Waimea Dam approval ‘great news’ for Nelson/Tasman region, says IrrigationNZ

Today’s confirmation that consent for the Waimea Community Dam has been approved is ‘great news’ for the Nelson/Tasman region, says IrrigationNZ.

“The Waimea Community Dam addresses the long term future of this region by guaranteeing surety of water for urban residents, commercial users and irrigators and by keeping rivers healthy in dry summers,” says Nicky Hyslop, chair of IrrigationNZ.

However, IrrigationNZ has warned that a big challenge now is ensuring that the dam can be funded.

“To get this project off the ground there needs to be an appropriate split of public-private financing which adequately reflects the public benefits of the dam,” says Ms Hyslop.

“The project will bring multiple economic and environmental benefits for ratepayers, residents and communities in the top of the south. These include reliability of water for growers, ‘downstream’ benefits for support businesses and solutions to a range of environmental issues which include augmentation of the Waimea river to guarantee minimum flows that will help remove algae build up.”

“The Waimea dam holds the key for the Tasman region’s future, but to move it from consent to construction there needs to be pragmatic discussion ‘round the table as to how this community infrastructure - with all the good it will bring - will be fairly paid for.”

“It is particularly important that clear and realistic precedents are set around the funding of this infrastructure as more water storage projects develop around the country, such as the potential project in Northland announced today and welcomed by INZ.”

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