On 6 October 2024 Tukituki Water Security Project (TWSP) was advised its application to have the Tukituki Water Security Project included as a listed project on Schedule 2 of the Fast-track Approvals Bill (the Bill) was successful.

Mike Petersen, speaking on behalf of TWSP, said, “While the project will still need to be assessed under the Bill, this is exciting and encouraging news. This is intended to be a genuinely community-led initiative that will address one of the greatest needs for Hawkes Bay, improved water security.

“The inclusion of this project is timely, given recent reports reinforcing drying weather patterns and new population projections as our region looks to build the necessary resilience and capability to thrive and grow.

“We are united in the belief that water is a taonga, or a treasure, to us all, and a significant contributor to our collective wellbeing and to the environment and everything that stems from it. Water security is not only critical for the future wellbeing of our environment, our people and communities, it’s also one of the most critical enablers for unlocking the economic growth and potential of Te-Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay.

The TWSP project is fully consented and has already been through a comprehensive public hearings process. In addition, regionally, there is clear alignment amongst the regions leaders that water security is a key strategic priority.

Petersen added, “We firmly believe that the TWSP can be a significant contributor to water security and resilience for the wider Hawke’s Bay region and be part of a truly regional approach to economic development. This decision by Government to list the project for assessment under the Fast-Track Approvals Bill is recognition of the importance of water security and enables the project to keep moving forward.”

The TWSP group will continue to work with mana whenua and community leaders to develop the project further. This includes forming a Community Trust to jointly hold in partnership and in Trust the intellectual property and resource consents required to deliver this vital regional initiative, and for more detailed financial and operational planning and sourcing of additional funding to take place.

In time, this Community Trust will provide a sound governance structure to ensure a long-term and enduring view that focuses on overseeing reliable, equitable access and distribution of high quality water to deliver the sustainable flow of environmental, economic, social and cultural benefits critical to the prosperity and well being of the Hawke’s Bay region and its communities.

Petersen said, ”This is a strategic regional project that stands to deliver environmental and economic benefits for the prosperity of all, and it is critically important that we explore and develop viable and robust options to deliver water security not only for today, but for future generations to come.

“We are committed to working closely with mana whenua and our Hawke’s Bay communities, and providing critical evidence-led information to keep them informed as we move through each stage of the project.”

Frequently Asked Questions:

How did this project come about?

The proposal for the TWSP follows a rescoping and redevelopment of work following the disestablishment of the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (RWSS). When the RWSS was discontinued in 2018, Water Holdings Hawke’s Bay Limited (WHHBL) was formed to purchase the IP, including the portfolio of Resource Consents as a strategic asset with the intent being to place these into an enduring trust for the benefit of future citizens. WHHBL has made this IP available to TWSP to rescope and then redevelop the opportunity of the RWSS through a different set of lenses and priorities, namely:

• Te Mana o te Wai and restoring the environmental health of the river and its people.
• Mitigating (and remediating) the impact of climate change.
• Delivering water security for communities.
• Enable higher value food production and processing.

The Rescoping Report, released in October 2021 was prepared by Lewis Tucker and Co (Lewis Tucker), an independent advisory firm with specialist commercial expertise in irrigation. Input was sought from subject matter experts who had detailed knowledge of the RWSS.

The Rescoping Study presented seven alternative sources of potential water, in addition to the counterfactual (‘do nothing’). Not all alternatives were considered viable in the absence of meaningful (governmental) intervention, whilst the ‘Do Nothing’ alternative was considered bleak by the TWSP team.

The Rescoping Study reached the conclusion that the most compelling alternative was the construction of water storage at the Makororo site.

Why this location?

Oral history credits taniwha within the Ruataniwha Plains as creating the Waipawa and Tukituki tributaries by draining a lake that was once there. Creation of a lake on the Makaroro River is not new, it will enable waters from the Makaroro River to assist in the restoration of other water ways throughout the catchment, namely the Waipawa, Tukituki tributaries, Tukituki main-stem, and Lake Whatumā/Papanui. In doing so, it enhances mauri and mana.

Confidence in the hydrology continues to improve: The reliability of the hydrological records supporting key assumptions behind water storage at the Makororo site has improved materially since the assessment of the RWSS, whilst its location appears to be in an optimal area for rainfall under climate change forecasts. As a result the Makororo site today, is more compelling hydrologically than the old RWSS.

Land use trends require enhanced water security: The trend to higher value, more environmentally sustainable land use is accelerating within the Tukituki Catchment. However, future access to reliable water is a major constraint to this trend continuing, and by default, a constraint on a higher regional GDP growth trajectory.

Demand drivers are highly likely to support the TWSP. Lewis Tucker advanced the view that the combination of the factors above materially reduce the ‘demand risk’ required to support the TWSP, which was a significant factor determining the viability of the RWSS business case.

Compelling economics: The proposed TWSP provides a significantly lower cost per unit of distributable water (m3) at a price which is comparable to many other large scale irrigation schemes around New Zealand. In addition, 20Mm3 of water will be available to underwrite long-term water security with a catchment-scale approach compared with the short-term localised options.

The TWSP can store 104Mm3 of water at a 97% reliability. Reliability is considered high to very high, sufficient to support high value land uses such as permanent horticulture and seed production. Importantly, 20Mm3 of water has been set aside for ‘Environmental Flows’ to meet minimum river flow levels (for habitat protection) in the summer months and additional water could be made available to help supplement the Southern Heretaunga catchment.

Why is this needed?

Doing nothing is not a realistic alternative as it is denying opportunities to restore culturally and environmentally significant bodies of water in the Tukituki and Southern Heretaunga catchments at a time when climate change is (rapidly) degrading water availability. Given this opportunity, choosing not to do anything is arguably socially irresponsible.

Who is involved?

There are multiple parties involved in the project, and each has a critical role to play – with community leaders collectively forming a strongly collaborative foundation, and TWSP being the outward-facing entity, leading the commercial development and the early ‘voice’ of the project.

The group is united in its commitment to working collaboratively with mana whenua and community leaders to deliver a solid and robust process, communicating factual and informed evidence in a way that enables communities to make fully-informed decisions when the time comes.

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