Editorial: Pipe nightmare

You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

Who knew how reliant so many of us are on one gas pipeline in a remote area of Taranaki?

As some have joked, it was nice of the gas leak to wait until after the Rugby World Cup final on Sunday to play havoc with our tourism industry.

A serious leak was found in the White Cliffs area north of New Plymouth on Tuesday, causing the Maui pipeline to close.

The pipeline links the Maui gas field in Taranaki to the upper North Island and is managed by Vector.

Hotels and restaurants have been among the most affected, along with dairy farmers and hospitals.

Many of us hadn't been affected, unless we wanted Burger King the other day, but then towards the end of the week we found bread was in danger of becoming scarce.

One retailer told The Daily Post he believed people were buying up supplies as they were afraid essential foods would run out. At one local supermarket customers were limited to three loaves each.

Then yesterday items some jokers consider to be a staple part of their diet - pies and beer - looked in jeopardy.

Yesterday morning many service stations and dairies in Rotorua had run out of packaged pies and specialty breads, leaving local bakeries to cash in on the shortfall.

And brewer Lion Nathan said it had sold out of new Lion Red kegs and pubs across New Zealand were running dry of the top-selling beer.

After 12 months of shocking crisis after crisis, it's probably incredibly bad taste to mention a beer shortage, but there is a very serious side to the gas leak and its effect on locals.

From the farmers forced to dump milk to the business owners unable to operate and to their staff, lives have been turned upside down.

All because of one pipe on the other side of the country.

Scary, isn't it.