I’m proud of what we have done towards the productivity and prosperity of Whangārei District - John Williamson

Local iwi have consistently contested the company’s right to take water from Poroti Springs.

John Williamson is chairman of Roadsafe Northland and Northland Road Safety Trust, a former national councillor for NZ Automobile Association and former Whangārei District councillor.

OPINION

We all got our rates bills last week and I noted the collective gasp of horror. Even though the 17.2% increase was consulted a couple of months now, I did expect some modification with submissions. It’s not until you get that bit of paper that you start trying to figure out how to fit this in, with all the other increases in costs on fixed incomes.

I had my say at submission time. That people are hurting with the cost of living and, with government departments needing to take 7% out of their costs, there is no reason why local government should not be seeking the same disciplines.

Coincidently, with the decisions about the long term plan, Whangārei District Council has put its 30 year Draft Future Development Strategy out for consultation. Noted in both plans is the expectation over the next three years to commence spending $40m in upgrading the Poroti water treatment plant in order to meet the fresh water needs of a growing district.

Water is what this column is about, because WDC is not the only body delivering piped water to properties in Whangārei District.

Maungatapere Water Company is a co-operative company which has been delivering non-potable irrigation water to 230 shareholding properties around Maungatapere and Maunu for the past 30 years.

Maungatapere Irrigation Scheme had its inception in the early 1980s - a time when the government was actively promoting regional development, and irrigation schemes were a very effective way of achieving that. The highly versatile volcanic soils around Maungatapere were an obvious target and a group of local landowners actively pursued this. The existing council use of Poroti Springs was the agreed water source. The scheme was one of the last to receive approval and in 1989 construction commenced as a government-owned scheme.

Subsequently, the Labour Government decided to divest itself of irrigation schemes and commenced a process of sale to landowners. Maungatapere Water Company was formed to effect the purchase and complete the development.

Thirty years ago the scheme was commissioned. It was designed and constructed to irrigate 1500ha of which 730ha and 230 properties are currently supplied. These are predominantly planted in avocados and kiwifruit, and the scheme uses water sources from Poroti Springs, the Wairua River and the Maunu dam. The scheme has currently 65km of reticulation pipelines, using seven pumping stations, with some water being pumped several times before reaching their crops.

The development has not been completely straightforward. Whangārei District Council initially competed against landowners to buy the scheme. That cost the fledgling company an extra $1 million. Northland Regional Council in 2000 could have closed the scheme down by imposing ridiculous conditions to the resource consent application, which needed to be resolved in the Environment Court. Local iwi have consistently contested the company’s right to take water from Poroti Springs. These relationships continue, sometimes uneasily.

The Poroti Springs resource consent is currently shared with Whangārei District Council and the Office of Treaty Settlements. The latter’s water right was purchased for $7.5m from Zodiac Holdings in 2018. That company wanted to establish a water bottling plant at the site and export the water to the world. Iwi now, potentially have their own resource consent with the progress of the Ngāpuhi Treaty settlement.

The water company also has consent to take water from the Wairua River where it has headworks, two massive pumps which can pump 22,000 cu m of water per day, and 4.5km of 475mm steel pipe, to transport abstracted water to Poroti.

This is where the council intends to spend $40m to upgrade its Poroti treatment plant so that it can take water from the Wairua River, treat it and secure the future Whangārei City water supply. River water is a bit more complicated to treat for drinking than spring water, and it makes sense to partner with the water company in transporting the Wairua water.

The water company scheme is self-financed and self-managed with water charges being slightly ahead of inflation over the past 20 years. Landowners still own it.

Des Quinn was there at the beginning almost 40 years ago, and is still company secretary. Rob Walker has been scheme manager for almost 30 years and directors are appointed shareholding landowners. I have recently resigned as one of those after 27 years, and am proud of the contribution that Maungatapere Water Company has made to the productivity and prosperity of Whangārei District.