that that in times of low flows taking water from many of these sources must cease.  

Remember that food producers are not just growers but also companies like Breadcraft, Premier Bacon and Cabernet Foods all of whom provide employment for a good many locals and need reliable water supplies to function.

Reliable water supply for Wairarapa is not nice to have, it is essential.  The trouble is that we seem to have two camps, those opposed to water storage and those that see it as the only panacea.  Surely the answer is somewhere in between?  Why can we not build storage that enhances our environment and adapt our practices at the same time?

Adrienne Staples