Prefabricated silica terraces at Wairakei Terraces and Thermal Health Spa near Taupo are an example of how geothermal waters can be manipulated to create a manmade version of a natural phenomenon.
Prefabricated silica terraces at Wairakei Terraces and Thermal Health Spa near Taupo are an example of how geothermal waters can be manipulated to create a manmade version of a natural phenomenon.
Silica sinter terraces could form the backdrop of geothermal hot baths in Kawerau, if an idea from Ngāti Tūwharetoa Bay of Plenty Settlement Trust comes to fruition.
At an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, the Tarawera Awa Restoration Strategy Group endorsed in principle the trust’s resource consent application for Geothermal Poolsand Habitat Re-creation in the Kawerau Geothermal field, in the Bay of Plenty.
While those terraces had formed naturally over hundreds of years, projects to recreate terraces by allowing hot geothermal fluid to flow over a series of prefabricated terraced pools have been successful, such as the manmade terraces at Wairakei in Taupō.
Tarawera Awa Restoration Strategy Group is a co-governance joint committee of Bay of Plenty Regional Council and was created to support and promote the restoration of the mauri of the Tarawera Awa catchment under the Ngāti Rangitihi Treaty settlement.
It has membership of all four iwi that have interests in the Tarawera catchment area, as well as Whakatāne, Kawerau and Rotorua Lakes district councils.
The trust’s project brief is part of a plan raised at previous meetings for Ngāti Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau to build a new geothermal power plant.
Painting of the Pink and White Terraces by John Barr Clarke Hoyte, before Mt Tarawera erupted in 1886.
It proposes to utilise geothermal fluid run-off from the plant for a hot pool project.
The brief states that Ngāti Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau has land holdings in proximity to existing geothermal areas which could be suitable for this.
“Geothermal fluids available for release at the Ruruanga site contain dissolved silica and calcium in quantities that would probably contribute to sinter formation by precipitation as post-release flows cool,” the brief states.
The project brief also includes an “attractive bath complex” that utilises the geothermal fluids.
“This could be situated close to the sinter terrace, to incorporate that feature as a backdrop to the baths but also to capitalise on the temperature of geothermal fluids flowing out of the sinter terraces.”
Restoration strategy group chairman Leith Comer said Ngāti Tūwharetoa’s plan sounded “pretty exciting”, and he wished them well with the project as it went forward through the consenting process.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
