Appeal mulled in water row

BY ANDREW BOARD

A decision by the Tasman District Council to pump water from Motueka to other parts of the district may face an appeal to the Environment Court by the town's self-proclaimed "selfish" community board.

The original plan, announced by the council in 2006, was for Motueka water to be used in Mapua, Tasman and Ruby Bay.

Last year, that was extended to include rural 3 zones, including Upper Moutere, Lower Moutere, Dovedale and the Waimea Plains.

Motueka Community Board chairman David Ogilvie said the impact of the council's decision would be hard on the town and the board is being selfish with its water, "but so we should".

"We have to look after our assets and our water is definitely a big asset so we must make sure we have control over what happens to it," he said.

The three major concerns the board has with the plan are the draw-down effect, meaning that some people may have to redrill their bores deeper to access the water if there is less of it; that no consideration was made for rising sea levels caused by climate change and the potential loss of future industry, which would rely on a consistently high water supply.

The community board entered a submission to the council after the latest proposal was announced in the long-term council community plan last year.

Of the board's main points in the submission, only the ability to redrill deeper in the same bore was granted.

Mr Ogilvie said the board now faced the prospect of paying a $500 fee to appeal and also bearing the cost to fly expert witnesses in from around the country for the appeal.

"That's the sticking point at the moment – whether we have enough money to appeal. We feel it's important enough and warrants an appeal, but we have very limited funds," he said.

Fellow board member Tara Forde said the council was being "negligent" in not considering the effect climate change could have on the town's water supply, including lowering the aquifer as the river bed degrades – something that happened by 0.6 metres over the last 50 years, according to council reports.

"I wonder how seriously those within council take climate change? I'm disgusted how hard they fight it and it seems clear that the council has discredited its own information on climate change.

"I don't think the people of Motueka are having their interests represented very well."

In disallowing the climate change submission, the council said: "Climate change modelling has not yet provided the council with sufficient certainty around climate-change predictions to enable it to consider alternative water management regimes."

Mr Ogilvie said other residents within the district might look at the board as being too locally focused, but he made no apologies for that.

"Yeah we are, but that's what we are elected for, to look after the best interests of Motueka and its people. We need to know that we still have control of our water," he said.

Ms Forde said she had spoken to expert witnesses who may be willing to testify at an appeal, something Mr Ogilvie said was important to the community board's case.

"I can ask questions in terms of process the council has gone through, but the Environment Court will want to know why we, as the appellant, think the water here in Motueka shouldn't be used outside the zones and how it's going to hurt Motueka.

"I don't know enough about Motueka's aquifers as a lay person when it comes to being cross-examined, so witnesses are important," he said.

The board said it expected the town to double in size in the next 50 years and it felt the council hadn't taken that into consideration.

"We don't want to see water transferred out of zone or, if it is, we want some limit to how much is transferred out of zone," said Mr Ogilvie.

The board will decide tomorrow night whether to appeal.

- © Fairfax NZ News