Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Ngaruroro water conservation opinions fly as hearing approaches

By Laura Wiltshire
Hawkes Bay Today·
1 Feb, 2019 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Horticulture NZ says placing a WCO on the Ngaruroro river would be detremential, but Forest and Bird says the river needs protection. Photo / Paul Taylor

Horticulture NZ says placing a WCO on the Ngaruroro river would be detremential, but Forest and Bird says the river needs protection. Photo / Paul Taylor

The battle lines for a huge Hawke's Bay water fight have been drawn as both sides of a proposed Water Conservation Order prepare to air their case.

An Environment Protection Agency hearing for the lower Ngaruroro and the Clive rivers will be held on February 26.

The hearing on the upper Ngaruroro has already been held, but a decision is yet to be made.

Horticulture NZ's chief executive Mike Chapman says placing a WCO on the Ngaruroro and Clive rivers would negatively impact the horticulture industry, and there are other protections already in place.

"This impacts our economy and our food supply, and a WCO is a blunt instrument that has been surpassed with better national and regional planning tools.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"For horticulture to thrive, and to continue its significant contribution to this region and the New Zealand economy, it is important for plans and policies to provide flexibility when it comes to water allocation."

"We believe that flexibility comes from existing planning tools such as the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management and regional plans."

"Growers understand the need to grow within environmental limits and have been working closely on regional planning with the Hawke's Bay Regional Council for years."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said Horticulture NZ's evidence to the EPA included experts from a planning, recreation and tourism, agriculture and resource economics, and ecology.

Forest and Bird's regional manager Tom Kay says only taking an economic view of the situation is a limited way of thinking.

He said the Ngaruroro River was one of the few braided rivers in the North Island, providing habitat for bird and fish species which needed protection.

He said unlike many rivers in New Zealand it had amazing water quality the entire length of the river.

Discover more

Opinion: Vested interests hold sway

04 Feb 05:00 AM

'Unusual' team assembles to try to protect Ngaruroro River

25 Feb 08:15 PM

"A lot of low land rivers around New Zealand ... tend to get really degraded by the time they get to the sea."

He said recent survey's showed up to 5 per cent of New Zealand's banded dotterel population lived in the Ngaruroro, and other endangered and birds such as white heron, of which there are around 200 left, and black billed gulls also utilise the river.

He said having the WCO could be beneficial for the horticulture industry and wine growers.

"Being able to produce wine in 'clean, green New Zealand' has always been quite a big marketing thing."

"Being able to produce wine in Hawke's Bay where you've got this amazing river with a WCO flowing past your vineyard could be quite a selling point."

"We think there is no reason we can't co-exist."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said while regional plans provided protection, they were subject to 10 year cycles, whereas a WCO would permanently protect the river.

Forest and Bird, along with other applicants, have submitted a draft WCO, however the final document would be written by the EPA.

It is then up Hawke's Bay Regional Council and the community to enforce the WCO.

As well as Forest and Bird, five other organisations have made an application to the EPA asking for a WCO on the two rivers. They are: New Zealand Fish and Game Council, Hawke's Bay Fish and Game Council, Operation Patiki Ngāti Hori ki Kohupatiki, Whitewater NZ Incorporated and Jet Boating New Zealand.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay
Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Some roads remained blocked.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP