Action on cleaning-up Hawke's Bay waterways

An air curtain installed on Lake Waikopiro could spell good news for the nearby Lake Tutira. Photo / Supplied

Cleaning up Hawke's Bay waterways is making progress, from an air curtain near Lake Tutira, to removing colonies of an invasive marine tubeworm at the Ahuriri Estuary.

Actions plans have been fleshed out for the six "environmental hotspots" across Hawke's Bay, which prompted the Hawke's Bay Regional Council to raise rates over the 2017-2018 year for a million-dollar environmental fund.

Increasing rates by 9.88 per cent would create the "environmental kick-start fund" to target Lake Tutira, Ahuriri Estuary, Whakaki Lake and Wairoa River, Lake Whatuma and the Tukituki catchment, and Karamu Stream.

At a council meeting yesterday staff updated eight of the councillors on how the clean-up of these areas were progressing.

This included the design of a weir at Whakaki Lake, weed control at the Lake Whatuma and Tukituki catchment hot spot, and an intensive operation to improve water flow between the upper and lower parts of the Ahuriri Estuary by removing tubeworm.

The $1million environmental 'Hot Spot' funding was initially to be equally divided across the six areas - with the exception of external funding for two.

However this has been changed in light of council's work programmes, and after looking at what "would provide rate payers the best bang for their buck".

Funding for the clean-up of Lake Tutira and Whakakai Lake was also being sought through the Government's Freshwater Improvement Fund, which commits $100 million for a total of 10 years to improve management of New Zealand's waterways.

The council was currently working through the second stage of this process with the Ministry for the Environment, but did not expect to sign this off until next year.

Actions were brought forward in Tutira, with council installing an air curtain at the adjacent Lake Waikopiro as a "test case" at the end of September. If it worked, the council could install one on Lake Tutira sooner than planned.

Results so far were "very encouraging", with Lake Waikopiro now well mixed, with oxygen in the water increasing.

"The real test of the ability of the air curtain to keep the lake well mixed will be during hot summer spells," a paper before council noted.