Far North farmers say blocked council drains flooding their lands

When it floods on the Kings' Far North farm due to council drains not being cleaned out there’s little the farmers can do but watch their land go under water.

A Far North farmer is wondering why he’s paying up to $70,000 rates a year on two properties that regularly flood because, he says, the council is not cleaning out its roadside drains.

Houhora farmer Paul Harvey has two farms that regularly flood and said the main reason is because the council drains on the Kaitāia, Waiharara/Kaikino and Motutangi drainage schemes were not cleaned as regularly as they need to be.

Harvey, who is a member of the Motutangi drainage scheme board, said the three years over the Covid pandemic saw no work on the drains and his farms were hit hard.

He, and other farmers from the area, including Fiona King and Jeremy White, took their concerns to this month’s Te Hiku Community Board meeting, pleading for action.

The Kings' farm, north of Kaitāia, is regularly flooded due to council drains not being cleaned out, they say.

Far North District Council was asked to respond to the farmers’ concerns, but was unable to do so by edition time.

However, in a statement the community board said at its August 13 meeting at Te Ahu in the public forum session it heard from several disgruntled farmers who live and farm in the three drainage areas.

‘’[Their concerns included] their drains are being blocked by neighbouring farmers that causes their land to be flooded, and that the Land Drainage Bylaw is not being enacted by the Far North District Council.

’’This is a serious concern as there are hundreds of farms that farm in the land drainage areas of Kaitāia, Waiharara/Kaikino and Motutangi. If the drains in particular are not kept clear for free flowing of the water, especially in the Kaitāia land drainage area, Kaitāia and Awanui will be seriously affected in an extreme weather event. When land is flooded for a length of time the farmers are unable to farm that piece for over a year.

‘’This lack of service is not a recent issue and has been a problem for years, these farmers pay a targeted rate on top of their general rates and deserve better. We recognise the farmers are the backbone of the Far North,’’ it said.

Harvey said in the past two winters he had lost part of the farm underwater for weeks at a time, which cost time, money and effort to repair.

‘’I lost the bottom end of the farm last winter and it was under water again this autumn. It was under water for two weeks, and all the grass died, so we had to reseed the grass and still find feed for the cows.’’

Each time it cost thousands of dollars to repair the damage and affected his livelihood and business.

‘’Then they came in, I think it was June, to clean out the drains, but they couldn’t get the digger in because the farm there was already flooded,’’ he said.

A blocked council drain that leads to flooding on the Kings' Far North farm.

Harvey said there was lots of talk at the drainage scheme meetings about getting the work done, but nothing seemed to materialise.

‘’They’ve done a few of them now, but we want action on them all now.’’

He said the Motutangi drainage scheme had about $40,000 in its coffers - “more than enough to do the work that’s needed now”.

‘’I wonder why I pay my rates on these places, I really do, as nothing seems to get better, despite it going on for years.’’

White, who farms 120 hectares and is also on the Motutangi drainage scheme board, said he was sick of promise after promise being made to clean the drains, but ‘’nothing seems to get done”.

‘’It’s a very simple solution - clean the drains out, it’s not that difficult,’’ White said.

Jeremy White’s farm, north of Kaitāia, with some of the flooding it has suffered from blocked council drains.

‘’We have our meetings twice a year and the [council] staff come along and we agree what will be done, but nothing seems to happen and the drains still need cleaning out. We are not in the lowest area here, so don’t get it as bad as some, but it still costs a lot of time, money and effort to repair the damage caused when it floods.

‘’Get the work done so we can get our work done.’’

King said for three years there had been no council drain clearance around her farms and the properties had been flooded as a result several times.

‘’They’ve done some work recently, and appointed a new manager for the schemes who seems to be keen to do something about it, but we need action and we need it now.’’

Parts of Jeremy White’s farm, north of Kaitāia, becomes a lake as blocked council drains force floodwater on to his property. He wants the council to take action.

She said farmers were sick of a lot of talk, but little action on the drains, and they were wondering if they were getting value for the levies they paid.

‘’The council also needs to enforce its Drainage Bylaw, which has strict rules around things like buildings close to drains etcetera, but these seem to be being ignored.’’

King said her family had been farming in the area since the 1930s and it was only in the past few years that there had been problems with the drains not being cleaned out. She wanted the council to get to work keeping the drains cleared and to enforce the bylaw.