Agenda of Kaihū River Working Group

Kaihū River Working Group

9 July 2018

Kaihū River Working Group Agenda

Meeting to be held in the Committee Room, Dargaville Town Hall, 37 Hokianga Road, Dargaville

on Monday 9 July 2018, commencing at 10.30am

Please note: working parties and working groups carry NO formal decision-making delegations from council. The purpose of the working party/group is to carry out preparatory work and discussions prior to taking matters to the full council for formal consideration and decision-making. Working party/group meetings are open to the public to attend (unless there are specific grounds under LGOIMA for the public to be excluded).

MEMBERSHIP OF THE Kaihū River Working Group

Chairman, Councillor John Bain

Item Page

1.0 apologies

2.0 declarations of conflicts of interest

3.0 Reports

3.1 Acknowledgement of contribution by Ian Lupton and Terms of Reference

Attachment 1 Terms of Reference 3

Attachment 2 Kaihu Targeted Rate Classes 5

3.2 Confirmation of Record of Actions from 6 September 2017

Attachment 1 Record of Actions from 6 September 2017 7

3.3 Matters Arising from Record of Actions

3.4 Analysis not to spray Bull Rush Island at Aratapu

Attachment 1 Analysis not to spray Bull Rush Island at Aratapu 9

3.5 2017-2018 Budget and Works Update

Attachment 1 Kaihu Budget and Works Programme 11

3.6 2018-2019 Budget and Proposed Works Programme

3.7 Northland Irrigation Study Update

Attachment 1 Northland Water Storage and use Project Update 21

3.8 Northern Wairoa Freshwater Improvement Fund Project

Kaihū River Working Group ITEM: 3.1

9 July 2018 Attachment 1

KAIHU RIVER WORKING GROUP

Terms of Reference

Reporting to: The Northland Regional Council

Composition: The Working Group is appointed by the Northland Regional Council and shall comprise:

One member appointed by the Northland Regional Council

One Kaipara District Councillor (who also represents the residents of Dargaville)

One member nominated by Te Roroa, or in his/her absence, a nominee who shall have voting rights (Sharon Murray).

One member nominated to represent Te Houhanga Marae (Des Subritzky)

Three representatives of the ratepayers of the river catchment, one from each area:

Area 1 Class A rated land on the floodplain

Area 2 Class B rated land on the floodplain (vacant)

Area 3 Class F rated land being the catchment area beyond the floodplain

And that the Northland Regional Council may from time to time appoint to the Working Group because of their particular skills or knowledge.

Length of Term: Appointments will be made for a term of three years, in sequence with the local government elections, or until earlier disqualification, death or resignation. Should any of the latter three events arise, replacement appointees may be made by the Northland Regional Council.

Meeting Frequency: As required.

Objective: To advise and make recommendations to the Northland Regional Council, on all matters pertaining to the development and implementation of the Kaihu River Management Plan.

Functions:

The Kaihu River Working Group is an advisory committee of the Northland Regional Council and has no delegated authority or specific powers. Its functions are to:

1. Provide a stakeholder forum for the development of policies and plans for the management of flooding within the Kaihu River catchment.

2. Enable stakeholders to participate in the ongoing management of flood control with the Kaihu River catchment.

3. Facilitate communications between the Northland Regional Council, which is ultimately responsible for the management of the scheme, and the residents and landholders within the catchment.

4. Advise the Northland Regional Council on all matters relating to the management of the Kaihu River Flood Control Scheme.

Specific tasks will include:

1. Assisting the Northland Regional Council to develop and adopt a Management Plan for the management of flooding and erosion within the catchment of the Kaihu River.

2. Annually reviewing the priority and order of works within the management plan, ensuring that works are being undertaken in the order set out in the Plan and to the standards specified in the Plan or, when necessary, recommending changes to the Plan.

3. Each year, reporting on performance against the past year’s work plan and recommending to the Northland Regional Council an annual works plan and budget for the forthcoming financial year.

