Water Demand Strategy Submissions

TCDC is undertaking a review of its Water Demand Strategy and has opened this up for public submissions.

The water situation in Whitianga is something that the WRRA board is passionate about, and we know there are many others out there that feel the same way. We need your help to make sure that our voices are heard on this vital matter.

Whether it’s a short email voicing your thoughts, filling in the submission form and emailing it through/dropping it off, or completing your submission online, together, we can help to create change and make a difference.

Submissions close 30th October, so speak up, be heard and HAVE YOUR SAY:

• send an email with your thoughts to [email protected]
• fax your submission through to (07) 868 0234
• complete a submission form and post it to Thames-Coromandel District Council, Private Bag, Thames,3540 or
• drop it into the offices at 10 Monk Street, Whitianga

Click HERE to make your submission online
Click HERE to download a submission form
Click HERE for the full Draft Water Demand Strategy.
Click HERE for a summary of the Key Action Points.

Example of an email submission from a member of the community (with permission):

Water Conservation – The only time we here in Whitianga actually need to conserve water is in our summers if they are very dry. All the rest of the year, we never actually take our allocated resource consent from the river, so why do we need to restrict our use when what we don’t avail ourselves of only flows out to sea. So long as we DON’T continue to allow more and more development to hook up to our water supply.

Council wants us to get used to regular water restrictions because water resources have not kept up with the area’s growth. How can we allow more houses, more people, big events when the needs of the existing residents cannot be met? What would happen if our river was contaminated?

We need a backup water supply – one that could be utilized during our dry busy summer periods or put into use in case something happened to our river. There must be aquifers up in our hills, eliminating the need for expensive dams etc. Nothing is cheap, but the cost of future-proofing our town now will never be as cheap as it is today with record low interest rates and government willingness to help. What we do today will benefit the next generation, so passing on some of this debt would not be unfair.

Council is telling us that we should be looking at installing tanks. For a start, the council should be making it a requirement for all new builds to incorporate water tanks to look after their own water needs and not allow them to hook up to our already struggling town water service. Instead of installing soak pits, they could be installing underground water tanks as is being done in some places overseas. Some of our new developments already require mini sewage pump stations, so why not water tanks as well.

For many existing houses, it is impossible to retrofit a decent sized tank that would make any difference in a drought. Does the council have any plan on helping those residents that do have the space and access in installing a tank or even helping those with no access to install an underground tank in their front yards?

Water Meters. NO, NO, NO. Reading the water usage charts, we here in Whitianga used even LESS water than those districts with meters, so why incur the expense of installing meters. Water meters will not put an end to water restrictions. Extra water charges will greatly burden low-income residents and pensioners. Those that have holiday homes here will not conserve water, especially if they are paying for it. They will just feel entitled.

With Whitianga being such a holiday place, the main burden of water charges will unfairly fall on the permanent residents; us that support our businesses and community year-round, and that is UNFAIR. Water meters have nothing to do with water conservation, as the usage chart clearly shows.