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Mr Newman updated the Committee on the following issues:
CHB
Wastewater
A workshop is planned with CHB District Council on 14
July to progress the preparation of the resource consent application.
It is hoped that wastewater from Waipawa can be
discharged into the HBRC acquired forest this coming summer and wastewater
from Waipukurau discharged into the forest next summer. There is the
possibility that some treated waste may be discharged into the river at peak
flood times.
Ruataniwha Dams
Following the establishment of the HB Water Strategy
which looks at water allocations across the region, there is some clarity on
the impact of irrigation throughout the summer season and it is now clear
that Council has to look at water storage to manage water in the river
systems on the Ruataniwha Plains. It is envisaged that if water is stored
there would be more water in the rivers during the summer spell.
Ongoing work has continued around the sites for the
proposed storage dams with the most complex challenge being the geo technical
issues.
In response to a question, Mr Newman advised that it
would be simpler to move all irrigators to stored water rather than dams
storing water for augmentation.
Ngaruroro
A simple high level assessment similar to that undertaken
on the Tukituki River has started for the Ngaruroro which has a similar
system to the Ruataniwha. Up to 6,500 hectares more land could be irrigated
as part of an envisaged scheme. Mr Newman stressed that things were at a very
early stage, however.
Mrs Graham exited the meeting at 12.00pm.
AFFCO
Updated the Committee on a recent meeting Chairman Wilson,
and himself had attended with AFFCO representatives. Council have agreed
that AFFCO trial some filtering techniques in an attempt to alleviate the ongoing
discharge into the river. Council have also encouraged AFFCO to develop a
landbase wastewater system. The results of the AFFCO meeting was relayed to
the Wairoa Taiwhenua in the company of Mike Mohi also.
Regional Planning Committee
Mrs Lambert advised that following discussion at the
Strategic Planning meeting of 15 June 2011, the draft Terms of Reference had
been given back to the 4 Treaty Claimant groups who had indicated that they
were ready to be part of the proposed Committee for final consideration. It
was hoped that the Terms of Reference would be resolved at the July Council
meeting with the Committee being established by the end of September.
In response to a question, Mrs Lambert confirmed that the
new Regional Planning Committee was not a replacement for the current Maori
Committee. The new Committee would focus on plan development only with the
Hearings Committee established from members of the new Committee only being
involved in policy establishment – the existing Council Hearings Committee
would continue in its current role.
Mrs Lambert also advised that there would be training
requirements for all Committee members with a number of training requirements
around the RMA,
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