Poroti Springs water takes allowed

An independent commissioner has allowed two applications to take millions of litres of water a day from the Poroti Springs area, including one by the Whangarei District Council, which already uses the resource to supplement the city’s public supply.

The district council and the Maungatapere Water Company Limited (MWCL) had applied separately to the Northland Regional Council for replacement consents to take water from the Waipao Stream below the springs.

The applications were limited notified in January this year, attracting a handful of submissions; five on the district council application, of which all but one were in opposition, and six on the MWCL application, all in opposition.

Issued raised by submitters included Treaty of Waitangi claims, Resource Management Act matters, consent duration and take restrictions.

Although filed separately, the applications were heard together on the regional council’s behalf by Napier-based independent commissioner Rob van Voorthuysen in Whangarei in late May.

In a just-released decision, Mr van Voorthuysen grants the applications, subject to a raft of conditions, and addresses matters raised by submitters. Both consents will expire in mid-2044.

In February last year Mr van Voorthuysen also granted consent to Zodiac Holdings Limited to take groundwater from near the springs for bottled water with the same mid-2044 expiry date.

His latest decision effectively limits the total all three parties – the district council, MWCL and Zodiac – can jointly take from the Poroti Springs area to 19,000 cubic metres daily; 15,500 cu m for the Whangarei District Council, 3000 cu m for MWCL and 500 cu m for Zodiac.

However, the decision also allows each party to take extra water if the other parties are not using their full allocation, again provided the cumulative total daily take does not exceed 19,000 cu m. Under this proviso – which also has conditions to ensure water flows in the stream itself do not fall below a set limit - the council could potentially take up to 19,000 cu m. Similarly, depending on how little water the council is taking, MWCL could potentially take up to 9500 cu m and Zodiac up to 1000 cu m per day.

During the hearing, Mr van Voorthuysen heard that the district council’s Poroti water treatment plant could currently only treat up to 10,000 cu m daily. It would cost about $3 million to upgrade it to process 15,000 cu m, but the upgrade had not happened “due in part to the short term nature of the consents” in place prior to the hearing.

The council’s current Poroti Springs take typically supplies about 13 percent of the city’s needs and is one of three main water supply sources for the Whangarei City water supply area (along with the Whau Valley Dam and Hatea River). However, water from Poroti can also be used to supplement other sources when treatment plants are undergoing maintenance work or during water shortages. When that happens, it can meet up to 35% of the Whangarei City water supply area’s demand.

Meanwhile, the MWCL currently uses the water it takes to irrigate between 664 and 807 hectares across more than 200 properties as part of the Maungatapere Irrigation Scheme. Historically, it has limited its daily take to about 3455 cu m due to capacity restrictions on its pumps, but intends to increase additional pump capacity under the longer terms of the consent Mr van Voorthuysen has just allowed.

Mr van Voorthuysen’s decisions can now be appealed to the Environment Court for 15 working days.