HCC granted 35-year water take consent

Hamilton City Council has been successful in its application to take up to 146 million cubic metres of water per day from the Waikato River.

Initially, HCC had asked to take up to 194,000 million cubic metres but subsequently reduced the volume of its request in response to an internal review of water use within the city for the foreseeable future, and consultation with submitters. HCC also amended its application to ask for staged increments in the volume of water taken, with the full 146,000 million cubic metres not required until 2033.

The city has been granted this water take for 35 years based on their predicted water use to allow for future growth and proposed incremental increases in daily volume taken over the life time of the consent, with the initial volume capped at 105,000 cubic metres per day until November 2014.

An Environment Waikato hearings committee said in their decision that HCC’s proposal to take up to 146 million cubic metres was necessary to cater for Hamilton’s future growth and that consent conditions meant the extra take would be well-managed.

The committee was encouraged by HCC’s proposed conditions which it noted are over and above the proposed regional policy direction and allows for a management regime that is flexible to adjust to a number of potential scenarios within the city which may occur over the foreseeable future.

Waikato-Tainui’s request for a shorter consent period of 24 years – so that the effects of the extra take could be assessed earlier – was not agreed to by the committee as it felt the consent conditions were strong enough to deal with any resource management matters the extra take might create.

An independent assessment from EW staff considered a 35-year consent term was appropriate for a range of reasons, including:

· the need to give HCC certainty for planning purposes
· HCC’s general commitment to a reduction in water use
· consent conditions to reflect actual use over the longer time frame
· regular reviews of the water management plan related to the take.

“The committee accepts that all the reasons advanced in support of the longer duration are valid,” the decision said.

The committee noted that Waikato-Tainui was provided with an opportunity for on-going input over the 35 years through membership of a proposed steering group or constituted alternative group.

Overall, the committee considered that there are review conditions which will enable any unforeseen issues to be addressed.

Submissions were received from Genesis Energy Ltd, WaterCare Services Ltd and Waikato-Tainui. The committee thanked all submitters for their efforts in resolving matters they were concerned about and said that “overall we are heartened by the collaborative nature by all parties involved in this process”.

The hearing committee comprised of EW councillors Ian Balme, Laurie Burdett and John Fisher.