Hamilton councillors put Te Huia train into Auckland's Waikato river water deal
Thursday, 12 August 2021
Hamilton city leaders have allowed Auckland a big splash of water, but say the Te Huia train must be let into the super-city as part of the deal.
On Thursday, councillors approved a request from Watercare to take an additional 25 million litres of water a day from the river for the upcoming summer.
But a surprise amendment from councillor Dave Macpherson, unanimously voted on, instructed staff to put the Hamilton to Auckland train in the negotiations with Auckland council over the deal.
There’s got to be some give and take in the relationship between the cities, Macpherson said.
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“Our relationship should not just happen when they want some of our water, it should be more holistic than that.
“Auckland forgets there’s anything south of The Bombays apart from the Waikato River,” he said.
Waikato councillors have been pushing for the passenger train to journey to Puhinui Station near Papatoetoe and The Strand in Parnell each day, because it will give a much-needed boost to the train’s passenger numbers.
But they say they’re blocked by Auckland Transport who’s holding up the process, concerned about an additional train on a network set to get more congested post the $4.4 billion City Rail Link.
Councillor Ewan Wilson said Macpherson was being too “kind” in his request, when Hamilton had embraced Auckland’s request for more water.
“At the heart of what we are saying here is there should be co-operation within the country, and what’s good for Auckland should be good for us.
“What we are saying to Auckland is we need your help, but there’s been a reluctance”.
A recent meeting Wilson had with Auckland mayor Phil Goff confirmed his view the priority was the risk of congestion with the City Rail Link, over the inter-regional passenger service.
Councillor Mark Bunting wondered if there was a more simple solution.
“I’ve got to admire the political chess Macpherson is playing, I think if we’d been smarter we would have said ‘no you can’t take it out of the river, the only way you can get water to your city is on the train’”.
Along with Te Huia, water’s also been a contentious topic between the two cities.
Following Thursday’s meeting, Auckland can take another 25 MLD per day from the Waikato River between October 2021 and April 2022.
But it’s the second time Watercare has done so, having already requested a temporary 25 MLD in 2020 when the super-city was facing its worst drought in 25 years.
Councillor Rob Pascoe said he was “surprised” Auckland had come back for more water, after attending the recent opening of the Tuakau water treatment plant where representatives were “beaming from ear to ear that they now had plenty of water”.
This latest request comes in the run-up to a Board of Inquiry hearing into Auckland’s controversial application for a further 150 MLD, which would bring the take up to 300 MLD from the river.
The hearing will get underway at Waikato Stadium on August 31.
According to council documents, Hamilton does not oppose the application, but want Watercare to agree to certain conditions, including limiting the consent take to 20 years, and a requiring the organisation to report on developing alternative water sources.
City council lawyer Lachlan Muldowney said Watercare hadn’t conceded to any of those conditions yet.
Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate said while she realised the importance of water to Auckland and to the Golden Triangle, her top priority was the economic, social and environmental benefits to Hamilton.
She didn’t want the Waikato River to be the “easy option”.
“We can’t just keep getting bigger and bigger and sucking water from the same pipe, from the same bucket, and that’s what we are doing.”