Earthworks contractors sought for water storage reservoir in Kaipara

A new reservoir will be constructed near Te Kopuru as part of a Government push to build more water storage facilities in Northland. Photo / Supplied

Work on a new water storage facility in Kaipara, which will start with a small site to be enlarged later, is due to start before winter.

The Te Tai Tokerau Water Trust has provisionally acquired land earmarked for a small reservoir near Te Kopuru, subject to completion of due diligence and any necessary consents. The trust is not saying, at this stage, where the land is.

The trust is now engaging with parties interested in using water for horticultural production near Te Kopuru, including current and prospective land owners, post-harvest operators and the community.

Chairman Murray McCully said the trust would also continue discussions with Kaipara District Council regarding additional capacity for the Dargaville water supply.

A public notice seeking earthworks contractors to undertake work was advertised in the Northern Advocate, but McCully said specific details of the site would not be available until due diligence was complete and interest from commercial partners confirmed.

He hopes that phase would be complete by the end of March.

The trust has been given nearly $70 million from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) to build water storage facilities for commercial use and sign up two water companies to undertake a commercial shareholding arrangement with territorial authorities in the Far North and Kaipara districts.

Of that, $9m is a grant and the rest a loan.

Councils may be part of the commercial agreement and buy water from the storage facilities but the principal buyers will be big horticulturalists such as avocado and kiwifruit growers.

Persistent dry conditions plaguing Northland - six droughts since 2009 - have prompted the Government to plan for water security in the region by building more dams and other storage facilities using money from the PGF.

McCully said $29m from PGF funding was for Kaipara but most of the amount was loan funding.

"We are very mindful of the water pressures, both in Kaipara and the mid north, and we are keen to get the water projects started as soon as possible but it's a complex process. We need to get the consents in place," he said.

Murray McCully is leading the charge to build more water storage facilities across drought-prone Northland. Photo / NZME

Matawii Reservoir near Kaikohe was the first project in the country to be consented under fast-tracked Covid-19 recovery legislation and the trust estimates the dam would boost GDP by $9 million a year and create 60 jobs.

The fast-tracked process means work on the project - which could otherwise have been bogged down in the Resource Management Act for months or even years— will be ready to supply water in summer 2021/22.

McCully said consent for the reservoir was granted just before Christmas last year and the trust was now fulfilling resource consent conditions before starting with the actual work.

Dover Samuels, Ken Rintoul, and Kathryn de Bruin are the other members of the trust.