Big irrigation schemes including the old Ruataniwha Dam are among projects given fast-track treatment by the Government

Major water projects are among the list of projects included in the list of fast-track proposals for economic development unveiled by the Government.

The giant of them all is the old Ruataniwha water storage project in central Hawkes Bay. Other schemes are the so-called Klondyke scheme in mid Canterbury and the Amuri Basin scheme in North Canterbury.

Getting these schemes fast-tracked is welcomed by the industry group, Irrigation NZ.     

“The great thing about a panel of experts deciding applications is that it allows people who are actually involved in the project or understand the project to have a view on its actual impacts,” says its chief executive Vanessa Winning. 

“It’s less about the possibilities of a project, it is more about the reality.”

With a storage capacity of a massive 104 million cubic metres, the Ruataniwha scheme is the giant of them all. It would dam up water in a tributary of the Tukituki River and release it for agriculture, drinking water and smoothed river flows. The scheme won resource consent earlier but was killed off in a decision by the Supreme Court.

But it was kept alive by a group that purchased the intellectual property of the original scheme and renamed it the Tukituki Water Security Project (TWSP). A spokesperson for TWSP, Mike Petersen, says the Hawkes Bay regions has always been dry in summer and the problem would get worse with climate change.

“Doing nothing is not a realistic alternative,” he says.

“It denies opportunities to restore significant bodies of water in the Tukituki and Southern Heretaunga catchments culturally and environmentally, at a time when climate change is rapidly degrading water availability.” 

The original scheme was strongly opposed by some residents and NGOs like Forest and Bird, which fought the proposal in the courts. 

Forest and Bird has already denounced the revived project. 

“The Fast-track Approvals Bill is the most extreme attack on nature in decades,” it says.

“New Zealand already has the highest proportion of threatened species in the world, and we’re in the midst of a climate and biodiversity crisis. It is the time to work towards bringing back birdsong, not starting a war on nature.”  

About half the size of Tukituki project is the Klondyke Scheme, run by Mid Canterbury Water Ltd near Ashburton. It would enhance output of existing MHV Water irrigation scheme and Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation Ltd by constructing storage for 53 million cubic metres of water. 

The third big scheme would improve irrigation in the Amuri Basin, which is a flat plain between the Cheviot Hills and the mountains. This would be done by constructing a large dam to contain 10 million cubic metres of water. The Amuri Irrigation Company already irrigates 28,000 hectares of land North of the Hurunui River. 

Irrigation NZ says irrigation schemes are more about providing insurance against climate change than agricultural intensification.  And its CEO Vanessa Winning says just getting onto the fast-track list in is not the end of the story. The economics of the scheme and any conditions imposed by the panel of experts will play a part as well.

But she says the need for water must be faced up to. 

“About 90% of our fruit and veggies needs irrigation,” she says.

“It’s not about dairy. This is about food. And I think we do absolutely need to start thinking about not just what are we are exporting, but also what are we providing within New Zealand”