Tukituki Choices Dam Proposal
Hi, I’m Phyllis Tichinin. I farm along the Maraetotara and previously lived and farmed in
Porangahau for 13 years. I’m a transplanted American who married a HB born New Zealander
when we met at uni in California. My background is in environmental policy and soils. For the last
7 years I’ve been working as a biological soils consultant helping dairy, sheep and beef and hort
farmers grow soil fertility, water holding capacity and nutrient dense food on a fraction of the
chemical fertilisers at a better profit. I am deeply attached to Hawkes Bay, its land, its people and
its potential. That’s why I’m here. I am also deeply concerned about the Regional Council’s
proposal to build a huge dam on the Makaroro. That’s why I’m writing this. Please read on as I
share my thoughts on this controversial project.
Let’s Look at these Crucial Questions:
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Who wants four times more intensive dairying on the Ruataniwha Plains?
If this dam is meant to improve water quality in the Tukituki River, why would you need to
increase the “acceptable” nitrate (N) levels in the Tukituki by three times? What’s going
on?
Why build a huge dam on a known fault line? Why not stick to the original proposal of
multiple, smaller, linked water storage facilities to spread the real risk of catastrophic
failure?
What’s the rush? The public deserves to be properly informed and consulted. The comment
period is too short for a project of this impact. The Regional Council’s very compressed
time frame means citizens have only the next 5 days to comment. After that, under the
new hearing procedure, only consultants and lawyers will be able to participate. It’s
undemocratic.
If we want to focus on reducing the polluting inputs – phosphate in the town waste water
from detergents and nitrate from urea use in dairy and cropping. Why not use best
international practice?
How’s about using Council funds to buy back under-utilised irrigation allotments instead of
building an 80 m high dam? Why not keep it simple and do it in logical stages?
It’s economic suicide to undertake a project of this magnitude in the present financial
climate. Why not slow the pace until the economics are truly proved viable?
Why would the Council push so hard on a project that would completely change the
ownership of land in CHB and massively alter the communities we value?
This proposal just isn’t stacking up environmentally, employment wise or financially.
Intensification of dairying and cropping on the newly irrigated land is supposed to provide more
employment for CHB residents. But HB dairies are already forced to employ overseas workers
because locals are not available for dairy work. The majority of people working in the HB cropping
industry are temporary foreign nationals. How does this actually help local residents get stable
work?
The dam may result in increased employment during construction but most will be workers from
outside the district who will then leave. Result? …a blip on the economic screen with a temporary
windfall to local merchants. Most money will flow to national construction firms that are not
Hawkes Bay based.
The HBRC says the dam and intensification will only increase N leachate in the Tukituki by 25%.
Upping the numbers of hectares irrigated by five times from the current 6,000 to 30,000 will
increase N leachate by much more than 25%. If N leachate with the dam is only going to increase by
25%, why is HBRC proposing to increase the “acceptable” nitrate levels in the Tukituki by 300%?
Dam viability is based on agricultural intensification which is based on increased use of
petrochemical inputs of fertiliser and pesticides. This when petroleum costs are slated to increase
dramatically as oils supplies dwindle and extraction costs rise.
The Council staffs says they have been carefully tracking water flows in the Ruataniwha Plains for
over 25 years and have a million data points to accurately base their dam proposal on. And 25 years
of detailed knowledge on water flows has landed us in this situation where the Plains water is overallocated and the Tukituki is a mess. Why should we trust the HBRC now? Their lack of political will
is what has created this problem, which they are proposing to fix by an even greater folly.
Cleaning up the Waipawa and Waipukurau sewage effluent using effective advanced, eco based
technologies would make a big difference to Tukituki water quality. Just planting around the edges
of the impoundments is not enough. The simple initiative of limiting the phosphate content in
detergents available for sale or use in the townships would be very effective. This could massively
drop P and slime levels in the River. Thirty years of experience in reducing phosphate (P) levels in
Switzerland’s lakes shows that is it quite easy to restore water quality by limiting detergent type. If
the Swiss can do it, surely we can too.
HBRC studies assume that farmers in irrigated areas will take up best practice of lowered N and P
fertiliser use. But if only 20% of HB irrigated farmers use best practice now, it makes no sense to
assume that most all farmers will do best practice under a more intensive, expensive irrigated
scheme. Farmers will instead use more fertiliser and pesticide in an attempt to get larger yields and
there will be more, not less, water pollution.
The HBRC proposes to provide $80 million for the dam with the remaining $500 million plus coming
from private investors. Central Government acknowledges that NZ’s domestic investment funds are
inadequate for development. Europe is in economic free fall. America is printing money just to stay
afloat. The only block with money is the Chinese. The Crafar farms decision has kicked open the
gate to foreign ownership of NZ assets. A Chinese company is bidding to own 30,000 hectares of
the irrigated land in the new Australian Ord River project – two thirds of the total. Who will actually
own and control the water and land with this HB proposal? It’s not going to be us. Why can’t we own
land or water in China? Why is the Council so silent on this ownership question? There’s something
wrong with this picture…
The HBRC proposes to sell our waters to foreign investors who will then control the irrigation
charges to farmers. The increased water costs and increased need to intensify farming to cover
those costs will result in overcapitalisation and massive farm debt in the face of an unstable climate
and fickle overseas demand. Forced sales are inevitable and who in NZ has the money to buy? In
the last week alone, 5 farms in the Patoka came on the market as mortgagee sales.
If we as a region are doing this huge, risky project to benefit our long standing family farmers who
are struggling, how will vastly increase water charges and fertiliser/ cropping costs actually help
them? It won’t. It will result in them being forced to sell up and New Zealanders don’t have the
money to buy. The Council projects 50 to 70% of farms in the irrigation area will be sold if the
scheme goes through.
So we’re taking on huge debt, to radically change the face of land and water ownership in Hawkes
Bay. This massive Makaroro dam proposal is rort. It will result in a profit windfall for construction
companies, existing farmers getting a slick retirement package, our river being three times more
polluted than it already is, foreign ownership of our precious resources and a once asset-rich
regional council being saddled with debt.
What started as an attempt to clean up water in the Tukituki catchment with sensible, small,
dispersed water impoundments has morphed into a single monster dam. Instead of a focus on
domestic wastewater clean-up and better farming practice, the HBRC is forcing a quick decision on
the largest HB public works project ever. In order to pull it off, huge foreign investment and
ownership of water and land will be required while allowing greater pollution of the river. So, what
we get is 4 times more intensified dairying on the Ruataniwha Plains, a 4 year economic mini boom,
foreign ownership of our key assets and more transitory foreign workers, 3 times more pollution in
the Tuki and a bankrupt regional council. This doesn’t make sense – don’t allow it to happen. Damn
the Dam.
Phyllis Tichinin