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Otago Daily Times

Future of ORC now under scrutiny

The much maligned Otago Regional Council (and for justifiable reasons) has now attracted the attention of Shane Jones, the Minister for Regional Development and Minister for Resources, and for justifiable reasons. After 35 years of existence regional councils have not delivered the promise of balanced environmental and productive outcomes. One of the many problems is the institutionalisation of long-standing councillors which also needs the minister's attention but not through any internal local government review. Here's why a totally independent review is crucial. Please read on as here is yet another horror story about to unfold. During the 1930s at St Bathans, the Falls Dam was built to supply water for gold mining, irrigation and to supplement the Manuherikia River. Water races were built to bring water to Omakau and the parched land on the way to enable the growing of crops that could only grow in this area with the addition of water. The wise people in Wellington said, we will give you a right to take and use this captured water forever, so as to benefit us all by growing food. This was widely seen as a great idea at the time by the entire populous. Mercifully, environmentalists hadn't been invented at that time. Irrigatable land was allocated a certain amount of water and with a right to use. In times of drought , those with "prior right ranking" retained the right to take and use this captured water. It was widely reported that even back then, water for the river was always seen as a first priority. All was fine until the Resource Management Act (RMA ) came into being in 1989 and extinguished all water rights — even to this captured water. Regional councils had a 30-year lead-in period to prepare for this massive change. Meantime the Falls Dam structure — along with other dams in the area and built around the same time, were quietly sold to the water users by the government of the day for a peppercorn. The government clearly had reports on the deteriorating condition of the dams, so they knew the dams were a contingent liability. The dams would need replacing so they happily sold the dams to the water users but not necessarily with the water right to fill the dams. That would require a process led by the regional council, with its urban-based majority. The council then allowed a water "permit" to be issued to water users but with a renewal demand from the regional council every six years. Meantime the dam became increasingly in need of replacement and $100million to do so. The Dangerous Dams legislation was passed some years ago, which forces the dam owners and water users to replace the dam. So, where will the money come from? Question: who would invest one New Zealand dollar in this rebuild if the environmental lobby (who will contribute even less) can control the flows from the dam — as they do through an urban majority on the ORC? This is only one reason why Mr Jones is worthy of unstinted praise for his commentary on a failed system called regional councils. Regretfully, the ORC is controlled by a majority of councillors who still believe we can build hospitals without productivity in all its many forms. Recently, a staff report on the area to where the Macraes gold mine wishes to expand, identified a number of rare and or endangered invertebrates in the same area, so the competing interests are at loggerheads. The gold mine, of course, is a successful commercial enterprise offering 600 jobs and contributing to the wellbeing of our region and indeed New Zealand. The ORC is a not-for-profit organisation which feels compelled to save everything that crawls, hops, skips, flies and swims — albeit in smallish numbers — and which simply cannot be moved to a safer spot. We humans can easily be repatriated but apparently insects don't or can't — at least according to the ORC. There surely must be a tradeoff to be had. Now, the great irony is that there is increasing noise around the repatriation of the ORC itself — out of existence or to an area known as a unitary council. This has happened further north and with some success. A small complicating factor could be — what to do with the ORCs brand new $60-plus-million headquarters. One unkind thought would be to turn the building into a insectarium which is safe haven for any and all endangered species — excluding ORC councillors and staff. On second thoughts maybe a place could be found for them as well. ■Gerrard Eckhoff is a former Otago regional councillor and Act New Zealand MP.