Farmers ask for help to clear dangerous debris from river

More than just sticks and stones will break their bones. Rangitikei farmers are calling for support from Horizons to help clear dangerous debris from the Turakina River.
During the July 6 storm, valley farmer Alistair McLean said he physically monitored the Turakina River at this property midway between Horizons water level gathering sites at Otairi and O'Neill's Bridge in the lower reaches of the Turakina Valley.
He was astounded by the amount of dead wood and debris in the river during the last few flushes and also suggested an Horizons monitoring site could be installed at his property to provide early warnings for those further downstream.
"I've lived on the river for 65 years and I was surprised by the amount of dead wood in the last few flushes. A gauge at my place would be handy ? it's five hours, roughly, before it impacts down at Turakina and the beach. Otairi is too far, and by the time water is rising at O'Neill's Bridge it's too late," Mr McLean said.
However, at $25,000 a unit, the cost was too great to install more recording sites.
Flood warning information comes from data collected from river level recording sites on banks of river sin the region. The council has rainfall data gathering sites on the Turakina River at Otairi, Koeke airstrip, Ruanui and O'Neill's Bridge. Information from these sites is used to trigger early flood warnings to those registered on the Horizons database.
Fellow valley farmer Douglas Duncan was also concerned about the amount of debris in the river during the latest flood and urged council to support farmers to clear the waterway.
"The river's in a hell of a mess ? I nearly lost my bridge. We need to fix the problem and Horizons needs to have a bit of accountability and support us to clear the river," Mr Duncan said.
Mr Cook said there was an expectation that the council was responsible for moving logs and debris from the river, which was not the case.
"We don't have a responsibility to clear it. Nevertheless, council has introduced management plans, but the latest flood came along and stopped that in its tracks. We still intend to proceed with that river management plan, but we need a buy-in from farmers," Mr Cook said.
A similar plan was well advanced on the Whangaehu River, Mr Cook said, but not on the Turakina.
"A rating system is in place to kick-start the Whangaehu plan, but when we start talking costs people don't want to know. Putting any resources into the Turakina River will be heavily influenced by the level of support from residents," Mr Cook said.
Rangitikei Deputy Mayor, Andy Watson, said the only way was with targeted rates and that Horizons would need to know if that was supported before any resources were allocated.
The question was asked if a targeted rate had support and there was no response from the more than 30 people at Thursday's meeting suggesting it did indeed have support.