The storm knocked out the power to the pump that emptied a sump above the bore. The sump was designed to pump water away from the bore so that surface water could not get in to the bore itself.
Despite knowing about the problem for years, both Regional and Hasting District Councils had failed to do the basic maintenance required to make the bore permanently safe. When the surface pump failed, the sump over flowed and sent contaminated water straight down into the main supply.
When power was restored the contaminated water went straight up to the reservoir and started making thousands of people sick and killing three of them.
The proposition put forward by the inquiry that the water went down in to aquifer and instantly flowed through several layers of sediment and soil down to the bore several metres below ground level is fanciful , to put it mildly. As Dylan might have put it,' pull the other one, it's got bells on it.'
To add insult to injury, Inquiry Chair QC Lynn Stevens found that the two councils at fault have a dysfunctional relationship effectively dating back to 1998. Regional Council Chairman Rex Graham's answer to that was, that "From time to time we run into conflict with other councils ".
After a huge debate not so long ago, amalgamation got the bash because we were informed by our Mayors and Councillors that they all got on so well that the idea of political unification was an absurdity.
5000 ill and three dead might suggest otherwise. In fine New Zealand tradition, no one will get sacked but the Councils will endeavour to create systemic step change strategies that ensure such outbreaks will be a non-recurring eventuality at a future point in time. Which you can guarantee is exactly what they said last time it happened back in 1998. The times are not changing much.
As for the poor old RWSS, the accursed dam. No prizes for the most considered evaluation of the facts this week as the regional council debated the long awaited review. Like the Havelock Water inquiry, it confirmed what was widely known.
The project would provide massive economic and environmental benefits to the whole region, but contains short term financial risks. And the science around nitrogen leaching is contestable and not fully understood. Four anti dam councillors said they were unsatisfied with the lack of solutions. Chairman Rex said some figures were misleading.
No Councillor leapt to his or her feet and shouted "My God! Eureka! This report is amazing. It's made everything clear and I've changed my mind completely .I am now mad keen/totally against the whole crazy thing"
So while the rural hinterland is hoping for a favourable verdict, the smart money is on Rex and the Romans sticking to their guns, or in this case abandoning the concrete mixers. As Dylan says "Don't think twice It's alright ". So we've had an expensive smoko break with nothing to show for it.
To complicate matters, the Port of Napier needs an investment of many millions quite soon. The regional Council now has the six urban councillors working closely together, the self-styled Romans. This has greatly reduced the chances of any large lumps of capital migrating south of Napier.
Despite the case for the RWSS still being compelling, the political landscape looks set for many more years of parched pastures. And the electorate is tired of the whole shebang. Like the Europeans and their refugee crisis, they just want these ragged people to go somewhere else and leave.
When Havelock is put to bed, and the RWSS gets the bullet, we will hear of the unquestionable economic and environmental benefits of investing 150 million of ratepayers' money in the port. It will be interesting to see if Greenpeace starts a 'Ports destroy Estuaries 'campaign.
They took a shed to publicise their opposition to the dam. Imagine the impact of taking a tugboat.
For the RWSS and CHB, it seems likely that it's all over, Baby Blue. A hard rains is going to fall, and when it does it's all going to flow straight out to sea.
Tim Gilbertson is a farmer, former mayor of Central Hawke's Bay and former Hawke's Bay regional councillor. His column appears every fortnight on a Saturday. All opinions are his and not those of Hawke's Bay Today.