Kaihū River Working Group ITEM: 3.2

9 July 2018 Attachment 1

RECORD OF ACTIONS

KAIHU RIVER WORKING GROUP

Discussion held at Northland Regional Council Office, Dargaville

On Wednesday 6 September 2017, at 10.00am

Present:

Cr John Bain Committee Chair

Des Subritzky Te Houhanga Marae representative

Ian Lupton Ratepayer Representative Area 2 (Floodplain – Rotu Bottleneck to Dargaville)

Boyd Parker Ratepayer Representative Area 3 (Catchment area above

floodplain)

Taoho Patuawa Te Roroa Representative

Cr Penny Smart Kaipara Representative

Also in Attendance:

Joseph Camuso NRC Rivers Programme Manager

Gary Treadgold NRC Area Manager – Dargaville

Jonathan Santos NRC River Management Engineer

1. APOLOGIES

Bruce Howse NRC Group Manager, Environmental Services

Snow Tane Te Roroa Representative

MOVED: Apologies be accepted

Moved: Cr Bain

Second: Mr Subritzky

2. WORKSHOP NOTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

MOVED: Workshop notes be confirmed

Moved: Cr Bain

Second: Mr Camuso

3. MATTERS ARISING FROM NOTES

· Helicopter spraying: MPI has supplied the chemical to interested farmers and the farmers paid the helicopter spraying service with a rate of $240/ha.

· Bull Rush Spraying – scoping and test spraying by boat was successful.

4. 2017/2018 BUDGET & PROPOSED WORKS PROGRAM

Presented By:

Gary Treadgold

· Spray in December and late April twice per year. Cr Bain suggested we ask for a variation to the consent to allow spraying earlier: Using a boat for Bull Rush spraying approximately $200 per hour about 40 to 50 hours work.

· Maybe add some additional spraying at the inland lakes for Rice-grass check with Taoho and SOE team.

· Tree Removal – Des Subritzky demonstrated that Poplar can be used if milled correctly.

· Gravel Extraction

Agreed Action Points

· Jonathan Santos to contact NRC Biosecurity and Consents team and ask for a variation to allow spraying outside the consent dates to take advantage of warm spring weather

· Gary Treadgold to investigate using NRC boat with TAG also obtaining certification for their boat.

· Gary Treadgold to investigate feasibility of Rice-grass checks of inland lakes

· Gary Treadgold to contact Doug Carter and other Poplar tree users to see if there is a market for problematic Poplar trees.

· Schedule Barney Brotherhood to survey gravel islands on the Kaihu River that were extracted last time and calculate a volume of new gravel.

· Gary Treadgold and Jonathan Santos to meet with Taoho Patuawa to discuss the location and details of the gravel extraction.

5. NORTHLAND IRRIGATION STUDY UPDATE

Presented By: Cr Bain

· Cr Bain laid out the implicated cost of the irrigation scheme in Kaipara which is very costly

· Joseph Camuso pointed out the priority areas are the Mid-North and Kaipara. Mid-North scheme is approximately 50% cheaper per ha.

· The next step is to develop a pre-feasibility study.

· Council has not committed to funding the pre-feasibility study.

6. OTHER BUSINESS

· Des Subritzky requested a visit to view the Bull Rush on Tapia banks. Gary Treadgold responded that it has been sprayed once with the helicopter and will look at spraying via boat next time.

MEETING CLOSED: 11.10am

Boat Spraying Manchurian Rice Grass and Californian Rush along the banks of the Kaihu River (Twice in a year)

Scope and Nature of the Service

Manchurian Rice Grass:

In general, the Contractor sprayed Manchurian Rice Grass on both banks of Kaihu River from Duck Creek to the mouth of the and on both banks of the section adjacent to the Marae about 1.4 km upstream of Beach Rd. See the Location Map. Total length of spraying = 2,695 m.

Californian Rush:

The Contractor sprayed only parts of the Californian Rush that are exposed and obstructing the flow of water. The location of the Californian Rush vary in which Contractor shall spray on both banks from Kaihu River Opening to Parore Road Bridge. See the Location Map.

For spraying the Contractor used the Haloxyfop and crop oil that can be used over water only between 1st of December and the 31st of July in accordance with conditions in the Resource Consent AUT.010950.03.03.

1st Actual Spray – late February

2nd Actual Spray – late April

It is preferable that the spraying is done during low tide.

The boat to be used while spraying shall have obtained the New Zealand Maritime Approval. The contractor has submitted to NRC a copy of the current certificate.

