Central Hawkes Bay District Council (CHBDC) has it’s legal team working on developing a Community Trust to hold the consents for the failed Ruataniwha dam, Wise Water Use Hawkes Bay (WWU) has learned.

“This failed project has consumed over $27 million [1] of Hawkes Bay ratepayers’ money since its inception in 2012, and now Council are pouring more local ratepayers’ money down the bottomless pit that is the Ruataniwha dam,” said WWU spokesperson Dr Trevor Le Lievre.

“This project has only ever existed on paper, yet it’s appetite for public money is insatiable. You’ve got to ask, who’s winning – lawyers, bankers, consultants, advisors? They’re all lining up at the public trough. We certainly know who’s not winning, and that’s long-suffering local ratepayers.”

Wise Water Use HB recently obtained information under the Local Government Official Information & Meetings Act (LGOIMA) revealing that Council has its legal team working on drafting a deed for a ‘Community Trust’ to hold the consents and Intellectual property (IP) for the Ruataniwha dam, with a presentation to be made to Council very soon, likely in late-October.

The group understands that the consent holders, Water Holdings Hawkes Bay (aka the ‘Water Baron’s) have been told that they need to revamp their business case in preparation for a pending announcement by government that the dam is listed as a pre-approved project under Fast Track legislation. If they can place the consents into a Community Trust, rather than being held by a private company, this will provide eligibility for funding from the Regional Investment Fund (RIF) which can be used to pay for work on the business case.

“The label ‘Community Trust’ is pure spin. There has been no wider community involvement in setting up this Trust, yet talks with the consent holders, iwi leaders, and other unnamed ‘parties’ have been going on since February. This will all be news to the community.

“For sure, ‘community’ has a nice, inclusive, ring to it. However, just look at the ‘Waimea Community Dam’ in Tasman District which should sound loud alarm bells to local ratepayers. Originally budgeted at $76 million in 2017, this project which has just been commissioned has blown out to a massive $207 million, with a further $50 million contractual dispute yet to be settled. Tasman District Council (i.e. ratepayers) owns 51% of that dam, and the 49% irrigator-shareholders refuse to pay any share of the cost increases, lumbering ratepayers with a series of ongoing Council loans that will put the brakes on expenditure for roads, pipes and public amenities for generations.

“Tasman District ratepayers had no idea about what they were on the hook for when they were sold the Waimea dam as being a community asset, and it’ll be the same with the Ruataniwha dam (Wise Water Use HB has odds on the project being renamed as the ‘Ruataniwha Community Dam’).”

Wise Water Use HB has lodged a follow-up LGOIMA asking questions which the group says should have been canvassed with ratepayers before authorising the drawing up a Trust Deed.

“Top of the list of questions we have is ‘who will assume liability?’, Le Lievre said. Questions we are asking are:

• Is it intended that Water Holdings Hawkes Bay (WHHB) will donate the consents and IP to a Community Trust, or will those be purchased and, if so, how will the value be established and where will the purchase funds come from?
• Who would assume the existing and ongoing financial liability of WHHB (e.g. annual HB Regional Council science charges), and have those liabilities been calculated?
• What financial liability would a Community Trust hold for water security projects that failed?

“And, the really key question for us is:

• Is it the intention that a potential Trust would be a genuine Community Trust – what work has been done to quantify benefits for the community – or simply a vehicle for the Ruataniwha dam investors?

“It seems highly unlikely that WHHB will simply donate the consents and IP to the community in light of the costs they have incurred since purchasing them in 2018 for $100,000.00. In addition to the purchase price, they were in 2023 lumbered with $146,000.00 in backdated science charges owed to the Hawkes Bay Regional Council (HBRC), which hadn’t been paid since 2020. Water Holdings Hawkes Bay only ever paid the science charges once, in 2019 ($50,000.00), while CHB ratepayers very generously picked up the tab in 2020; yet, they were aware they would be liable for these annual charges when they purchased the consents. On top of these outlays, they have incurred a small fortune in legal costs challenging the science charges, and in unsuccessfully attempting to get recognition of the social and economic significance of the Makaroro River for water storage included in the CHBDC District Plan 2022. They could be in for as much as 1/2 million dollars here.”

Wise Water Use HB has also submitted a LGOIMA request to Regional Council CEO, Dr Nic Peet, asking whether WHHB has paid their 2023-2024 science charges, which Dr Peet had previously refused to remit under pressure from the group. Dr Peet had already remitted $296,000.00 in outstanding charges.

“We should be mindful that the Water Barons are first and foremost hard-nosed businessmen who will be looking to recoup costs and to realise a profit from their assets, and to minimise their future costs. This won’t be a hand-out to the community,” said Le Lievre.

