Ruapehu District Council is tightening controls on Raetihi’s water supply after an abatement notice exposed historical consent compliance failures.
Officials are warning the central North Island town faces a difficult summer if water use is not better managed.
The council was issued the abatement notice by Horizons Regional Council after four conditions of its resource consent for taking water from the Mākotuku River had not been complied with.
The consent, granted in June 2020, requires the council to prepare and submit reports and management plans covering water demand, leakage, water restrictions and operation of the supply network.
Council waters manager Rick Low told Wednesday’s council meeting the required documents had been prepared internally but were not submitted because of weaknesses in historical consent tracking, document management and submission processes.
Three of the four outstanding requirements have now been addressed, with documents provided to Horizons in draft form on September 15. The remaining Water Demand Management Plan is due to be updated and submitted by October 31.
Horizons has also recorded breaches of the Ruapehu council’s low-flow abstraction limits during March and April this year, when it took more water than its consent allowed.
It has incurred $2000 in infringement fees, along with staff and consultant costs associated with addressing the historical compliance issues.
Low told councillors the Raetihi case was part of a much wider compliance problem after Councillor Viv Hoeta said she wanted assurances that other historical consent problems would not emerge unexpectedly.
“We have existing historical consent issues with 13 of our consents,” Low responded, saying he was due to meet Horizons officials next week to work through those matters.
“We’ve got a plan, we’re moving forward, we just need to front-foot it now rather than let time pass.”
He said the issues would be further discussed in a closed meeting with councillors later in the day.
Councillor Kuru Ketu said the Raetihi issues did not concern the safety or quality of drinking water.
Council chief executive Clive Manley confirmed they related primarily to managing the abstraction of raw water, particularly during periods of low river flow.
A major concern is water being taken from the raw-water pipeline by properties between the river intake and the Raetihi treatment plant.
Councillor Rabbit Nottage asked whether long-standing pipeline agreements allowed landowners to take unlimited water from it.
“Wasn’t that part of the rental at the time, that they could draw as much water off as they needed from the raw water line before it even got to Raetihi?” Nottage asked.
Low said there were historical agreements allowing farmers and other landowners to take water from the pipeline that crosses their land. Some were formal agreements, while others dated back decades and were effectively handshake arrangements.
The council is now reviewing those arrangements.
Mayor Weston Kirton said the original purpose of the pipeline was to supply Raetihi, and water access for landowners had been provided in that context.
The historical arrangements should not be interpreted as giving landowners unlimited access.
“The consent, whether it’s up or down, determines the level of generosity from the council,” he said.
Kirton also suggested metering could establish how much water individual landowners were taking.
The council’s resource consent limits how much water can be taken from the Mākotuku River. Low said it can abstract about 1700 cubic metres a day during winter, but that falls to about 1100 cubic metres a day during low summer flows.
However, he said Raetihi’s demand can exceed the amount the council is legally allowed to take in the summer.
“There is no storage facility for water, so when they need water, they take water,” Low said.
The council has electronic controls intended to reduce abstraction when river levels fall, but Low said the system relied on communications over a nine-kilometre pipeline and did not always respond quickly enough.
The council is preparing a restricted-water notice process for this summer. Low said restrictions would need to be managed “to a much higher level than we traditionally have”.
He has already discussed the issue with mana whenua Uenuku and plans further discussions with Ngāti Rangi.
The council is investigating alternative supplies, including bore water, to reduce pressure on the river. Low said one landowner had indicated they may allow the council to access an existing bore, while another option was drilling a new bore.
The old Raetihi water tank is also being assessed as a possible raw-water storage facility, although it is no longer considered suitable for treated drinking water.
Low said the council had upgraded about 60 per cent of Raetihi’s pipes, with water losses improving. A recent leak detection survey found a small number of minor leaks but no major leaks.
The council is also introducing stronger tracking, reporting, document management and governance systems.
Low said the compliance problems had accumulated over many years, but the regulatory environment had changed.
“The first step is to manage it as best we can and keep water running in the township.”
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
