Aupōuri avocado boom: 'Aquifer defender' urges freeze on water consents

"Aquifer defender" Karyn Nikora-Kerr at Muiata Pa, with Mapua Orchard in the background. Photo / Peter de Graaf

The Far North's green gold — the avocado — is transforming landscapes and lives in an area where jobs have long been scarce. But the boom is putting pressure on a precious aquifer, the only reliable source of water on the Aupōuri Peninsula. Next week experts will weigh up whether to allow growers to extract another 6 million cubic metres of water a year. Reporter Peter de Graaf examines a divisive issue from several angles.

The Aupōuri Peninsula's ''aquifer defender'' says no new water consents should even be considered until the conditions imposed on the last lot of consents have been met.

In 2018, following an appeal by the Department of Conservation, the Environment Court confirmed water use consents granted earlier by the Northland Regional Council — but with a raft of strict new conditions.

Those consents allowed 17 applicants, collectively known as the Motutangi-Waiharara Water Users Group, to take 2 million cu m a year from the Aupōuri aquifer north of Kaitaia, mostly for avocado orchards.

The new conditions, however, required users to start with just a quarter of their permitted water take, and increase it gradually over four years. Close monitoring of the aquifer for the next nine years was also required.

Karyn Nikora-Kerr said the ink was barely dry on the Environment Court decision when another 24 water use applications were lodged, this time totalling more than 6 million cu m.

She called for a halt on new consents until the monitoring period for the previous 17 was complete, so there could be certainty the aquifer had not been adversely affected.

''They were given consent with strict conditions — monitoring and research first before giving away any more water — and we thought those conditions were good. But two months after the Environment Court decision there were another 24 applications, some of which are tied to the first 17.'

''This is a water grab. It's not just about avocados,'' Nikora-Kerr said.

The landscape around Houhora, on the Aupōuri Peninsula, has been transformed by large-scale avocado planting. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Her main concern was saltwater intrusion if too much water was pumped from the aquifer, the only source of water for most people on the peninsula.

''This is a fragile and unique peninsula and there's no real hard evidence of how the aquifer recharges. Once it [saltwater intrusion] starts there's no going back.''

Nikora-Kerr, who lives at Ngataki, also took aim at the consenting process, saying it excluded people who were affected and discouraged others because of the many hundreds of pages of reports they had to wade through.

Submitters were also prevented from raising concerns about chemical sprays even though water consents would lead to increased horticulture, hence increased spraying.

She welcomed the jobs that came from orchard development but said most of those were short-term.

Nikora-Kerr was also concerned that picking work would go to backpackers and ''randoms who just rock into town''. She called for a requirement that jobs be reserved for local people.