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The letters to the editor below have been published in response to Mike Petersen’s (head salesperson for the Ruataniwha dam v.2) latest regurgitation of his standard talking points (i.e. “this is not Ruataniwha dam v.1”; “HB is facing a devastating water crisis”; “this dam will be good for the environment”; “the whole HB community is on board”; and “any differing opinion is misinformation”.
Dr Trevor Le Lievre, spokesperson for Wise Water Use HB
Tom Belford, past-Regional Councillor
Published in Hawkes Bay Today on 9 November 2024 (read the full transcripts below)
Published in Hawkes Bay Today on 9 November 2024
Transcript:
Mike Petersen’s attempts to reframe the Ruataniwha dam project as something different under the guise of the Tukituki Water Security Scheme cannot hide the fact that it remains fundamentally the same. The consents, intellectual property, and location on the Makaroro River are unchanged, as is the requirement to appropriate 22 ha. of DoC land.
The coalition government’s Fast Track legislation would override the 2017 Supreme Court decision that this land cannot have its conservation status revoked. Mr Petersen clearly supports this trammelling of our democracy in favour of private enterprise. Remember, no-one owns this water until a private company gets government assent to build an 83 meter-high concrete wall and then profit from every drop of water that leaves that wall.
The claim that the dam would benefit the environment by maintaining river flows is pure greenwash. The river's issues stem from over-allocation of water for intensive farming. Wise Water Use HB advocate the clawback and reallocation of excessive water consents based on environmental impact and economic return. Should the cost for these flows fall to longsuffering Regional Council ratepayers we calculate rate increases of 30%+ would be required. CHB Mayor Alex Walker recently admitted that she can’t guarantee ratepayers won’t bear some costs should the dam proceed.
Mr Petersen selectively cites data from the Regional Council’s 2023 Water Assessment Report to support his premise that Hawkes Bay faces a devastating water shortage; however, omits to cite data from the same report positing a potential water surplus of 16 Mm3 by 2040 with Wise Water Use. Smart farmers and growers are already showing how the same outputs can be achieved with far less water use.
The claim that the ‘Hawkes Bay Community Water Trust’ will ensure that the dam will be a community-led project is questionable. The Trust’s four appointments are not made by the community, and Hawkes Bay-wide public consultation on its establishment was non-existent.
It’s time for a broader conversation about alternative, sustainable water management strategies for Hawke’s Bay.
Dr Trevor Le Lievre (Spokesperson, Wise Water Use HB)
Transcript:
In his Opinion Piece this past Wednesday advocating a fresh attempt to dam the Makaroro River in CHB, Mike Petersen urges that "it is time to lift ourselves from the battles of yesteryear".
Instead, I suggest it is time for advocates of a re-born Ruatainwha Dam to bury their dead white elephant of yesteryear. However proponents of Dam 2 attempt to dress their project up, it still, to mix metaphors, amounts to putting lipstick on a pig.
Conservatively, any dam to store 100 million cubic metres of water on the Makaroro will today cost $1 billion or more (Dam 1 was $600m plus). The annual water charge to CHB farmers and growers to generate the revenue required to support the required return on that investment, plus operating costs, would be plainly unaffordable to those water users, more than half of whom declined to sign much cheaper water contracts 7-8 years ago.
There might indeed be sensible water storage options for Hawke's Bay. This isn't one of them.
If Mike Petersen and his pals, in the interest of serving the community, can find a billion dollars from private (i.e., non ratepayer/taxpayer) sources to invest in Hawke's Bay, I'm sure we could find far more socially, environmentally and economically valuable projects to spend it on.
Tom Belford, Former HB Regional Councillor
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