Southlanders determined to save their beloved Waiau River

Friday, 12 June 2020

Waiau Rivercare Group members, from left, Paul Marshall and Peter Horrell at the Tuatapere Scenice Reserve. File photo. A petition is now circulating saying the Manapouri Power Scheme should not be exempt from the Government's freshwater policy.

A Southland river care group is petitioning the Government to ensure it can save its beloved Waiau River, which it says is being degraded.

The petition under then name of Paul Marshall, who is the co-chair Waiau Rivercare Group, is asking the Government to remove the exception for the Manapouri Power Scheme from the Draft National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.

Under the Government's package the hydro-electric scheme, which generates power for the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, would be exempt from freshwater management requirements to support renewable energy targets.

* Council: Manapouri Power Scheme should not be exempt from water quality guidelines

* Government's Freshwater Action Plan an environmental disaster for some

Low water levels in the Waiau River above the Clifden Bridge as viewed from the Lillburn Valley road in 2017. File photo.

* Waiau Rivercare Group incorporated after community concerns

* Waiau River's 'unmitigated environmental disaster'

The reason for the petition is the group says the station consumes 64 per cent of all surface water available in New Zealand and unlike other power stations it removes water from the Waiau River and discharges it straight to sea.

The ongoing environmental, cultural and social effects are significant, and dire, and makes the Waiau unsafe to swim in. This exception removes our community's voice for the Waiau River for the next 50 years. To be heard, hydro must not be exempt, the petition says.

Marshall said the group felt it had no other option but to launch the petition after it felts its submission on freshwater policy was not heard.

Marshall 'lives in hope' that Environment Minister David Parker will listen to them, and that the community could reach sweet spot where hydro could co-exist in a way that allowed the river to be ecologically okay.

That would mean a slight adjustment of three percent of Meridian Energy's existing consent for flows, that would benefit the river for the future.

In a statement the river group put out, Marshall said: “The situation in the Waiau has never been about balance. You have a small, disadvantaged community up against a big corporate and the Government, who, when faced with a valid argument to return just 3 per cent of the water they take from the River, have changed the law to silence the community.”

The group officially became incorporated in 2019 to be the voice of the river.

Most of the water from the lower Waiau River, once referred to as the 'Mighty Waiau River', is being diverted through the West Arm Power Station, located at the head of Lake Manapouri.

The group has been a long advocate of the river, and has repeatedly raised its concerns about the degradation of the river and its river flows.

On Friday the petition had 824 signatures. The petition closes on July 1.