Will Foley: The next drought is when, not if

Will Foley, Hawke's Bay Regional Councilor.

Right now we have a crisis and our lives have been affected immensely by the threat of Covid-19 and our response to it.

The impact will go on long after we have won the war with the virus and we need to be able to manage the longer-term effects, and rebuild our lives and economy. Another crisis that has hit us front-on this year has been the water shortage in Central Hawke's Bay due to a crippling drought.

Usually in a drought, we would expect low rainfall in the eastern half of Hawke's Bay but generally expect more in the traditionally 'summer safe' western side and in the Ruahine Range.

The impact of the current drought is wide ranging.

This year, instead, we have experienced record low rainfall around the ranges and foothills and that has caused severe water and feed shortages for those farms closest to the bushline which aren't used to these conditions.

As a result of this lack of rain, our rivers have dropped down to very low levels, with some even drying up completely. Through the odd snippet of news or social media, we have witnessed people coming across dead or stranded eels and fish. Obviously, plenty of other wildlife depend on our rivers for their existence and, unfortunately, our ecosystems have taken a big hit.

Another observation this year has been trees dying. Some will always struggle in a drought but I have seen trees die that coped fine with previous droughts and suspect that lower shallow groundwater levels are the cause.

Like the Covid-19 threat, we need to respond to this crisis. Right now, we have a united regional council dealing with this issue. We have central government giving us the best possible signals so far of a strong desire to kickstart infrastructure projects.

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Water security can mean different things to different people but, to me, for the sake of our environment, we need to influence environmental flows in our rivers during dry spells and boost our shallow aquifer levels.

This will result in a much more healthy and resilient environment while providing security for domestic and stock water demand as well as our towns and urban requirements.

Rain is starting to fall and more will be needed but let's hope short memories don't prevail here. The next drought is when, not if, so let's push on as a council, as a community, and as a region and respond to this other crisis also.

Anyone in the rural community who needs support can contact the East Coast Rural Support Trust on 0800 RURAL HELP for free and confidential advice, or visit www.rural-support.org.nz

Will Foley is Central Hawke's Bay's representative on the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website