Water resilience at a crossroad

Choose Clean Water spokesperson Marnie Prickett thinks Wairarapa is at a crossroad regarding the future of land use.

She wants to see us build healthy communities and ecosystems around our primary sector.

Prickett spoke in submission to Masterton District Council at Wednesday’s infrastructure and services committee meeting.

She was joined by a public audience of Wairarapa residents concerned about water.

She told the council that she had a background in studying waterways, with a bachelor of agricultural science and a master’s degree in ecology.

“Wairarapa can either fall into intensification, or be leaders in developing healthy, thriving landscapes,” she said.

She said large-scale water storage and large-scale irrigation negatively impacted biodiversity, river health, drinking water quality, soil health, animal health, and community resilience.

“You haven’t gone down the path of land-use intensification. There is an opportunity to do something better and different to other regions,” she told the council.

The Climate Change

Commission issued its final advice to the government earlier this week and reduced its herd reduction estimates from 15 per cent to 13.6 per cent by 2030 to curb climate change.

The commission expected that New Zealand would still produce the same amount of milk and meat, but with fewer stock numbers.

While horticulture could replace stock on some farms, the commission recommended that others could change animal and feed management practices and track carbon stored in trees, soils, and wetlands.

Prickett said healthy rivers and healthy ecosystems were our best chance against climate change because degradation of our ecosystems, in part, had contributed to climate change.

“We cannot simply try to build resilience in current systems; we must build resilience within the ecosystem to support our communities and through that support a healthy primary sector.”

Prickett hoped MDC would support Wairarapa to become a leader in developing healthy, thriving landscapes where diverse land use supports resilient communities in the face of climate change.

“You can’t solve climate change by locking in existing systems,” she said.

MDC recently voted to enter a memorandum of understanding [MOU] with Wairarapa Water Limited [WWL], establishing a “way forward” for a municipal water supply to the Masterton district.

The MOU intended to establish a preferred way forward for a municipal water supply and, conditional to the Wakamoekau Storage Scheme being the preferred way forward, to establish an Agreement of Supply between the parties.

Wairarapa Water Limited [WWL] chief executive Robyn Wells said water security unlocked land-use opportunities that could give the region a significant advantage.

“We have done considerable work on alternative land use studies that are a pathway to enable water users to grow more high-value crops that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help improve waterways,” she said.

A resource consent is currently being sought for the

Wakamoekau Community

Storage Scheme.

The final resource consent is expected to be lodged this year.

In the meantime, MDC has agreed, in principle, to a $1 million loan to Water Wairarapa to support the consent process.

MDC is also exploring options to expand the storage capacity of its Kaituna water treatment plant as an alternative.

Wairarapa can either fall into intensification, or be leaders in developing healthy, thriving landscape

- Marnie Prickett