Source: Radio New Zealand
The proposed Heretaunga Water Storage Facility, would be a 27 million cubic metre dam on private land near Whanawhana, in Hastings District. Supplied
A massive Hawke’s Bay water storage project is one step closer, with geotechnical work having started as part of a feasibility study.
Investigations into the proposed Heretaunga Water Storage Facility, a 27 million cubic metre dam on private land near Whanawhana, near Hastings, have started to address its economic, technical, cultural and environmental viability.
The site would harvest peak water flows from within the catchment and the Ngaruroro River in winter and store the water for release into Heretaunga’s rivers and streams during periods of peak summer demand.
In 2023, an initial pre-feasibility study was completed by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council with support from Kānoa – the Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit, which has also funded the next step.
A local group of irrigators, commercial water users, mana whenua and municipal water suppliers took over the project late last year in November, forming a new company – Heretaunga Water Storage Limited – to oversee the feasibility study.
Interim chairperson and Hawke’s Bay grower Xan Harding said it would have two implications for the region.
“The dam itself, the project if it goes ahead, part of that water will be offsetting the existing environmental effects of existing activity and part of it will be available for new water.
“It’s improving existing environmental outcomes and it’s providing room for growth.”
Harding said investigations would also enable comparison with other water security options for the region.
“Hawke’s Bay is a water short region so we know through a combination of measures we need to deliver long term water security for the Heretaunga Plains.
“We need to pull all kinds of levers on both the supply and the demand side of the water equation to get there and water storage is part of that.”
Geotechnical work has started as part of a feasibility study. Supplied
Harding said while the focus of the group was on the feasibility of water storage for the region, that wasn’t to say other efforts like water use efficiency were not important.
He said there were no guarantee the Heretaunga Water Storage Facility project – previously estimated to be a $225 million build – would go ahead but it had the potential to deliver longterm certainty for growers, commercial water users and the Hawke’s Bay community.
“The feasibility assessment is a critical next step and in depth geotechnical and ecological work to support the feasibility assessment is well underway at site,” Harding said.
“We will continue through the feasibility assessment with a view to having this completed around the third quarter of this year, at which point we will make decisions around resource consenting.”
A key part of the Heretaunga Water Storage Facility proposal is that its development would be funded by those who benefit most from the water storage in a user-pays model.
It differs from that of the controversial Ruataniwha Dam proposal – rebranded as the Tukituki Water Security Project – which would see a dam built on the Makaroro River, a tributary of the Tukituki River.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
