Construction of a $2.9 million dam on a tributary of the Wai-iti River near Wakefield is set to begin, heralding an end to major water shortage problems in the area.
Work will start in two or three weeks and was expected to take five months.
The 19.3m high earth dam on theKainui Stream will store 815,000 cubic metres of water on an 18ha block of Tasman District Council land.
Water stored next winter will be released down the stream, which flows into the Wai-iti River, and provide irrigation for up to 700ha from the summer of 2005/06.
Wai-iti Water Augmentation Committee chairman Evan Baigent welcomed the news, saying more available water would benefit growers of high-return crops such as hops, pipfruit and kiwifruit.
The dam would end years of overdrawing of water from the Wai-iti River, he said.
Last year water allocation had been over subscribed by 70 per cent and sometimes more.
