Manapouri Power Station, on the western arm of Lake Manapouri in Fiordland National Park. Photo / ODT files
A petition calling for the Government not to exempt the Manapouri Power Scheme from the national standards set out in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) has been signed by more than 515 people.
The Waiau Rivercare Group launched the petition on Friday. The reasoning behind it listed
on Parliament's website was that exception from the policy would remove the community's voice for the Waiau River for the next 50 years.
In the summary of the policy, it states the new NPS-FM would allow regional councils to "maintain freshwater quality below national bottom lines where it is necessary to secure the benefits of New Zealand's five largest hydropower schemes". One of the five was the Manapouri Power Scheme.
Waiau Rivercare Group co-chairman Paul Marshall said when construction of the Manapouri Power Station was completed, the Mararoa Weir was built in 1972 to allow additional water to be stored in the lake. This altered the volume of water flowing down the Waiau River.
Pre-control, river flow was 450cumecs to 500cumecs. Marshall said it now sat at 12cumecs to 16cumecs.
