Stop issuing water consents, Northland hapū pleads

Millan Ruka's hapū is calling for a stop to new water consents in and around the Porotī Springs reserve due to plummeting water levels. Photo / Supplied

A Northland hapū leader is calling on the Northland Regional Council to stop issuing water consents and for a panel of independent commissioners to decide on new applications.

Porotī Springs environment co-ordinator Millan Ruka said it didn't matter what his Whatitiri Resource Management Unit said, NRC continued to issue consents for water take in Porotī despite knowing full well the entire region was in drought.

His comments followed the NRC approving an application by Nicholas and Sheryl James to take up to 16 cu m of water per day from a bore in the Waipao Stream catchment for irrigating about 2.5 hectares of avocado trees.

The Waipao Stream is a spring-fed tributary of the Wairua River. The James' groundwater take is about 1km southeast of an unnamed tributary of the Waipao Stream, locally known as the Porotī Springs.

Their bore will intercept groundwater from the Whatitiri aquifer, Ruka said.

Since the James' have gained written approval from all groundwater users in the surrounding area and within 450m of the proposed take, NRC said any effects on their groundwater takes did not need to be taken into account.

NRC has assessed the environmental effects as no more than minor but Ruka said it seemed provisions of the Resource Management Act in terms of the protection of natural resources such as water wasn't adhered to when consents for water take were issued.

"These decisions are a huge let down to my hapū. The council should stop issuing water consents in this weather condition and we also call on the NRC to let commissioners decide on applications on water consents for horticulture purposes.

"There should also be a moratorium of 10 years on water consents, apart from essential services," Ruka said.

NRC group manager regulatory services, Colin Dall, said the council followed the requirements of the Resource Management Act when determining that the consent it granted to the James' did not need to be publicly notified.

Dall said the consent was for a take from a groundwater bore and does not allow water to be taken directly from Porotī Springs – the headwaters of the Waipao Stream.

Dall said NRC did not have the legal power to impose a moratorium on processing applications for water takes.

"It is important to note that conditions are imposed on water take consents that protect the resource from which the water is taken. These may include a condition that requires the consent holder to stop taking water when a specified river flow or groundwater level is reached.

"Holders of water takes for commercial operations throughout Northland have had to stop taking water where the cut-off limit on their consent had been reached as a result of the drought."

As part of its standard procedure, he said NRC circulated all consent applications to iwi and hapū groups that have an interest in the area consents related to for comments.

Their comments were not formal submissions but NRC took them into account, he said.

Apart from the application by the James', he said there were two consents that allowed water to be drawn from the Waipao Stream, downstream of Porotī Springs, and four groundwater take consents from Whatitiri maunga within 1km above the springs.

A spokesman for Environment Minister David Parker said neither the minister nor his ministry have the statutory power to impose a moratorium on applications for resource consents that were lodged or processed.

"Legislation would be needed to be established, or empower a body to impose, a moratorium on processing or lodging applications for resource consent," he said.