Groundwater resource consent application declined
A resource consent application to take groundwater for irrigation purposes at Te Kopura in south Wairarapa has been declined by a Greater Wellington Hearing Committee.
The proposal was lodged by JV and LA Petrie to take groundwater from a bore for irrigation of 40 hectares of pasture.
The bore is located in the Tawaha groundwater zone, which is listed in the Regional Freshwater Plan as having a safe yield allocation of 11 million cubic metres per year. This amount of water is already allocated to other resource consent users and therefore no allocation remains available for this proposal.
“The Committee has weighed the potential long-term consequences of the proposal and in light of the information available to it, considers that it is necessary to exercise a high degree of caution."
The Committee concluded that the demand for water at this location was “probably already greater than the resource can sustain” and that the proposed abstraction “does not constitute sustainable management of natural and physical resources in that:
It does not adequately sustain the potential of the groundwater resource in the Tawaha and Lower Valley Management Zones in the Wellington Region for future generations;
There are potential adverse effects on other bores in the Tawaha and Lower Valley aquifers which may not be adequately avoided, remedied or mitigated.
“As there is no allocation available for the proposal and in the light of evidence of aquifer stress in the Tawaha and Lower Valley aquifers, the Committee conclude that they must therefore decline the application.”
The Hearing Committee comprised Cr Sally Baber (chair), Cr Barbara Donaldson and Elizabeth Burge. The decision document is here