Review of the Kaihu River Maintenance work for the past three years

SECTIONS	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018
From Openning to Auto Yard Boundary - Left Bank	Spraying Rice Grass	Spraying Rice Grass & Boat Spraying Bull Rush	Boat Spraying Rice Grass and Bull Rush
From Openning to Bridge - Right Bank	Spraying Rice Grass	Spraying Rice Grass & Boat Spraying Bull Rush	Boat Spraying Rice Grass and Bull Rush
From Auto Yard Boundary to Duck Creek - Left Bank	Machine Cleaning & Helicopter Spraying Rice Grass	Machine Cleaning & Helicopter Spraying Rice Grass	Boat Spraying Bull Rush
From Bridge to Duck Creek - Right Bank	Machine Cleaning & Helicopter Spraying Rice Grass	Machine Cleaning & Helicopter Spraying Rice Grass	Boat Spraying Bull Rush
From Duck Creek to Parore - Left Bank	Machine Cleaning, Helicopter Spraying & Direct Spraying Rice Grass at the Marae	Machine Cleaning, Helicopter Spraying & Direct Spraying Rice Grass at the Marae	Helicopter Spraying & Boat Spraying at Marae
From Duck Creek to Parore - Right Bank	Machine Cleaning, Helicopter Spraying & Direct Spraying Rice Grass at the Marae	Machine Cleaning, Helicopter Spraying & Direct Spraying Rice Grass at the Marae	Helicopter Spraying & Boat Spraying at Marae
From Parore to Bottle Neck - Left Bank		Machine Cleaning
From Parore to Bottle Neck - Right Bank		Machine Cleaning
From Bottle Neck to Waihue Road - inside bend	Provisional	Provisional
From Waihue to Maropiu	Tree Removal		Tree Removal
From Maropiu to Waima			Bank Armouring at Kaihu Wood Road Bridge

Kaihū River Working Group ITEM: 3.7

9 July 2018Attachment 1

Kaihu River Flood Mitigation Working Group Meeting

Agenda item 7 Northland Water Storage and Use Update (note change in title)

Executive Summary

Northland Regional Council (council) has submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) to the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) for funding to undertake a prefeasibility analysis of all four water storage options identified in the Scoping of Irrigation Scheme Options in Northland report, including one using water from the Kaihu River. Council is working closely with Kaipara District Council (KDC), Far North District Council (FNDC) and central government officials on a formal application for funding to the PGF. It is intended that this will be submitted within the next 4-6 weeks.

Report

In 2014, council began a process of considering the potential development of new water storage options in Northland, in large part prompted by drought events in the Kaipara district in the early years of this decade. The work done to date includes:

· Northland Strategic Irrigation Infrastructure Study (Phase 1) completed in early 2016. This provided a high level regional scale overview of the potential for irrigation development in Northland (i.e. what could it be).

· Scoping of Irrigation Scheme Options (Phase 2) completed in mid-2017. This considered in greater detail and depth the potential for irrigation demand and supply opportunities in the most promising areas from the first study (i.e. what should it be), It identified four potential water storage schemes options in Northland: three in the Mid-North and one in Kaipara (see figure below).

These studies are available on the NRC website https://www.nrc.govt.nz/Your-Council/Economic-development/investment-and-growth-reserve/. While both studies were led by council, they were jointly funded by council and central government.

Following the completion of the scoping study council began working with Crown Irrigation Investments Limited (CIIL) in the second half of 2017 to scope up and obtain co-funding for next stage of work involving more detailed investigations (Phase 3 Prefeasibility). However, the criteria used by CIIL did not apply well to the proposed Kaipara scheme. This was largely because CIIL’s criteria was focussed on return on investment by the private sector and failed to consider wider community benefits and potential investment by the public sector. Consequently, the Kaipara option identified in the scoping report was initially excluded from further investigations.

However, the new coalition government formed in 2017, determined in March 2018 that funding for this work would no longer be possible through CIIL, and therefore the work programme originally developed for Phase 3 was halted. Instead, an opportunity was provided through the establishment of the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) to seek funding for further investigations into water storage and use through this facility. Consequently, council submitted an EOI to the PGF to undertake prefeasibility work on all four water storage options.

The purpose of the prefeasibility work is to undertake a series of studies that assess the four options from the scoping stage to select the preferred scheme ‘base case’. Since receiving council’s EOI, officers from central government have been meeting with staff from council, KDC and FNDC to discuss how to best prepare an application to the PGF and how to best align the project with the government’s priorities.

If funding is successfully secured, suitably qualified consultants will be engaged to undertake the prefeasibility work programme. This work will include opportunities for active participation by stakeholders. It should be noted that no preferred design for the water management infrastructure, including storage locations, has yet been identified. The exact design and location of the scheme(s) will depend on the findings of the proposed work programme.