Media Release 19 February 2008

Irrigate Now as Bans Hit Hard

Hawke's Bay Regional Council staff say that essential crops needing irrigation from the rivers should be attended to now as irrigation bans start being enforced.

The Council has banned all irrigation takes from the Waipawa River from midnight Monday. There is also a ban on irrigation takes from the Ngaruroro River linked to the 2800 litres per second flow, and it looks likely that irrigation linked to lower flow levels will be banned shortly.

“Croppers with no groundwater or dam supplies need to plan ahead and irrigate while they can. With no real rain forecast for the next week or so and a real recession in river flows, it looks likely that there will be bans taking water for irrigation from these major rivers,” said Tim Waugh, Council’s consents advisor.

He advises that consents linked to higher flows on the Upper Tukituki River should also take note, as cut-offs will probably happen very soon as rivers levels continue to drop.

The Esk River is approaching the first low flow cutoff and is being watched. Flows in the Tutaekuri have dropped but are still over the low flow limit. The Tukipo River is also on a warning.

In all, there are now irrigation bans on the entire Waipawa River, on Ngaruroro River consents linked to the 2800 l/s flow, and on the Papanui, Karamu , Karewarewa, Poukawa and Irongate streams.

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