Water consent for Far North avocado growers being appealed by DoC

A consent granted by Northland Regional Council to take two million cubic metres of water a year from the Aupōuri aquifer for avocado orchards has been appealed by the Department of Conservation.

The Department of Conservation is appealing to the Environment Court over a Northland Regional Council decision to grant consents for avocado growers to take more than 2 million cubic metres of water a year from the Aupōuri aquifer.

The consents will allow for a total of 2,060,655 cu m to be taken annually across three 'aquifer management sub-units': Waiparera (1,164,325 cu m), Motutangi (566,960 cu m) and Houhora (329,370), by a group of 17 mainly avocado growers in the Far North.

The largest single allocation of 418,000 cu m has gone to an applicant in the Motutangi zone, while the two smallest, both 14,900 cu m, are in the Waiparera and Houhora zones.

The applicants, collectively referred to as the Motutangi-Waiharara Water Users Group (MWWUG), had been seeking permission to take almost 2.5 million cu m annually from a deep shell bed layer of the aquifer to irrigate their avocado orchards.

The applications were notified on a limited basis to more than 1000 owners/occupiers of adjacent properties in October last year, with 42 of the 57 submissions received opposing, eight supporting and seven neutral.

In it's appeal DoC says there is a lack of research on the aquifer and the affect on important wetlands on the Aupōuri peninsula could be severe.

Opponents' concerns fell into eight broad categories - the volume of the proposed take, its effect on existing bores, water quality, ecological issues, salt water intrusion, lack of consultation, inadequacy of assessment and monitoring, and cultural issues.

Independent commissioners David Hill (chairman) and Peter Callander, who heard the applications on behalf of the NRC, including a three-day sitting in Kaitaia in March, accepted that submitters had expressed a reasonable concern the safety and security of the aquifer, which was the sole source of groundwater for communities on the peninsula.

Based on evidence from the applicant, council experts and submitters, they were well aware that the aquifer was potentially vulnerable, "due to its connection to the sea and the variable amounts of rainfall recharge related to climatic changes and the clearing and planting of forestry blocks".

The commissioners noted that "as with many groundwater development scenarios," there was a degree of uncertainty about the magnitude of change that might occur.