Couple’s bid to take water rejected

Don Farmer | 20th November 2009

A proposal to tap into groundwater for irrigation at Te Kopura, near Kahutara in South Wairarapa, has been turned down by a Greater Wellington Regional Council Hearing Committee.

John and Lucy Petrie had sought Resource Consent to take groundwater from a bore to irrigate 40ha of pasture.

The bore is located in the Tawaha groundwater zone that is listed in the Regional Freshwater Plan as having a safe yield allocation of 11 million cubic metres a year.

According to the decision of the Hearing Committee that declined the application the safe yield amount of water had already been allocated to other users and no water remained available for the Petries' proposal.

"The committee has weighed the potential long-term consequences of the proposal and, in light of information available, considers it is necessary to exercise a high degree of caution."

The decision concludes the demand for water " at this location" is probably already greater than the resource can sustain.

The Petries' proposal would not adequately sustain the potential of the groundwater resource in the Tawaha and Lower Valley management zones for future generations and there would be " potential adverse effects" on other bores in the Tawaha and Lower Valley aquifers.

Mr and Mrs Petrie had wanted to take up to 20 litres a second for up to 150 days a year for watering pasture and crops.

The bore is at the base of Te Maire Ridge, on the Ruamahanga River floodplain.