Waimea Community Dam update

WAIMEA COMMUNITY DAM

UPDATE

Anne Hardie

Waimea Community Dam

The Waimea Community Dam has been plagued by continual cost blowouts, but the chairman of Waimea Irrigators Ltd (WIL) says it is an intergenerational project that will enable horticulture to develop on the Waimea Plains.

Murray King says the proponents of the dam in the Lee Valley have been working on the project for 20 years and though the increasing cost of the dam is disappointing, the benefits will still be significant.

$75.9

MILLION 2017

$105

MILLION 2019

$185

MILLION LATEST

When the project was first put to the public in 2017, it had a price tag of $75.9 million. By the time it was commissioned in 2019 it was $105 million, and since then the project has been besieged with problems, with everything from geological issues to Covid-19. The latest increase takes the project to $185 million and there is a risk it will go higher as the remaining 30 percent of the build is completed. The biggest hurdle for the dam construction work and the cause of increased costs was the discovery of highly fractured rock on the site, with multiple large shear zones (areas of ground rock and clay) bisecting the top of the spillway, plus weak rock under the plunge pool. Added to the geological problems has been high inflation adding to the cost of materials and global supply chain disruptions, materials being in short supply and the ongoing impact of Covid-19 on staff and productivity. The mechanical and electrical works alone are now expected to cost $19 million more than the original 2018 budget. The irrigators who bought shares in Waimea Irrigators own 49 percent of the dam, with some of the larger irrigators paying hundreds of thousands of dollars each to secure water for the future, and buying surplus shares to get the dam over the starting line. Tasman District Council owns 51 percent and will fund that percentage of the operating costs, with just over half of those costs attributed to insurance, rates and consent compliance. The remaining costs cover ongoing dam operations, maintenance, engineering, staff and company costs. The council needs the dam to service its existing communities and future residential and commercial growth.

Waimea Water which is the council-controlled organisation responsible for managing the construction, operation and maintenance of the dam, expects it to be completed by early spring, which means it could begin filling and be commissioned by early 2023.

If the government’s Three Waters Reform goes ahead, the council’s interests and debt in the dam project are tipped to transfer to a proposed new entity

Initially, irrigators were looking at paying annual operating costs of about $500 per hectare or just over, but that could double and Murray admits it is an unknown at this stage until extra funding is sorted out and costs shared. Council has stated it proposes to use income from its enterprise activities to cover interest related to the irrigators’ share for 2022–23 as other funding options are investigated. A targeted rate on irrigators will not come into effect until the 2023–24 year. If the government’s Three Waters Reform goes ahead, the council’s interests and debt in the dam project are tipped to transfer to a proposed new entity. For irrigators, Murray says there are concerns under Three Waters’ management. “We’ve got a partner and don’t know what it is and what the terms and conditions are going to be and how it will operate.”

Despite the costs of the project and concerns about Three Waters, he says the dam is still the best long-term solution for the region’s urban and irrigator needs. About 3,000ha of the Waimea Plains are subscribed to be irrigated by the dam, and up to 5,000ha of land has the contour to be potentially irrigated once there is available water.

3,000

ha ABOUT 3,000HA OF THE WAIMEA PLAINS ARE SUBSCRIBED TO BE IRRIGATED BY THE DAM, AND UP TO 5,000HA OF LAND HAS THE CONTOUR TO BE POTENTIALLY IRRIGATED ONCE THERE IS AVAILABLE WATER

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