More on the parlous state of the Hutt River

I am moved to write more on the state of the Hutt River – and there will be more after we have done a tour to where it all comes from next weekend.

One would think the authorities might have introduced water rationing. But they did last year when flows were TWICE what they are now but relaxed them quickly.

Are they operating according to a forecast for rain by NIWA like they did last year?

The Hutt River is at HALF of its flow compared with last year – also a very dry year

Still the water authorities, operating on a purely - commercial mandate, are allowed to extract water until it is running at half of what it is now

The Hutt River is flowing at only HALF of what it was this time last year, already a very dry year.

I have been talking about this until I'm blue in the face.

This DuckDuckGo search shows just who else has been talking about this - NO ONE!

I just have to mention the danger of Wellington having a major problem with drought and water supply in the context of abrupt climate change and people's eyes will glaze over and they will change the subject.

Do we really need to wait until things reach this state of affairs for people to sit up and notice?

“If a major fire were to break out in Gisborne there's not enough water in the district to put it out, officials are warning.


A total ban on outdoor water usage in the district is in place, which means no sprinklers, hoses, washing cars and dog or filling pools until reservoirs fill back up.

"The city is using over a million litres of water an hour. If the high use continues it will take days to refill our reservoirs," Gisborne District Council spokeswoman Jade Lister-Baty said in a statement.

But, no doubt, when (and not if) it happens it will be regarded as a one-off affair and dismissed and denied by the authorities and media!

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Pam and I made our annual pilgrimage up the Hutt River to check on the increasingly dry conditions we are seeing and which has been so alarming us.

These photos reflect what we found.

The essence of our concern is reflected in these figures. The flow rate at Taita Gorge (where I always measure from) is only HALF of what it was on the same day in February last year which was, itself an extremely dry year.

You can see, from the photos that water quality is extremely low and yet, as I describe below the water authorities (who, with a purely commercial mandate have been separated off from the Regional Council and its wider mandate) are allowed to take water from the river to the level of 0.6 m3/sec which is slightly less than half of the extremely low level it is at Kaitoke Weir where they collect the water.

16/02/2018 .   6.960 m3/second

16/02/2019 .   3.588 m3/second

You can see from here just how dry things are getting.

A FUTILE SEARCH FOR WELLINGTON'S WATER SOURCE

We decided yesterday to go off and see the Kaitoke Weir where half of Wellington's water is collected.

According to this it should have been an easy matter - a quick walk on a track with wheelchair access - something that would have suited me fine.

Instead, we found ourselves at a locked gate, climbing a stile, and walking up a steep track. When I was forced to stop for a rest Pam continued on for another half hour but didn't find anything else apart from more steep track.

In fact, we ended up so defeated we did not even find the river!

So much for setting off without doing considerable homework!

Looking at this map from Google maps we could be forgiven perhaps for our confusion. What, we have to ask, has happened to the river?!

This basic map shows it a little more clearly.  Two rivers (the East Hutt River and the West Hutt River) combine to form  one and then are joined by the Akatarawa River and numerous other streams before its trip along the long Hutt Valley to the sea.

The following gives a sense of some of the topography.

RIVENDELL FROM "LORD OF THE RINGS"

Which brings me to this - we were very close to Rivendell which is where Peter Jackson filmed his scenes of Rivendell, home to the elves in the Lord of the Rings.

This is what it all looks like in reality...

And in the movie....

THE STATE OF THE RIVER

As already stated, the river in its mid-section is running at HALF of what it was on the same day last year.

16/02/2018 .   6.960 m3/second

16/02/2019 .   3.588 m3/second

See below - 

This is illustrated here:

I have listed the flow rates for the river at Taita Gorge on the same day (18 February - towards the end of summer) for the last ten years.

It should be noted that, with the exception OF 2017, which seemed to have been marked by a major rain event, and 2015, which seems to have been another exceptionally- dry year flow rates seem to be within a certain range -until this year.

YEAR	FLOW RATE M3/sec
2008	8.95
2009	8.9
2010	12.29
2011	5.15
2012	5.06
2013	5.34
2014	4.29
2015	2.87
2016	10.7
2017	40.53*
2018	6.39
2019	3.2

* This was marked by a major rain event. On either side of that levels were approximately an unremarkable flow rate of approximately 7 m3/second

THE AUTHORITIES CONTINUE TO TAKE INCREASING AMOUNTS OF WATER WHILE SUPPLIES ARE BECOMING LESS

The other bone of contention is the profligate use of water in the context where a commercial mandate combines with both an agenda of unchecked water use at a time when we have much less water.

I wrote about this last year. I was spot-on despite my arithmetic and misreading the flow rate.

Wellington Water mandated to seriously degrade the Hutt River to ensure water supplies

Wellington Water was set up in 2014 as part of the government's neoliberal playbook. It was separated off from the Greater Wellington Regional Council which has much broader concerns (including conservation) whereas the private company is only concerned with providing the increasing demands for water even if they destroy the river  in the process.

The only concern in local government (or elsewhere) is with planning for the 100-year flood - something I strongly suspect has more to do with councillors trying to stimulate the local economy with a major "development" project.

The Hutt River at Kaitoke (which, I believe is upstream from the weir where they collect the water) is currently at 1.071 m3 per second. Wellington Water has a consent to keep taking water until it reaches 0.6 m3/second (600 litres/second).

YEAR	FLOW RATE – m3/sec
2019	1.07
2018	2.87
2017	9.66*
2016	2.28
2015	1.03
2014	1.7
2013	1.4

* This was marked by a major rain event. On either side of that levels were approximately an unremarkable flow rate of approximately 7 m3/second

***

Meanwhile, I keep shouting about this and nobody seems to care in the slightest.

Do we have to reach the stage of the Gisborne or the Tasman crisis before anyone starts to take notice?