Letter to the Editor not published by HB Today newspaper

Gren Christie, Lead Advocate for Wise Water Use

The Letter to the Editor below was submitted to the editor of the HB Today Newspaper on 3^rd May; however, has not been published.

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE MONEY

826 people signed Wise Water Use’s petition calling on the HB Regional Council to not pay for so called “environmental flows “from the proposed Ruataniwha dam, if approached.

Many of those who signed understand it’s not just about the money but also about the health of our rivers.

Tukituki Water Security Project chair, Mike Petersen’s, Facebook posting (17/4/26) talks about the need for environmental flows to help restore degraded waterways.

Here’s an idea.  Let’s stop degrading our waterways before we do anything else.

We can start by taking the water off those who pollute, stop the over extraction, and then give it to someone who can extract greater value from it and not harm the environment [CHB has highest water use for lowest return in all of HB and is the primary source of river degradation].

That is where water security needs to start. After that, we can start the conversation about what is appropriate water storage if needed.

Instead of supporting this approach TWSP wants to take our native forest, take our river and imprison it behind a concrete wall and then take money from our pockets to get our water back.

I might remind people that their Mr Petersen has publicly stated he was not seeking public money for this project.

He has been remarkably successful in doing the opposite – $21million from our government recently, not to mention the recent $200k Centralines hand-out.

For the public to pay for so called “environmental flows” all we would be doing is paying for the environmental damage done by the very industry Mike Petersen has long been a captain of.

So hey, maybe it is all about the money.

Gren Christie

Lead Advocate for Wise Water Use HB