A leaked submission prepared by a New Zealand government department raising serious concerns about the risk of water pollution to a Hawke鈥檚 Bay river has been suppressed by the government, the New Zealand Labour Party and the Greens Party said.
The Department of Conservation prepared a draft 32-page submission on the proposed Ruataniwha Dam. It said the plan poses threats to water quality, habitats and fish species and that reversing damage caused by the proposal would present real problems.
However, this draft was suppressed with DOC submitting only two paragraphs on the scheme, which did not mention the likely water pollution effects.
Labour鈥檚 Environment and Conservation spokesperson Ruth Dyson said: 鈥淚nstead of improving water quality as the Hawke鈥檚 Bay Regional Council says it would, the proposal to control only phosphate levels in the Tukituki River, and allow for a substantial increase in the level of nitrates, could 鈥榢ill鈥 the river.鈥
The Tukituki catchment is ranked as nationally significant with 18 native fish species present, eight of which are considered to be at risk and declining.
Conservation spokesperson for the New Zealand Greens Party Eugenie Sage said: 鈥淒OC鈥檚 advice on the Ruataniwha irrigation scheme has clearly been suppressed.
鈥淭he massive expansion of irrigation is one of this National government鈥檚 top priorities, so there are major questions to be answered as to why the department did not lodge its original submission.
鈥淭he quality of our rivers nationally is at stake with this decision as the Ruataniwha dam is the first of many planned by National. The council鈥檚 planning regime for water quality could be copied elsewhere.
鈥淒OC鈥檚 draft submission is a strong indictment of the current process and the environmental risks it poses.鈥