‘Some, for all, forever.’ Four simple words that redefined South Africa’s approach to water in the late 1990s, leading to an egalitarian model that took a long-term view of the management of a precious resource that had previously been allocated to meet the immediate needs of a small portion of the total population.
A similar philosophy, even if not the same four words, could be used to summarise the challenge faced by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council as it redefines the processes and quantum of water allocation in Hawke’s Bay for a sustainable future for our rivers, our whānau, and our economy.
It is a formidable challenge, exacerbated by a changing climate. The current freshwater consents have overallocated the resource, the demand for freshwater will continue to rise, and the region is predicted to get drier and hotter. It will inevitably drive the need for significant changes in the way in which we harvest, use, and then reuse this scarce and valuable resource. In the words of the Regional Water Assessment, “We need to pull every lever we have to radically reduce our demand for freshwater – through technology, behaviour, and allocation.”
The notion of ‘some, for all, forever’ resonated with me as I recently facilitated, at the request of Horticulture New Zealand, two meetings with growers keen to hear where things were at in the context of the impending plan change, and to voice their views. I listened to growers explaining the challenges they faced with the impending plan change and consequent reduction in water consents, their frustrations with the limitations of the current system of allocation, and their fears for the future.
There is clearly a tension between the perceived needs of growers, the needs of our growing urban communities, and the desperate need to look after our rivers and our aquifer.
In terms of priorities, the previous Government water framework, Te Mana o te Wai, put the health of the aquatic ecosystem – our rivers and aquifer – first, then the health of the community and, finally, when the first two needs are met, it was open to consider other uses. Through the proposed amendments to the Resource Management Act the current Government has promised to remove the Te Mana o te Wai hierarchy of obligations. The Minister for Agriculture, Todd McClay, has stated that these proposed changes ‘’reflect the interests of all water users’’ though clearly not ‘’all users’’ are quite on the same page.
There are some things that seem to have widespread acceptance across the grower groups that I listened to:
• The current ‘paper’ allocation of water has overallocated the existing resource, and reduction of the allocation is inevitable over time;
• The current system has incentivised poor behaviour and penalised those who sought to do the right thing (something is very wrong when some growers have reportedly left everything running whether they needed it or not to support their argument for a high allocation of water and others have lost their allocation because they tried to responsibly conserve when they didn’t require it);
• Storage on a large scale is inevitable – as will be the arguments over who funds it and who is allowed to benefit from it;
• There is a need for stronger incentives to encourage municipal users to better conserve water, and
• We collectively need to get much smarter in how we use, and re-use, this precious resource.
There was also a strong sense that the current allocation system is fundamentally flawed – in the medium term, it will have to be re-designed. There were many suggestions on what could be done better, from being able to share allocations more effectively to meet varying peak demands (as currently happens in the Twyford area), through to a complete reallocation of water on a global basis, with freely tradeable rights.
Why, as Chair of HBREDA, am I concerned about this?
The horticulture sector is vitally important to the Hawke’s Bay economy. It is also clearly struggling after the repeated hammer-blows of Covid-related lockdowns and border closures, drought, Cyclone Gabrielle, and an environment where their costs are rising significantly faster than their returns.
While the needs of this sector clearly can’t over-ride the needs of our environment and the health of our whānau, perhaps there is scope for a better balance in the short term? Is there scope for a breathing space to enable a better transition from the current approach to allocation, as clearly signalled by the current Government’s approach?
It is clear that we are going to have to rely on horticulture as a significant contributor to our economy in this region for some time. It is also clear that practices within that sector have to change in order to meet the new realities we are facing.
It is also increasingly clear that some diversification from our current over-reliance on our sunshine and rain economy is inevitable. At HBREDA we are in the process of commissioning some research that will shine a light on pockets of the regional economy that have the potential to grow and shoulder some of the load that is currently carried by horticulture. We already have pockets of brilliance scattered thoughout the region that were largely unheralded until the Hawke’s Bay Exporter of the Year awards were introduced 10 years ago. Finding other areas of potential that are scaleable will be a real challenge, but it is one we have to embrace.
Ultimately, we want an environment where everyone can participate in a thriving regional economy and benefit from it, while protecting our aquatic systems and our biodiversity.
Having started by quoting the aspirational four-word vision from South Africa, I’d like to close with a warning quote from a gentleman called Thomas Fuller: “We never know the worth of water till the well is dry”.
The Hawke’s Bay Regional Economic Development Agency is hosting a regular column to stimulate conversation about our economy. We will share pieces of work and research that we are involved in and at times will open up this column space for guest writers. Alasdair MacLeod is REDA Chair.