Wise Water Use HB also has concerns about lack of transparency, and conflict of interest.

“It has to be asked, why have Council staff been in talks with selective parties since February, with the drawing up of a Trust Deed commissioned in July, yet without any public announcement about this work which will clearly have major implications for ratepayers? This is at odds with Council’s generally open and transparent communication about local issues, particularly be way of its ‘Keeping it Central’ updates published weekly in the CHB Mail newspaper distributed free to over 6,000 local households.

“Is it possible that Council are avoiding the kind of questions WWU are now asking, and looking to present a Community Trust as a fait accompli, a tactic straight out of the current coalition government’s playbook?” asked Le Lievre.

CHBDC Mayor, Alex Walker, is also a member of the Tukituki Water Security Project (TWSP). The group was announced in 2021 with the stated goal of progressing the Ruataniwha dam. The LGOIMA response reveals that undisclosed members of the TWSP have been involved in discussions.

“While Mayor Walker’s public conduct is generally beyond reproach, the involvement of TWSP in these discussions with Council staff begs the question as to how close she is to these proceedings? A public announcement distancing herself from this project is in order, and certainly her recusal from any Council meeting where this matter is discussed would be helpful to avoid any unwarranted perception of conflict of interest”, said Le Lievre.

The leaders of local iwi representative groups have also been involved in discussions, the LGOIMA reveals. Groups named are Tamatea Pōkai Whenua Trust, Te Taiwhenua o Tamatea, and Ngāti Kahungunu Incorporated.

“The involvement of these iwi groups in discussions indicates that they back the establishment of a Community Trust to progress the Ruataniwha dam. Wise Water Use HB are disappointed with this position by iwi groups as we had looked to them for leadership on important environmental issues.

“Although, it’s far from clear that local hapū members have been consulted or are all on board with this proposal. Wise Water Use HB has spoken to kaumatua, Johnny Nepe-Apatu, whose hapū, Ngāti Mārau heralds from the foothills of the Ruahine Range where the dam would be built, and who is strongly opposed to the Ruataniwha dam”, said Le Lievre

Wise Water Use HB has consistently opposed the resurrection of the Ruataniwha dam because of the environmental devastation the group believe it will cause to the ecosystem of the Ruataniwha Plains.

“The cost of the 100 Mm3 Ruataniwha dam was previously estimated at $300 million, with an additional $300 million for distribution infrastructure. With inflation that cost would now be closer to $1 billion, meaning that the price of the water could only be recouped by irrigators by way of further intensification of farming on the Ruataniwha Plains, most likely intensive dairying.

“Intensive farming has already overloaded our local waterways with toxic nutrients. Here in CHB environmentally unsustainable dairy farming on the Ruataniwa Plains has resulted in the poisoning of the aquifer. The locally infamous Well 16501 in Burnside Road, Onga Onga, is running a 5 year median of 20 mg/L nitrate nitrogen (yes, you read that right).

“The designated maximum safe level of nitrate-nitrogen in Aotearoa/New Zealand is 11.3 mg/L; however studies show levels of less than 1.0 mg/L are linked to high rates of colorectal (bowel) cancer and biodiversity decay”, said Le Lievre.

Wise Water Use HB are promoting the clawing back of excessively large water consents by the Regional Council, and reallocation based on most environmentally sustainable use and highest economic return, as an alternative to ploughing more money into expensive engineering projects like the Ruataniwha dam and Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR).

“Here in Central Hawkes Bay, we have just 6 intensive dairy farms holding consents for 42% of allocated ground and surface water. One farm alone holds consents for more water than is consented for the entire municipality of Waipukurau. It’s economically unfair, and it’s environmentally unsustainable.

“Over-allocation of our precious water resource is Central Hawkes Bay’s worst-kept secret. Even Mayor Walker concedes that ‘the failure of the allocation, regulatory and market system over the past 30 years has resulted in large water volumes being held by only a few businesses in Central Hawke’s Bay’. Yet, she continues to have a blind spot for the Ruataniwha dam as a panacea, when the least-cost and most sustainable answer is right under our noses.

“The HBRC Regional Water Assessment Report 2023 (refer p. 56) posits a scenario (Scenario 3) whereby with modest annual reductions in water use of between 1% - 2% the region could potentially save 16.2 Mm3 of water by 2040. We believe this is where Council should be focusing its energy and resources in pursuit of local water resilience, rather than investing more ratepayer money in trying to resurrect the Ruataniwha dam without a public mandate,” concluded Le Lievre.

[1] Public money spent on Ruataniwha dam to date

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