Levee plans are flawed

BY PIERS FULLER

Masterton District Council has been given the go-ahead to build a levee near the Ruamahanga River as part of the multi-million dollar urban waste water upgrade at Homebush, but not everyone is happy about it.

MDC chief executive Wes ten Hove said he welcomed Greater Wellington's announcement, which was made public on Monday.

"This decision completes all the consent requirements for the Homebush upgrade and is a positive step forward," he says.

Farmers who own neighbouring land had objected to the levee because they say it would exacerbate the effects of flooding by forcing the Ruamahanga into a narrow channel. Warren Tocker owns a property with the Whangaehu River running through it and he put forward a detailed submission showing how his land would be severely affected during a one-in-five year flood if a levee was built. He says the regional council was drawing their conclusions from flawed data that would not give an accurate prediction of the likely effects of a levee during floods.

Mr Tocker still has the right of appeal to the Environment Court but says the cost of action could be prohibitive.

Mr ten Hove says council is moving ahead to complete the first eight-yearly review looking at ways to further reduce treated water discharges to Ruamahanga River. This review was the result of a court order that came from mediation.

Once the review is complete in March, the council will confirm the treatment plant upgrade design and begin construction in October or November. A proposal put forward by a consortium of farmers to use pivot irrigation instead of the planned border strip irrigation is still on the table. If the pivot option is chosen, this would negate the need for a levee which would have to be removed anyway, says farmer David Holmes.

"Meanwhile, we are still pursuing the centre pivot option where it is much more sustainable and it appears that Masterton is the only area in New Zealand where border strips are being used."

He is disappointed with the regional council's decision to grant permission to build the levee.

"My frustration is that this levee has been granted for an area where in 1998 a stopbank was constructed to protect the oxidation ponds from flooding when a major flood almost wiped out the inlet to the ponds. This will not happen again as the ponds are being moved.

"For MDC to make the border strip irrigation viable they needed the extra land so have managed to change the rules and get away with it. There seems to be one rule for councils and one rule for farmers and landowners," he says.

- Wairarapa News