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News
Back to the news list HB leads Watershed agreement to end water bans
4 May 2016 - Media Relations ans Pipfruit New Zealand
A watershed agreement announced today in Hawke’s Bay could be the start to ending irrigation bans across New Zealand.

The agreement, between a group of Twyford landowners in Hastings and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, comes three years after a total water ban sparked grower outcry and public protests.

Under the agreement landowners in catchment area have agreed to “give to gain” by signing over their existing individual water rights to become part of a group stewardship model under a global consent.

Led by growers and supported by Horticulture New Zealand and Pipfruit New Zealand, the agreement is being heralded as an exciting step forward for leading future water irrigation management in New Zealand.

Twyford Co-operative chairman and HortNZ representative Jerf van Beek said this “watershed agreement” provides landowners, growers and farmers across the Twyford catchment with certainty and reliability of water, even in severe drought.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council resource management group manager Iain Maxwell said growers can now tap into all the available allocated water, when and where it’s needed, as determined by the grower group.

“It is a great environmental and economic solution that meets high expectations of the public on managing water rights within the limits outlined by the Resource Management Act, without trade-offs or compromises.

“Our agreement could lead to a change in the way irrigators and councils work through irrigation bans throughout New Zealand,” Mr Maxwell said.

Pipfruit New Zealand chief executive Alan Pollard said it showed how the irrigator and regulator could work together for a practical and pragmatic solution.

“We now have an industry template for others to follow,” he said.  

Three years ago the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council imposed a total water ban across Twyford when rivers reached crisis levels, sparking unprecedented grower outcry and public protest against the decision.

The Twyford Co-operative catchment, west of Hastings, covers 1292 hectares of fertile growing land for pipfruit, grapes and cropping.  It has 166 water consents in the unconfined and semi confined Heretaunga aquifer.


Twyford grower and protester at the time Kevin Bayley, who is one of the first to sign into the global consent, said uniting to share water would protect all landowners. 

Mr Bayley owns and leases over 200ha of  confined, semi-confined and unconfined land across the Heretaunga Plains growing fruit and vegetables.

“Why should my neighbour be penalised for a lack of water when I have more than enough water under my resource consent,” Mr Bayley said.

“The 2012/13 drought brought everything to a head, Twyford had lots of water in the catchment, but under the old consenting process we couldn’t get to it, in the end we were limited to the river flows which enforced a total water ban.

“We had to come together to find a workable, sustainable solution. There is still work to be done, but we’ve come along way,” said Mr Bayley.

Senior planner and principal of Cheal consultants Cameron Drury, who developed the global consent framework and resource consent application, said it was a paradigm shift for both irrigator and the regulator and set a positive way forward for other regions.  
 
“It gives the Twyford co-operative the tools and responsibility to manage existing water rights within the limits of the Resource Management Act,” Mr Drury said.

Mr van Beek said more than half the land area is now globalised into the semi- confined zone and he was confident of gaining full uptake after the 2016 harvest season. 

“The global consent gives growers flexibility, control and access to all the existing water allocation over the whole catchment.  In return we become the stewards of the water and we will also be responsible for ensuring the river flows remain at the right level,” Mr van Beek said.

Mr Maxwell said land, once deprived of irrigation in the Twyford area, now had access to water, which enabled growth, injecting strong economic confidence into Twyford for greater land development and productivity. 

“Growers have the best knowledge and expertise of the land, crops and water requirements to better manage the water inline with the limits.  As part of this they will have full access to their own real time water use data and we will continue to provide access to river level data,” Mr Maxwell said.

Mr van Beek said one of key drivers of the semi-confined zone is the ability to augment the Raupare stream at times of low flow from the total available irrigation volume. 

“The old clunky consenting system meant growers could not get immediate access to the water they needed for emergency irrigation. Growers would take reactive action, where they would irrigate in fear of a water ban with a “just in case” mindset whereas the global consent takes a “just in time” approach, reducing the risk of river levels dropping,” Mr Van Beek said.

Grower Profile

Twyford’s R J Flowers Ltd, growers of 90 ha of apples, pears and kiwifruit has, welcomed the formalising of the global consent. Co-owners, John and Wendy Evans said they are confident a co-operative group managing the global consent is a positive way forward.

“We are stronger as a collective. We all need to be part of a soltuion that changes the landscape so it works for everyone,” said Mr Evans.

“Water is critical to Hawke’s Bay and no one can afford to downplay it because when livelihoods are on the line things needed to change, said Mr Evans.

“As a collective, we can now manage our available water resource responsibly and achieve maximum yields as possible, hleping boost the economy and provide more jobs.”

“As growers, we can now confidently invest the high input costs to produce crops without the risk of water bans which have in the past resulted in severe crop failure. 

A ‘Global Consent' for water is a significant breakthrough for us all in the Twyford area and that we have finally got some middle ground with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council.“

“We can now go forward knowing we will have water available for sustained growth and protecting our valuable resource which is great for the economy of Hawke’s Bay” said Mr Evans.

“Twyford was first off the block because our resource consents came up for renewal, I think we have set a good example for other catchment areas to follow,” said Mr Evans.

ENDS

For more information please contact:
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Anna Lorck
021 2886 771


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