Te Mana o Wai - putting water sustainability first

Freshwater Iwi Leaders Group technical adviser Tina Porou.

Current models of water allocation are having a profound impact on Maori communities who are struggling with water quality and quantity.

This was the message from Tina Porou, who discussed Te Mana o Wai at the second day of the water symposium yesterday.

A founder of her own company Poipoia, which delivers ecosystem services from a Maori perspective of sustainability, Ms Porou is a technical adviser for the Freshwater Iwi Leaders Group, formed in 2007 to advance the interests of all iwi in relation to fresh water through direct engagement with the Crown.

Her talk centred on the current state of the country's freshwater management and the issues of equitable access to water, informed by work being done around the country by the group's Iwi Chairs Forum.

She said the forum's participants were a "coalition of the willing", who were getting feedback on water from whanau, with about 70 tribes involved to date.

"All the discussions have come back to the perception that there are systemic issues surrounding water and the relationship between whanau and water is being negatively impacted by the unsustainable use of water."

She cited a community in Muriwai, of about 50 households, who watched the water being piped from the nearby river to Gisborne, after which they had to buy in trucks of water for the community "from their own river at a cost of $22,000 this summer".

"The consistent theme has been that Maori communities do not have adequate access to fresh drinking water, compounded by the fact Maori are among the most economically depressed.

"Water is going to the likes of irrigation and people are not getting enough for their household use."

When it came to allocation, she said the principle of Te Mana o Wai was that the first right of the water was that it must go back to the water, to ensure it was sustainable.

"Whanau want a higher value attributed to water so it's used more efficiently.

"They also want to ensure they get an allocation of that water, particularly in over-allocated catchments.

The first-in, first-served allocation model was not working, neither for Maori nor for new users wanting to take water to use in a sustainable way, she said.

Once allocation limits were set, she said water use management should not be about personal and economic aspirations - that it was important for everyone to collaborate and make principled choices about land use, and look at how to get economic growth within limits.

"Maori are not talking about ownership, they are talking about water responsibilities and use.

"With Te Mana o Wai we are trying to create a system that whatever the use it does not take away from the right that water goes back to water."

When asked if she felt the conversation was being listened to by the Government, she said change would be slow.

"It may be 25 years until we get transformational change - the key changes will first be made at a regional council and community level."