Editorial: Govt pours money into Bay water schemes

Linda Hall is Assistant Editor at Hawke's Bay Today.

Fantastic news for Hawke's Bay as the Government directs some of its $3 billion allocated to the Provisional Growth Fund (PGF) our way.

And even better a big chunk of the funding is aimed at our water — in fact $30.6 million has been allocated for storage schemes across the region.

At last someone in Government has finally realised how precious this source of life is.

Water has been a huge issue in Hawke's Bay for a number of years now.

First of all there was going to be a dam built in Central Hawke's Bay. Some said it would bring loads of money into the region and farmers wouldn't have to worry about droughts.

Then it became a hot topic during a local government election year. In between yes, maybe and no a heck of a lot of money was spent deciding one way or the other.

Coincidentally this year is also a local government election year.

So does that mean there will be dams built all over the place now?

Probably not although HBRC chairman Rex Graham, who welcomes the funding, says that dams "could be part of the solution but there is no silver bullet or single solution".

He says they are committed to conservation and efficiency as part of the solution.

Whatever happens with this funding let's hope that the homework is done before any money is spent. We don't want to end up with thousands of dollars being spent on consultation reports.

Secondly, there was the Havelock North gastro crisis. This really bought home to everyone just how vital clean drinking water is.

There have been ongoing issues ever since with people complaining about the chlorine added to the water since the outbreak.

Recently Napier City Council voted to look at options to remove chlorine from its water. Good on them but first they need to sort out the dirty water coming from taps in the city's suburbs.

However, let's not lose sight of the fact that this is dam good news for Hawke's Bay. We will be watching closely.